Telescope Array Project: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:22, 27 July 2009

Revision as of 22:49, 9 August 2010

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==Surface detector==

The surface detectors are evenly distributed across a 762km762 km² grid array with 1.2km2 km between each unit. Each surface detector has an assembled weight of 250kg250 kg and consists of a power supply, two layers of scintillation detectors and electronics. Power is generated by a 120W solar panel and stored in a sealed lead-acid battery. The system has the capacity to operate for one week in complete darkness. Each scintillation detector layer is made of extruded plastic scintillator that is 1.2cm2 cm thick and has an area of 3m². The photo multiplier tube is connected to the scintillator via 96 wave length shifting fibers.

==FD station, telescope, and camera==

The Telescope Array has three fluorescence detector stations. The stations are located on a triangle about 35km35&nbsp;km apart from one another. Each station has 12-14 telescopes viewing the range from 3 to 33 degrees in elevation. The three sites are named ''Black Rock Mesa'' (BRM), ''Long Ridge'' (LR), and ''Middle Drum'' (MD). <ref>http://www.telescopearray.org/clearsky.html</ref>

Each telescope has a fluorescence light camera made up of 256 PMTs.

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==TALE==

TALE is the Telescope Array Low Energy extension. It is designed to observe cosmic rays with energies between 3x10¹⁶eV and 10¹⁹eV. TALE has two fluorescence sites, one of which is located about 5km5&nbsp;km away from the Black Rock Mesa FD site, and another which is about 5km5&nbsp;km away from the Long Ridge FD site.<ref name="tawebsite">www.telescopearray.org/research.html</ref>

The TALE tower is a tower of fluorescence telescopes looking from near zenith to near horizon. These telescopes have 3m diameter mirrors to push the energy threshold of observable events as low as possible.

The TALE project also has an infill array of scintillator ground array stations spaced about 500m apart. These stations measure charged particle densities (the shower footprint) at the earthEarth's surface for lower energy events approaching 3x10¹⁶eV

==References==