South Pole Air Shower Experiment - 2

摘要：南极气淋实验（SPASE）是由分布在南极数千平方米的闪烁探测器组成的。它探测由宇宙射线在高层大气中产生的高能带电粒子（主要是电子）。这个实验有几个目标，其中最重要的是确定能量在大约100 TeV以上的初级宇宙射线的元素组成。为了做到这一点，SPASE与南极μ子和中微子探测器阵列（AMANDA）一起工作，AMANDA在冰盖深处有几百个光学探测器，AMANDA能看到的宇宙射线相互作用的唯一产物是μ子。宇宙射线阵雨中产生的介子与电子的比率是原始初级宇宙射线质量的敏感函数。由于SPASE可以测量宇宙射线产生的电子数量及其总能量，而AMANDA可以确定μ子的数量，因此可以确定入射初级宇宙射线的质量。确定宇宙射线的元素组成是宇宙射线物理学中最重要的悬而未决的问题之一，这些信息将阐明高能宇宙射线的起源。本项目与英国利兹大学合作。＊＊＊

Abstract 9615101 Gaisser The South Pole Air Shower Experiment (SPASE) consists of a sparsely filled array of scintillation detectors covering several thousand square meters at South Pole. It detects energetic charged particles (mostly electrons) which are produced in the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays. The experiment has several goals, the most important of which is to determine the elemental composition of the primary cosmic rays at energies above approximately 100 TeV. In order to do this SPASE works in coincidence with the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA), which has several hundred optical detectors so deep in the ice sheet that the only products of the cosmic ray interactions which can be seen by AMANDA are muons. The ratio of muons to electrons produced in a cosmic ray shower is a sensitive function of the mass of the original primary cosmic ray. Since SPASE can measure the number of electrons produced by a cosmic ray as well as its total energy, and AMANDA can determine the number of muons, the mass of an incident primary cosmic ray can be determined. The determination of the elemental composition of cosmic rays is one of the most important outstanding questions in cosmic ray physics and such information will shed light on the origin of energetic cosmic rays. This project is cooperative with the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. ***