Proposal to Operate and Analyze Data from the High Resolution Fly's Eye Detector (Part III)

这项提案是由犹他大学研究小组提出的，并要求提供资金以继续运营位于犹他州美国陆军道格威试验场的高分辨率苍蝇眼(HIRS)天文台。HiRes天文台由两个相距12.6公里的观测站组成，通过大气中的氮荧光探测超高能宇宙射线。该实验的目标是研究能量从大约1017 eV到超过1020 eV的宇宙射线的光谱、成分和各向异性。之前的实验，包括最初的苍蝇眼实验，已经表明光谱可能会在预测的Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin(GZK)截止点之后继续存在，而GZK截止点以上事件的性质是一个谜。HiRes实验的目标是实现比之前的苍蝇眼实验高出一个数量级的灵敏度。在早期的HERE运行中，在1020 eV以上观测到了一些突出事件，但这些事件的通量与AGASA接地阵列公布的结果明显不一致。这项提议要求资金继续运作，以便通过测量能量超过1017 eV的事件的性质来解决这一问题和其他悬而未决的宇宙射线问题。此外，HiRes还有一个强有力的教育推广计划ASPIRE，由NSF资助，并与犹他州教育办公室合作进行。该项目的目标是向公众传达科学研究的兴奋。雇用实验是犹他大学、阿德莱德大学、哥伦比亚大学、罗格斯大学、蒙大拿州立大学、新墨西哥大学和东京大学共同努力的结果。

This proposal is from the University of Utah group and requests funding to continue to operate the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) Observatory, located at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The HiRes observatory consists of two stations separated by 12.6 km and detects ultra high energy (UHE) cosmic rays via nitrogen fluorescence in the atmosphere. The goals of the experiment are to study the spectrum, composition and anisotropy of cosmic rays with energies starting from about 1017 eV up to beyond 1020 eV. Previous experiments, including the original Fly's Eye experiment, have shown evidence that the spectrum may continue past the predicted Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff and the nature of the events above the GZK cutoff is a puzzle. The goal of the HiRes experiment is to achieve an order of magnitude greater sensitivity than the previous Fly's Eye experiment. In earlier running of HiRes, a few outstanding events have been observed above 1020 eV, but the flux of these events is in significant disagreement with the published results from the AGASA ground array. This proposal requests funds to continue running in order to resolve this and other outstanding issues of UHE cosmic rays by measuring the properties of events with energies above 1017 eV. In addition, HiRes has a vigorous educational outreach program, ASPIRE, funded by the NSF and conducted in collaboration with the Utah State Office of Education. The goal of this program is to communicate the excitement of the scientific research to the general public.The HiRes experiment is a collaborative effort between the University of Utah, the University of Adelaide, Columbia University, Rutgers University, Montana State University, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Tokyo.