Study of the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays with the Pierre Auger Observatory

该提案要求提供资金，以支持犹他州的物理学家在南部的皮埃尔·奥杰宇宙射线观测站开展工作，该观测站目前正在全面生产，将于2006年完工。 大约10%的俄歇数据集将是由表面探测器（SD）和大气荧光探测器（FD）测量的“混合”事件。对空气簇射能量的FD测量关键依赖于精确的大气监测。 该提案描述了几个基于激光的大气监测系统开发的犹他州物理学家谁是目前部署在阿根廷。 资金将使该小组能够完成硬件部署，实施软件，使系统在FD获取数据时自动运行，开发自动程序以减少这些系统的数据，生成和维护所需的大气数据库，并改进利用大气建模的纵向剖面重建算法。 犹他州小组将积极参与俄歇数据的物理分析，对南部天空进行前所未有的研究。在混合模式下测量的事件将对成分分析具有特殊的价值。对这两个重要物理课题的蒙特卡罗研究将是犹他州俄歇小组对该项目贡献的另一个方面。犹他州小组参与了现有南方天文台的推广工作。 这一外联活动的另一个组成部分是让高中生和本科生参与该小组开展的实际研究工作。

This proposal requests funds to support physicists in Utah to work on the southern Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, which is now in full production and will be completed in 2006. Approximately 10% of the Auger data set will be "hybrid" events that are measured by both surface detectors (SD) and atmospheric fluorescence detectors (FD). The FD measurement of an air shower's energy relies critically on accurate atmospheric monitoring. This proposal describes several laser-based atmospheric monitoring systems developed by the Utah physicists who are presently deploying them in Argentina. Funding will enable the group to complete the hardware deployment, to implement software that will operate the systems autonomously whenever the FD is taking data, to develop automatic procedures for reducing the data from those systems, to produce and maintain the required atmospheric database, and to refine the longitudinal profile reconstruction algorithms that utilize atmospheric modeling. The Utah group will be actively engaged in physics analysis with the Auger data that offer an unprecedented study of the southern sky. The events measured in hybrid mode will be of special value to composition analysis. Monte Carlo studies of both of these important physics topics will be another aspect of the Utah Auger group's contribution to the project.The Utah group has been involved with outreach efforts at the existing southern observatory. Another component of this outreach has been to involve high school and undergraduate university students in actual research efforts undertaken by the group.