Telescope Array Operations and Data Analysis by the University of Utah Cosmic Ray Group

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Telescope Array (TA) is located in central Utah near the town of Delta involving collaborators primarily from Japan, U.S., Russia and Belgium. The surface detector (SD) of TA consists of the world's largest array of 507 scintillation counters spread over 750 sq-km. Three fluorescence detectors (FD) are deployed at the periphery of the SD array. The experiment became operational in the spring of 2008 and is the most sensitive cosmic ray detector in the northern hemisphere. The cumulative statistical power of the resulting data set will allow TA to make a significantly more sensitive Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray survey of the northern sky.The funding provided by this award for TA Operations includes the direct costs of running the experiment, excluding salaries and travel expenses for faculty, post-docs and students, but includes managerial, engineering and technical staff effort and expenses. The Utah group, as the host institution, has played critical roles in the design, integration, deployment, operation, and management. These include: (a) Facility and detector maintenance; (b) Provision of staff for observing shifts; (c) Data handling; (d) Calibration; (e) Simulation and analysis; (f) Atmospheric monitoring; and (g) Maintaining compliance with BLM land use regulations. In particular, the University of Utah staff have sole responsibility over facility maintenance and BLM compliance. On Broader Impacts, ASPIRE is the Astrophysics Science Project Integrating Research and Education and has been the outreach arm of the Utah Cosmic Ray group since 1997. ASPIRE has created some of the most engaging interactive science lessons and labs on the Internet. ASPIRE also provides direct outreach to area teachers, students, and the public, especially those underrepresented in the sciences.