Baseline Support for the University of Utah Cosmic Ray Physics Group including Telescope Array Analysis

宇宙射线源的性质和将宇宙射线加速到超高能量的机制是天体物理学中最重要的问题之一。回答这些问题包括测量宇宙射线的能谱和成分，以及搜索宇宙射线到达方向的各向异性，作为识别来源的直接方法。犹他大学宇宙线物理组主要负责望远镜阵列(TA)，这是北半球最大的超高能宇宙线探测器。有了这个奖项，犹他大学宇宙射线小组将继续收集和分析来自TA和TA低能扩展(TALE)的数据，目标是解决这些天体物理问题。他们的主要教育和外展活动是ASPIRE项目，该项目在网上创建和维护互动的科学课程和实验室。Aspire还为地区教师提供直接联系，为学生举办暑期讲习班，并访问农村学校。位于犹他州德尔塔的朗和玛丽·沃森宇宙射线中心是助教外展工作和现场行动的中心。这座建筑包括一个游客中心，有TA展品，包括一个实时探测器显示器。犹他大学宇宙线物理组在研究宇宙中最高能量粒子的光谱、组成和来源方面有着悠久的历史。在即将到来的三年获奖期内，应该会有更多的统计数据、更少的能源数据以及更好的分析和协调方面的重要发展。犹他州研究小组正在详细研究超高能宇宙射线光谱，以通过TALE获得低能量，寻求与大尺度结构的可能关联，以改进TA成分测量，并研究各向异性的证据，以寻找宇宙射线的来源。此外，该小组正在与Pierre Auger合作，了解两个实验之间成分测量的差异。

The nature of cosmic ray sources and the mechanisms that accelerate cosmic rays to ultrahigh energies are among the most important questions in astrophysics. Answering these questions involves measurements of the energy spectrum and composition of cosmic rays as well as searches for anisotropy in their arrival directions as a direct way of identifying sources. The University of Utah Cosmic Ray Physics Group has primary responsibility for the Telescope Array (TA), which is the largest detector for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays in the northern hemisphere. With this award the University of Utah Cosmic Ray Group will continue to collect and analyze the data from TA and the TA Low Energy Extension (TALE) with the goal of addressing these astrophysics questions. Their main education and outreach activity is the ASPIRE Project, which creates and maintains interactive science lessons and labs on the web. ASPIRE also provides direct outreach to area teachers, runs summer workshops for students, and makes visits to rural schools. The Lon and Mary Watson Cosmic Ray Center in Delta, Utah, is the center of TA outreach work, and of field operations. The building includes a visitor's center, with TA exhibits, including a real-time detector display.The University of Utah Cosmic Ray Physics Group has a long history of studying the spectrum, composition, and sources of the highest energy particles in the universe. The coming three-year award period should see important developments with increased statistics, access to lower energy data, and improved analysis and coordination. The Utah group is studying the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray spectrum in detail to the low energies available through TALE, pursuing possible correlations with the large scale structure to refine TA composition measurements, and studying evidence of anisotropy to search for the sources of cosmic rays. In addition, the group is working with the Pierre Auger collaboration to understand differences in composition measurements between the two experiments.