Operation of the University of Utah Cosmic Ray Group (Including the High Resolution Fly's Eye Experiment and the Telescope Array Project)

该提案要求为高分辨率蝇眼和望远镜阵列实验的操作提供资金。HiRes和TA的目的都是寻找宇宙射线的起源，并研究它们的组成及其与星际介质的相互作用。Dugway试验场的HiRes项目已经完成数据采集，并请求为实验的最终分析阶段提供支持。完成HiRes分析将是本提案第一年的大部分工作重点。TA是一项由来自日本、美国、台湾、中国大陆和韩国的研究小组进行的实验，旨在研究高能宇宙射线。它由一套前所未有的探测器组成，将无缝覆盖从“膝盖”以上到GZK截止线以外的喜剧射线光谱。TA将具有搜索各向异性和光谱特征的额外高精度研究的独特能力。它可以告诉我们银河系源的端点能量，对于河外源，它可以确定它们的幂律，端点能量和演化。在该项目的第一阶段，犹他州小组将建造第三个荧光站点，使用从Dugway试验场搬来的经过翻新的HiRes设备，并为其他两个日本资助的荧光站点以及大型塑料闪烁计数器地面阵列提供支持和集成。该项目的这一部分将于2007年夏季完成，预计届时将开始有限的数据采集。该提案的作者通过ASPIRE在线科学课程，通过高中教师和学生参与研究项目，并通过向各级受众定期举办一系列演讲和研讨会，在向地方和国家社区推广方面有着良好的记录。ASPIRE项目将继续作为HiRes最后阶段的一部分，然后将演变为技术援助实验的推广部门。

This proposal requests funding of operations for the High Resolution Fly's Eye and the Telescope Array experiments. The aim of both HiRes and TA is to find the origins of cosmic rays, and to study their composition and their interactions with the interstellar medium. The HiRes project at Dugway Proving Grounds has completed data taking and support is requested for the final analysis phase of the experiment. Completion of the HiRes analysis will be the focus of much of the work in the first year of this proposal. TA is an experiment being mounted by groups from Japan, the United States, Taiwan, China and South Korea to study ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. It is composed of an unprecedented suite of detectors which will give seamless coverage of the comic ray spectrum from above the "knee" to beyond the GZK cutoff. TA will have unique capabilities for the search for anisotropy and additional high precision studies of the spectral features. It can tell us about the endpoint energies of galactic sources, and for extragalactic sources it can determine their power laws, endpoint energies, and evolution. In the first phase of this project, the Utah group will be constructing the third fluorescence site, using reconditioned HiRes equipment moved from Dugway Proving Grounds and providing support and integration for the other two Japanese funded fluorescence sites as well as the large ground array of plastic scintillation counters. This part of the project will be complete in summer of 2007 and limited data acquisition is expected to begin at this time. The authors of this proposal have a well-established record of outreach into the local and national communities, through the ASPIRE on-line science lessons, through involvement of high school teachers and students in research projects, and through a regular series of presentations and workshops delivered to audiences at all levels. The ASPIRE project will continue as part of the final phase of HiRes and will then morph into the outreach arm of the TA experiment.