Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Research with the Pierre Auger Observatory: Operation, Data Analysis and Interpretation

阿根廷的皮埃尔·奥格天文台是阿根廷一个3000平方公里的探测器阵列，它的设计和建造是为了记录大气中由超高能量（UHE）宇宙射线引起的二次粒子阵雨。这些宇宙射线的速率低至每平方公里和每世纪1个粒子，而且，在它们被发现40年后，人们仍然不知道它们的起源是什么，它们是如何获得巨大能量的，以及它们到底是什么。皮埃尔·奥格天文台将以前所未有的精度和统计数据测量UHE宇宙射线，以准确回答这些问题。实验规模选择为每年捕获约30个UHE颗粒，并使用两种互补技术来获得良好的精度和颗粒识别。利兹大学和牛津大学的研究小组为这个由来自17个国家的250名物理学家组成的合作组织带来了广泛的经验。

The Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina is a 3000 square kilometre detector array in Argentina that was designed and constructed to record showers of secondary particles, induced by ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays in the atmosphere. The rate of these cosmic rays is as low as 1 particle per square kilometre and century, and, 40 years after their discovery, it is still unknown what their origin is, how they gain their huge energies and what they actually are. The Pierre Auger Observatory will measure UHE cosmic rays with unprecedented precision and statistics to answer exactly those questions. The size of the experiment was chosen to catch about 30 UHE particle per year, and two complementary techniques are used for good precision and particle identification. The Leeds and Oxford groups bring a broad range of experience to the Collaboration which comprises about 250 physicists from 17 countries.