High Energy Cosmic Ray Direct Detection
A special issue of Universe (ISSN 2218-1997). This special issue belongs to the section "High Energy Nuclear and Particle Physics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 5086
Special Issue Editor
Interests: particle detectors; silicon detectors; SPADs; calorimetry; cosmic rays
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The direct measurement of individual particle spectra in the PeV region of the cosmic ray (CR) spectrum is one of the instrumental challenges for the next generation of CR experiments.
Indirect measurements, performed by detecting on the ground the extensive air showers produced by the primary CRs in the atmosphere, show that, around this energy region, the inclusive particle spectrum suddenly becomes steeper and the composition progressively heavier. It is believed that this characteristic, known as the CR “knee”, indicates the energy limit of the galactic accelerators. A precise knowledge of particle spectra and composition in this spectral region would allow addressing key elements in the field of high-energy CR physics, such as the unambiguous identification of acceleration sites, the clear understanding of acceleration mechanisms, as well as an accurate modeling of the propagation and confinement of particles within the Galaxy.
Despite the improvements obtained with indirect techniques, composition studies are still very difficult. Only the spectra of groups of elements are measured, and the results depend considerably on the model, as regards both the reconstruction of the energy and the identification of the element.
Direct CR detection allows unequivocal elementary identification and more precise energy measurement but suffers from limited exposure, which, due to the steepness of the CR spectra, practically prevented past missions from going beyond 100 TeV in the measurement of Proton and Helium spectra. Even more serious limitations affect the less-abundant heavier nuclei and, in particular, the rare secondary Boron component, whose abundance provides the most stringent constraint to propagation models and is measured only up to 1 TeV per Nucleon. An additional scientific item in the reach of future space-based experiments is the measurement of the inclusive electron CR component (electrons + positrons) and of high-energy gamma radiation.
This type of measurement is done using instruments placed above the atmosphere (on board of orbiting satellites) and represents a significant technological challenge, because such detectors must have large geometrical acceptance, high energy resolution, and optimal particle identification capability, with a limited weight and low power consumption.
The direct measurement of individual protons and nuclei spectra in space at high energy (up to 10 PeV) requires having an extremely large acceptance (few m2sr), a good energy resolution (better than 40%), and mass identification capability, whereas the direct measurement of the electron-magnetic component above 10 TeV requires an excellent energy resolution (better than 2%), high hadron/electron rejection power (better than 105), and large acceptance above 1 TeV.
This Special Issue aims at creating an overview of the recent progress in CR direct measurement techniques and welcomes new ideas for future experiments.
Dr. Gabriele Bigongiari
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- Cosmic rays
- Astroparticles
- High-energy γ-ray astrophysics
