CAREER: Detector Development for High Energy Astroparticle Physics

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This CAREER proposal requests support for research and education in astroparticle physics, combining a program to develop low-power electronics for cosmic ray and neutrino detectors with an educational activity for high school teachers and students as well as university graduate and undergraduate students. The proposal outlines a program designed to develop portable, low-power consuming electronics for air fluorescence detectors which could function in self-contained units in environments such as the Utah desert or in space-based detectors. An intelligent trigger would be used to select potential ultra-high energy cosmic ray events using a low-power air fluorescence camera and only then would power-consuming electronics be activated. Plans include tests using the HiRes 2 detector in a remote part of the Utah desert. In the outreach effort of the proposal, the plan would involve high school teachers and university undergraduates building scintillation counters to detect high energy cosmic rays. These counters would then be moved to high schools in Utah and New Mexico to introduce high school students to the concepts and detector techniques of astroparticle physics. The high school program would focus on schools in Native American reservations in these states.