EUSO: Using high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos as messengers from the unknown universe

Abstract

The mission “Extreme Universe Space Observatory - EUSO” is devoted to the investigation of the Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays (EECR with E>5×1019 eV) and of the High Energy Cosmic Neutrino flux looking at the streak of UV fluorescence light produced when the particles coming from Outer Space interact with the Earth’s atmosphere. EUSO will observe the fluorescence signal looking downward from Space the dark Earth atmosphere under a 60 degrees full field of view; the Fluorescence light will be imaged by a large Fresnel lens optics into a finely segmented focal plane detector. The segmentation and the time resolution adopted will consent to reconstruct the shower arrival direction and energy with high precision, EUSO is a collaborating effort of 27 research groups from Europe, U.S.A, and Japan and it has been designed to operate for more than 3 years mission life-time; it is expected to detect of the order of 103/year EECRs with E>1020 eV and to open a window into the High Energy Neutrino Astronomy. Originally p...