High energy physics in cosmic rays

Abstract

In the first half-century of cosmic ray physics, the primary research focus was on elementary particles; the positron, pi-mesons, mu-mesons, and hyperons were discovered in cosmic rays. Much of this research was carried out at mountain elevations; Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees, Mt. Chacaltaya in Bolivia, and Mt. Evans/Echo Lake in Colorado, among other sites. In the 1960s, claims of the observation of free quarks, and satellite measurements of a significant rise in p-p cross sections, plus the delay in initiating accelerator construction programs for energies above 100 GeV, motivated the Michigan-Wisconsin group to undertake a serious cosmic ray program at Echo Lake. Subsequently, with the succession of higher energy accelerators and colliders at CERN and Fermilab, cosmic ray research has increasingly focused on cosmology and astrophysics, although some groups continue to study cosmic ray particle interactions in emulsion chambers.