Abstract
The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest extensive air shower detector, covering 3000 km2 in Argentina. The Observatory makes available, for educational and outreach purposes, 1% of its cosmic ray data set, corresponding after 10 years of running to more than 35 000 cosmic ray events. Several different proposals of educational activities have been developed within the collaboration and are available. We will focus on the activity guide we developed with the aim of exploring the rich education and outreach potential of cosmic rays with Portuguese high school students. In this guide we use the Auger public data set as a starting point to introduce open questions on the origin, nature and spectrum of high energy cosmic rays. To address them, the students learn about the air-shower cascade development, data reconstruction and its statistical analysis. The guide has been used both in the context of student summer internships at research labs and directly in schools, under the supervision of trained teachers and in close collaboration with Auger researchers. It is now available in Portuguese, English and Spanish.
Highlights
The first section deals with the general physics concepts and questions, the Pierre Auger Observatory and its public data set are discussed, and lastly the data analysis is explained together with the expected results
Abreu et al / Nuclear and Particle Physics Proceedings 273–275 (2016) 1271–1275 energy cosmic rays have collision energies well above the LHC, and macroscopic beam energies and such low fluxes that they can only be detected indirectly, through the extensive air showers they produce in the Earth’s atmosphere
The basics of particle physics must be introduced, but this can be done at different levels
Summary
This contribution follows the structure of the guide, discussing the points that should be addressed with students and the reactions obtained from the first users. The first section deals with the general physics concepts and questions, the Pierre Auger Observatory and its public data set are discussed, and lastly the data analysis is explained together with the expected results. Future plans for new versions and applications are discussed in the outlook section
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
