TAIGA - a hybrid detector complex for high energy gamma-ray astro-physics and cosmic ray physics in the Tunka valley

Н Буднев ,R Wischnewski,Oleg Fedorov,Christian Spiering,S Kiryuhin,A Garmash,D Zhurov,V Slunecka,V Boreyko,Yu Lemeshev,R Nachtigall,P Kirilenko,E Popova,Martin Brueckner,Yaroslav Sagan,Т Гресс ,Л Свешникова ,А Чиавасса ,Г Рубцов ,В В Киндин ,V Poleschuk ,К Г Компаниец ,B Tarashansky ,А В Соколов ,A N Dyachok ,E Osipova ,Н Н Калмыков ,А Силаев ,Aleksandr Vasilevich Skurihin ,P A Bezyazeekov ,А Загородников ,L A Kuzmichev ,Р Монхоев ,В Л Зурбанов ,А А Петрухин ,В С Птускин ,A.d Ivanova ,М Куннас ,L Pankov ,A Gafarov ,E.v Rjabov ,А Пушнин ,E Popescu ,A Tkachenko ,Vladimir Lenok ,Е Е Коростелева ,A Sidorenkov ,А Бородин ,Y Kazarina ,А Порелли ,О А Гресс ,Р Р Миргазов ,В А Таболенко ,V V Prosin ,N Gorbunov ,О В Гришин ,V Grebenyuk ,M I Panasyuk ,А Пахоруков ,D Horns ,Б М Сабиров ,M Tluczykont ,Е Постников ,Н Лубсандоржиев ,V Kozhin ,И И Астапов ,Л Ткачев ,Р П Кокоулин ,A Grinyuk ,Б Лубсандоржиев ,R Mirzoyan ,Е А Кравченко ,Yu Semeney ,В Самолига ,I Yashin

doi:10.22323/1.301.0768

Abstract

The physics motivations and characteristics of the new gamma-experiment TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma Astronomy) are presented. The TAIGA experiment addresses ground-based gamma-ray astronomy at energies from a few TeV to several PeV, as well as cosmic ray physics from $100$ TeV to several EeV. For the energy range $30 - 200$ TeV the sensitivity of the planned for future extension of TAIGA up to $5$ km$^2$ area for detection of the local sources is expected to be $10^{-13}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ sec$^{-1}$ for $500$ h of observation. The combination of the wide angle Cherenkov timing detectors of the TAIGA-HiSCORE array and the $4$ m class Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes of the TAIGA-IACT array with their FoV of $10x10$ degrees offers a cost effective-way to construct a $5$ km$^2$ array. Reconstruction of an EAS energy, direction and core position based on the TAIGA-HiSCORE data will allow us to increase the distance between comparatively expensive IACTs up to $800 - 1200$ m. The low investments together with the high sensitivity for energies $\geqslant 30-50$ TeV make this pioneering technique very attractive for exploring the galactic PeVatrons and cosmic rays. In addition to the Cherenkov light detectors we intend to deploy an array of muon detectors (TAIGA-Muon array) over an area of 1 km$^2$ with a total area of about $2000 - 3000$ m$^2$. The TAIGA-IACT-HiSCORE together with the TAIGA-Muon array will be used for selection of gamma-ray induced EAS. At present the first stage of TAIGA have been constructed in the Tunka valley, $\sim 50$ km West from the Lake Baikal in Siberia. Now it consists of 28 TAIGA-HiSCORE Cherenkov stations distributed over an area of $0.25$ km$^2$ and the first IACT of the TAIGA-IACT array. We are planning to test operation of the single telescope in coincidence with the HiSCORE up to shower impact distances of $\sim 500 - 600$ m; for this purpose we already started construction of the second imaging telescope at $300$ m distance from the first one. During 2017 -- 2019 years we intend to increase the number of the TAIGA-HiSCORE stations up to $100 - 120$, spread on the area of $1$ km$^2$ and to deploy $2$ additional IACTs.

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