The northern site of the Pierre Auger Observatory

M Kleifges

doi:10.5194/astra-7-319-2011

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a multi-national project for research on ultra- high energy cosmic rays. The Southern Auger Observatory in Mendoza province, Argentina, is approaching completion in 2007 with an instrumented area of 3,000 km 2 . It will accurately measure the spectrum and composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays up to and beyond the predicted GZK feature. We are obtaining results on the energy spectrum, mass composition and distribution of arrival directions on the southern sky. The Northern Auger Observatory is designed to complete and extend the investigations begun in the South. It will establish charged particle astronomy and thus open a new window into the universe. The distribution of arrival directions of the highest energy events will point the way to unveiling the almost century old mystery of the origin and nature of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Achieving this goal requires collecting many more events in spite of the steeply falling energy spectrum. The planned northern site will have an instrumented area of 4,000 square miles (10,370 km 2 ) in Southeast Colorado, USA. The presentation covers the science of charged particle astronomy, the layout and the technical implementation of the Northern Auger Observatory.

Highlights

This paper describes the current design of the Northern Auger Observatory in the context of the science of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays
The design takes into consideration both the initial science results from the Southern Auger Observatory and our experience with the technologies and methods used
The data indicate that the bending power of extragalactic magnetic fields is small enough to do charged particle astronomy above 1019 eV and to be able to observe the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, given sufficient aperture

Summary

Introduction

This paper describes the current design of the Northern Auger Observatory in the context of the science of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays. The data indicate that the bending power of extragalactic magnetic fields is small enough to do charged particle astronomy above 1019 eV and to be able to observe the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, given sufficient aperture. This is the main goal of the planned Northern Auger Observatory. Auger North will retain the basic functionality and features of Auger South This is important for seamless data integration, e.g. for an anisotropy analysis on the whole sky. The chosen site in Southeast Colorado has an initial area of 4,000 square miles (10,370 km2), 3.3 times larger than Auger South.

Background

Summary