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Abstract

A presentation is given of an experimental facility designed for the study of the Primary Cosmic Radiation. The ARGO (Astrophysical Radiation and Gamma Observatory) detector consists of a continuous carpet (120×120m2) of Resistive Plate Counters, capable of registering the arrival of individual particles in the EAS front with timing in the ns range and position accuracy in the order of cm's; the carpet is complemented by an underneath muon tracking multilayer of Limited Streamer Tubes of equal size. ARGO, located at mountain altitude, is conceived to operate with two main objectives: a) as a VHE-UHE Gamma ray telescope intercepting substantially the full Shower front and sized to extend upward (to ⩾ 100 TeV) the upper energy limit of the air-Cerenkov telescopes set up at 10–20 TeV (Crab source). b) Operating as EAS front interceptor at distance from the shower core, ARGO is capable of providing relatively complete and detailed informations on both the electron and muon population in the EAS; the shower front coverage added to the function of muon tracking hodoscope, gives to ARGO the unique characteristics of a “WIDE ENERGY RANGE TELESCOPE (WERT)” [1] for the Primary Cosmic Rays, capable of “fertilizing” large areas (increasing with shower size) and providing complete data on individual events from the rather well known region at the low energy range (1014 - 1015) eV up to the presently high energy detectable limit at > 1019 eV. The project described is proposed by a Consortium of Italian Universities and Research Institutes (S.I.N.G.A.O.) for a location in Southern Italy, at the Castelgrande Plateau [2].