PLASTEX: the palermo-leeds air shower tracking experiment |
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Authors: | G Agnetta B Biondo R Buccheri C M Carollo O Catalano J Linsley A Mangano L Scarsi M A Lawrence P A Ogden M Patel R J O Reid and A A Watson |
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Institution: | (1) Istituto di Fisica Cosmica ed Applicazioni dell'Informatica, CNR, Palermo;(2) Dipartimento di Energetica e Applicazioni di Fisica dell'Università, Palermo;(3) Department of Physics, University of Leeds, Leeds |
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Abstract: | Summary An experiment is described in which air shower measurement are carried out by means of a ?track detector? placed in a test
location near the center of a conventional array telescope currently in use for gamma-ray astronomy. This array, consisting
of scintillators (GREX, operated at Haverah Park (U.K.) by the Department of Physics of the University of Leeds), provides,
in the usual way, for each shower it selects, its own estimates of shower direction and shower particle density at the test
location. Estimates of the muon density at the test location are provided by a large muon detector in operation nearby. The
scintillator array triggers this muon detector and it is able to provide flexibly tailored trigger signals for the track detector.
This detector named PLASTEX (acronym for Palermo Leeds Air Shower Tracking Experiment), consisting of tracking chambers above
and below a thin sheet of lead, designed to provide data on charged particles incident from the air, on the stopping, scattering
and multiplication of these particles in the lead sheet and on charged particles created in the lead sheet by shower photons.
From these data estimates are derived of the densities and directional properties of the electrons, photons and muons striking
the track detector. These results are to be compared with those given by the conventional detectors and with theoretical predictions
given by simulations that are being carried out. The objective is to develop and assess optimal procedures for employing clusters
of PLASTEX-type detectors as telescopes for the observation of UHE cosmic rays, including cosmic gammarays, over a very wide
energy range.
To speed up publication, the proofs were not sent to the authors and were supervised by the Scientific Committee. |
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Keywords: | Cosmic-ray interactions with the Earth |
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