THE PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY

The Pierre Auger Observatory project is an international effort to study the highest energy cosmic rays. Two giant detector arrays, one in the Southern and other in Northern Hemisphere are in construction. The southern site, already deployed (by jan/2008) consists of 1600 Cherenkov modules at ground surface and wide-view atmospheric fluorescence telescopes, spread over an area of 3000 Km2. The northern site will have similar characteristics, covering a wider area. The purpose is to measure the arrival direction, energy, and mass composition of cosmic ray air showers above 1019 eV.
  BRAZILIAN PARTICIPATION
In Brazil, the following Institutions are involved in the Project:
  1. University of São Paulo
  2. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas
  3. Pontíficia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
  4. Universidade Federal da Bahia
  5. Universidade Federal Fluminense
  6. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
  7. State University of Campinas (UNICAMP)

At UNICAMP, the Department of Cosmic Rays and Chronology is involved in the project. It contributes to Surface Detectors, Data Aquisition System, Data Processing & Analysis and Atmospheric Monitoring. For further information, see Projects in this page.