Detectors for Cosmic Rays on Ground and in Space

Abstract

The origin of the cosmic rays has been a great mystery since they were discovered by Victor Hess in 1912. AGASA's observation of ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECR) possibly beyond the GZK (Greisen, Zatsepin and Kuzmin) cutoff stimulated the field in great deal. In addition, Kamiokande's detection of neutrinos from SN1987A and the H.E.S.S.'s detection of TeV gamma-rays from supernova remnants demonstrated the viability of neutrino and TeV gamma-ray astronomy for cosmic-ray research. A new generation of currently-operating or soon-to-be-operating detectors for charged particles, gamma-rays and neutrinos from cosmos will get us even closer to understanding the nature and origin of cosmic rays. Detectors for UHECRs, gamma rays and neutrinos are of particular importance in order to study the origins of cosmic rays since these particles are free from the deflection due to magnetic fields. Detectors for antiparticles and gamma rays would be useful to detect cosmic rays originated from the decay of the dark matter in the Universe. I will review these cosmic-ray detectors with particular attention on the differences of ground-based, balloon-borne and satellite-borne detectors.

14 pages, 21 figures, Invited Talk at 11th Vienna Conference on Instrumentation, Vienna, Austria, February 19-24, 2007, To be published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods A

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