The TUS detector of extreme energy cosmic rays on board the Lomonosov satellite

Abstract

The origin and nature of extreme energy cosmic rays (EECRs), which have energies above the 50 EeV, the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) energy limit, is one of the most interesting and complicated problems in modern cosmic-ray physics. Existing ground-based detectors have helped to obtain remarkable results in studying cosmic rays before and after the GZK limit, but have also produced some contradictions in our understanding of cosmic ray mass composition. Moreover, each of these detectors covers only a part of the celestial sphere, which poses problems for studying the arrival directions of EECRs and identifying their sources. As a new generation of EECR space detectors, TUS (Tracking Ultraviolet Set-up), KLYPVE and JEM-EUSO, are intended to study the most energetic cosmic-ray particles, providing larger, uniform exposures of the entire celestial sphere. The TUS detector, launched on board the Lomonosov satellite on April 28, 2016, from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia, is the first of these. It employs a single-mirror optical system and a photomultiplier tube matrix as a photo-detector and will test the fluorescent method of measuring EECRs from space. Utilizing the Earth's atmosphere as a huge calorimeter, it is expected to detect EECRs with energies above 100 EeV. It will also be able to register slower atmospheric transient events: atmospheric fluorescence in electrical discharges of various types including precipitating electrons escaping the magnetosphere and from the radiation of meteors passing through the atmosphere. We describe the design of the TUS detector and present results of different ground-based tests and simulations.

arXiv comment19 pages; v2: figures 6 and 9 replaced to match the published version

References in corpus (4)

• Trigger and Aperture of the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• The Jem-Euso Mission
• Observing the Ultrahigh Energy Universe with OWL Eyes
• Optimization of the Orbiting Wide-angle Light Collectors (OWL) Mission for Charged-Particle and Neutrino Astronomy

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies
• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
• Mini-EUSO mission to study Earth UV emissions on board the ISS
• Observation of night-time emissions of the Earth in the near UV range from the International Space Station with the Mini-EUSO detector
• An extensive-air-shower-like event registered with the TUS orbital detector
• Development of a cosmic ray oriented trigger for the fluorescence telescope on EUSO-SPB2
• Mini-EUSO data acquisition and control software
• Developments and results in the context of the JEM-EUSO program obtained with the ESAF Simulation and Analysis Framework
• Search for extreme energy cosmic ray candidates in the TUS orbital experiment data
• Kinematics reconstruction of the EAS-like events registered by the TUS detector
• Application of neural networks to classification of data of the TUS orbital telescope
• EAS observation conditions in the SPHERE-2 balloon experiment
• Implications of Mini-EUSO measurements for a space-based observation of UHECRs
• Relativistic dust grains: a new subject of research with orbital fluorescence detectors
• Prospects of detecting a large-scale anisotropy of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from a nearby source with the K-EUSO orbital telescope
• Neural Network Based Approach to Recognition of Meteor Tracks in the Mini-EUSO Telescope Data
• Prospects of observing gamma-ray bursts with orbital detectors of ultra-high energy cosmic rays