Physics Goals and Status of JEM-EUSO and its Test Experiments

24th European Cosmic Ray Symposium

Haungs, Andreas^1

Institut für Kernphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Germany^1

关键词: Air showers;    Cherenkov photons;    Extreme energy cosmic rays;    Instrument definition;    International Space stations;    Scientific objectives;    Space detectors;    UV photons;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/632/1/012092/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/632/1/012092

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The JEM-EUSO mission aims to explore the origin of the extreme energy cosmic rays (EECRs) through the observation of air-shower fluorescence light from space. The superwide- field telescope looks down from the International Space Station onto the night sky to detect UV photons (fluorescence and Cherenkov photons) emitted from air showers. Such a space detector offers the remarkable opportunity to observe a huge volume of atmosphere at once and will achieve an unprecedented statistics within a few years of operation. Several test experiments are currently in operation: e.g., one to observe the fluorescence background from the edge of the Atmosphere (EUSO-Balloon), or another to demonstrate on ground the capability of detecting air showers with a EUSO-type telescope (EUSO-TA). In this contribution a short review on the scientific objectives of the mission and an update of the instrument definition, performances and status, as well as status of the test experiments will be given.