HiSCORE: a new detector for astroparticle and particle physics beyond 10 TeV

Abstract

The new large-area (100 km2) wide-angle (0.9 sr) air Cherenkov detector HiSCORE (Hundred i Square-km Cosmic ORigin Explorer) aims at the exploration of the cosmic ray and γ-ray sky (accelerator sky) in the so far poorly covered energy range from 10 TeV to 1 EeV. The main motivation for observations in this energy regime is to solve the origin of Galactic cosmic rays. Other questions of astroparticle and particle physics can be addressed in this energy regime. Furthermore, new physics questions might arise by opening the last remaining observation window of γ-ray astronomy (TeV/PeV). HiSCORE is based on non-imaging Cherenkov light-front sampling with sensitive large-area detector modules of the order of 0.5 m2. Sampling the lateral photon density and arrival-time distribution allows the reconstruction of the direction, the energy and the type (mainly via the shower depth) of the primary particle. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.