Interactions News Wire #22-06
17 March 2006 http://www.interactions.org
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Source: Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory
Content: Press Release
Date Issued: 17 March 2006
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Media contacts:
Mike Perricone, Fermilab Office of Public Affairs, 630-840-5678, mikep@fnal.gov
Paul Mantsch, Project Manager, Pierre Auger Observatory, mantsch@fnal.gov
Greg Snow, University of Nebraska, Education/Outreach Task Leader, Pierre Auger Observatory, gsnow@unlhep.unl.edu

Portugal Joins Growing International Collaboration Building the Pierre Auger Observatory

Malarguë, Argentina—The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory will formally welcome Portugal’s Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics as its newest member institution during the collaboration meetings 15-19 March in Malarguë, Argentina, site of the world’s largest cosmic ray detector array.

The observatory’s international membership grows to 17 countries with the addition of the Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics (LIP). The Portuguese technical and scientific association was created in 1986 with sponsorship by the National Foundation for Science (FCT), the Bureau for International Relations for Science and High Education (GRICES), both under the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

“Portugal is proud of joining the Auger collaboration,” said Jose Mariano Gago, Portugal’s Minister of Science and Technology. “Having joined CERN in 1985, Portugal has initially focused its scientific and technical efforts in the CERN Programme. More recently, however, coordinated activities on astroparticle physics were also actively pursued. Cosmic ray physics is an old field, renewed by experiment and theory, and is an exciting and unique frontier of observation of the cosmos. I would like to congratulate Auger collaborators for their vision and efforts and I wish all the best to the new Portuguese team in Auger.”

LIP is largely involved in scientific and technological research in high energy physics and related instrumentation. LIP is also involved in space projects with NASA and the European Space Agency, and conducts research in Monte Carlo techniques for medical physics.

“We are very pleased to welcome Portugal to the Pierre Auger Observatory,” said project manager Paul Mantsch of Fermilab in the US. “These are exciting times for Auger. The southern site of the Observatory is approaching completion and first physics results are being published.  At the same time we are planning for Auger North, which will complete our coverage of the sky that includes large clusters of galaxies not visible from the south.”

The southern array comprises 1600 water Cerenkov detectors on the Argentine Pampas, spread over 3,000 square kilometres. The Auger Observatory is exploring the mystery of high-energy cosmic rays—charged particles striking the earth at energies above 1019 electron volts, about 10 million times higher than the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator, the Tevatron at Fermilab. The construction cost of approximately $50 million has been shared by the participating countries in the collaboration.

The site for the northern array has been selected near the town of Lamar in Southeastern Colorado in the US. With observatories in both hemispheres, the Auger collaboration will have the opportunity to view cosmic rays across the entire sky

The first physics results from the observatory, presented in August 2005, include a new cosmic ray spectrum at the highest energies; the results of anisotropy and point source searches; and new limits on the photon content of the primaries; all of which could address several issues within exotic theories of cosmic ray origin.

The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory is named for French scientist Pierre Victor Auger (1899-1993), who in 1938 was the first to observe the extensive air showers generated by the interaction of very-high-energy cosmic rays with the earth’s atmosphere.

More information on Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, including visual overview and interview with Nobel Laureate James Cronin: http://www.auger.org/

Pierre Auger Observatory Images: http://www.auger.org/observatory/2004.html