Observations of the highest-energy cosmic rays by the

by Dr Patrick Allison (Ohio State University)

Thursday Mar 22, 2007, 3:30 PM → 4:30 PM Pacific/Honolulu

Rm 112 (UHM - Watanabe Hall)

Cosmic rays are high energy particles observed over an extremely wide range of energies. They have been observed with an energy as high as 320 EeV, or roughly 20 J in a single particle, far above the energy ever seen in a terrestrial particle accelerator, though the flux is incredibly low - roughly one particle per square kilometer per century. The study of the highest energy cosmic rays is of great interest, since their initial production, as well as their propagation to us, remains a challenge to explain with conventional physics. The Pierre Auger Observatory is a next-generation cosmic ray observatory of unprecedented size, being constructed to observe these highest energy particles with a large improvement in statistical and systematic precision. The state of the Observatory, as well as the first observations, will be presented, and the future of the field of particle astrophysics will be discussed.

J.G. Learned