Tunka experiment

The Tunka experiment measures air showers, which are initiated by charged cosmic rays or high energy gamma rays. The Tunka experiment is situated in Siberia in the Tunka valley close to lake Baikal. It mainly consists of a 1 km² sized array of 133 photomultipliers, which detect the Cherenkov light of air showers during dark and clear nights. From these measurements it is possible to reconstruct the arrival direction, energy and type of the cosmic rays. Aim of the measurements is to solve the question of the origin of the cosmic rays in the energy range up to about 1 EeV. Thus, the Tunka experiment explores the same energy range as the KASCADE-Grande cosmic ray experiment at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), but uses a different and independent measurement technique.

Map of Tunka experiment in Siberia

History

The Tunka experiment started already in the 1990s with a smaller array of 25 photomultiplier detectors. In September 2009 the current array of 133 detectors (Tunka-133) was inaugurated. In October 2011 the size of array was extended by a factor of 4 times by the installation of further, outer photomultiplier detector stations. This aims on the rare cosmic rays at ultra-high energies beyond 0.1 EeV, where a large detection area is important to measure a sufficient amount of cosmic rays

Future plans

Several extensions are planned for the Tunka experiment. In 2012, 20 scintillation stations with an area of 10 m² each from closed KACKADE-Grande array will be installed for common operation with the Cherenkov array. The deployment of scintillation counters within the Tunka array provides a cross-calibration of different methods for the reconstruction of air shower parameters. In the frame of a Helmholtz-Russia Joint Research Group (HRJRG) starting 2012, the Tunka experiment will be extended by two further detector systems: Prototype stations of the HiScore experiment aim on the detection of ultra-high energy gamma rays. Moreover, Tunka-Rex (Tunka radio extension), an array of 25 radio antennas, will be devoted to air shower measurements, too, using an independent detection method.

External links

Coordinates: 51°48′35″N 103°04′02″E / 51.80972°N 103.06722°E / 51.80972; 103.06722

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