1998 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Study of the Highest Energy Cosmic Ray
| Project/Area Number |
07247102
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
TESHIMA Masahiro Univ. of Tokyo, ICRR, Assoc. Professor, 宇宙線研究所, 助教授 (40197778)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
OHNISHI Munehiro Univ. of Tokyo, ICRR, Assistant, 宇宙線研究所, 助手 (10260514)
HAYASHIDA Naoaki Univ. of Tokyo, ICRR, Assistant, 宇宙線研究所, 助手 (50114616)
YUDA Toshinori Univ. of Tokyo, ICRR, Professor, 宇宙線研究所, 教授 (60092368)
ISHIKAWA Fumio Univ. of Tokyo, ICRR, Assistant, 宇宙線研究所, 助手 (30092133)
YOSHIDA Shigeru Univ. of Tokyo, ICRR, Assistant, 宇宙線研究所, 助手 (00272518)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1995 – 1998
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| Keywords | Cosmic Ray / Gamma Ray / Carenkov light / Air Fluorescence light / Super Nova / Active Galactic Nuclei / Telescope |
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| Research Abstract |
The main purpose of this project is to investigate the origin of cosmic rays by measuring the highest energy cosmic rays and high energy gamma rays precisely. The Cerenkov light and Air fluorescence light from cosmic ray air showers can be measured by the Utah Seven Telescopes Array in optical method. The tracks of air showers is recorded by the telescopes of large diameter and their geometrical structures give us many informations, and the energy and arrival direction can be determined with high accuracy.
Since 1995, we have developped the telescope. Two telescopes were installed at Akeno Observatory in Japan and the fundamental performance was examined. The construction of seven telescopes array at Utah, USA was completed in 1998 after three years effort.
The significant results obtained from this Utah Seven Telescope Array are as follows. The high energy gamma rays from Crab Nebula, AGN Mrk421, Mrk501 and IES1959 were successfully observed. Especially, the in the observation of Mrk501, we have discovered the existence of the kink in the energy spectrum around 5-7 TeV andI the periodicity of 24days in the gamma ray intensities. The object IES1959 were identified as a TeV gamma ray sources by our observations. For the study of the highest energy cosmic rays, we have shoot the laser beam in the atmosphere and simulated the air showers. These images were observed by telescopes at a distance of 22km and the sensitivity for the highest energy cosmic rays by the Utah Seven Telescope Array were evaluated.
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