 | U. cosmic ray
project under way
Construction in west desert gets OK from BLM, plus a grant
By Joe Bauman
Deseret Morning News
An ambitious U.S.-Japanese cosmic ray observatory project is moving forward, with construction under way in the desert west of Delta.
Recently, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued a permit to allow the $17 million project, which uses BLM and state land. Also, the National Science Foundation approved a $2.4 million grant.
The project is a joint one between researchers at the University of Utah and in Japan. For nearly a decade these scientists came up with different results in measuring cosmic rays. So the teams are joining together, using both types of
detectors in the same area, to see if the results will differ.
Ground detectors will record strikes by cosmic rays, and other detectors will search the sky for light flashes, which spark when rays hit the atmosphere.
The array of 576 ground detectors will use two layers of clear plastic scintillators to record cosmic ray strikes. Three "fluorescent detectors," spaced about 25 miles apart, will watch for faint flashes in the night sky.
"A 'central laser facility' building, located between the three fluorescence detector sites, will send laser beams skyward when the mirrors and recorders need to be calibrated," according to a press release from the university.
"We're very happy to see funding" from the National Science Foundation "and then the BLM approval process," said Pierre Sokolsky, professor and chairman of the university's physics department.
The approval process "took quite a while, almost two years," he said during a telephone interview from Italy.
At one time, the increase in cost of fuel threatened to make the program more expensive than expected. But by fabricating equipment in Utah "instead of Japan, we were able to make some significant cost savings," Sokolsky said.
Japanese researchers are partners in the project, officially named the Telescope Array. The U. says the array should be 10 times more sensitive than previous experiments and that it may allow scientists to resolve the origin of
ultra-high energy particles that hit Earth.
The Japanese government has funded the project to the amount of $14. 4 million. The National Science Foundation grant, which is good for three years, will allow the university to move equipment from the Fly's Eye observatory at Dugway
Proving Ground and use it for the new project.
Physicists hope to conduct a shakedown test by spring 2007.
"Then, in the summer, we should be able to start taking real data," Sokolsky said.
Physics professor Charlie Jui said the project is on schedule. One concern, however, involves helicopters that will be used to carry in ground-array stations in order to avoid damaging desert landscapes with a maze of roads.
Temporarily, helicopters might be needed to fight wildfires rather than ferry equipment.
"If the fire season's bad, we may slip a bit" in the schedule, Jui said.
Jui is pleased with the NSF grant, commenting, "It's sort of an affirmation of our effort for the last 10 years."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
Words: 526
Section: Local
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