Cosmic Rays: the Most Energetic Particles in the Universe

Presenter: James Cronin

Published: July 2014

Age: 18-22 and upwards

Views: 1460 views

Tags: astronomy;cosmic;ray;energy

Type: Lectures

Source/institution: Lindau-Nobel

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Astrophysical objects are able to accelerate atomic nuclei to energies 10^7 times more than man made accelerators such as LHC. _Particles arrive at earth from space with energies as great as 50 joules, a macroscopic energy in a microscopic particle. It is not understood how nature can accelerate particles to such energies. __Such remarkable events occur rarely, about one per kilometer squared per century. Recently a cosmic ray observatory has been built in Argentina that covers an area of 3000 square kilometers._ This Pierre Auger Observatory is a collaboration of 16 countries. _Excellent data has been collected since January 2004. The details of the observatory will be described. The most significant results will be reported.