Two-layer water Cherenkov detector array for measurement of cosmic ray electrons and gamma-ray observations

by Andrii Neronov, Andrii Neronov, Andrii Neronov (Universite de Geneve (CH)), Andrii Neronov

Monday 2 May 2022, 11:15 → 12:00 Europe/Zurich

Hybrid

I will discuss a possibility of re-use of optical modules of ANTARES neutrino telescope (that will be extracted from the Mediterranean sea this year) for an improved  Water-Cherenkov Detector Array (WCDA). Existing WCDAs, such as those of HAWC and LHAASO observatories are composed of single layer network of photomultipliers immersed in water. They aim at gamma-ray observations in 10-1000 TeV energy range via detection of gamma-ray induced extensive air showers (EAS) on top of charged cosmic ray shower background. Their sensitivity is limited by the moderate quality of the cosmic ray background suppression. A two-layered WCDA setup would significantly improve the background suppression via detection of muon component of the EAS. This allows to reject proton and atomic nuclei cosmic ray showers and reduce the background down to its “irreducible” level of electron EAS. A by-product of better rejection of proton and nuclei background is the possibility to measure the spectrum of cosmic ray electrons in 10-100 TeV band, in the energy range not accessible to the space-based cosmic ray detectors such as AMS-02 and DAMPE. I will discuss a possibility to deploy a test setup for the two-layer WCDA in Geneva lake, using l’EXPLORE platform of EPFL.

NERONOV_02-04-22.pdf