Speaker
Description
Andes Large area PArticle detector for Cosmic ray and Astronomy (ALPACA) is a new air shower experiment to be constructed near the Chacaltaya mountain in Bolivia at altitude of 4740 m. A conventional surface array with 401 scintillation counters covers 83,000 m$^2$ to detect cosmic rays and cosmic gamma rays above 10TeV. Total 5400 m$^2$ of water Cherenkov muon detector is constructed 2.2 m underground that enables to discriminate between cosmic-ray and gamma-ray initiated showers to enhance the sensitivity to gamma rays. ALPACA explores the southern gamma-ray sky at 100TeV for the first time and reveals the accelerators of galactic cosmic rays called PeVatrons. A prototype array called ALPAQUITA covering 20% of the full ALPACA area with 1000 m$^2$ muon detector is now funded and under construction. Scientific targets and sensitivity of ALPACA together with the current status of ALPAQUITA are presented.
