Tunka experiment
The Tunka experiment measures air showers that are triggered by charged cosmic rays or high-energy gamma rays . It is located in Siberia near Lake Baikal in the Tunkatal . The Tunka experiment now combines five different detector systems under the name TAIGA (English: Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma Astronomy): Tunka-133, Tunka-Rex and Tunka-Grande for charged cosmic rays as well as Tunka-HiSCORE and Tunka -IACT for gamma radiation.
Tunka-133
Tunka-133 is TAIGA's first detector and was inaugurated in 2009 as the successor to Tunka-25. Tunka-133 is a 1 km² measuring field with 133 photomultiplier detectors, with which the Cherenkov light of air showers is measured on dark, clear nights . The direction of arrival, the energy and the type of cosmic radiation can be reconstructed from these measurements. In this way the origin of the high-energy cosmic rays should be determined with the help of the Tunka experiment. The Tunka experiment covers roughly the same energy range as the KASCADE Grande experiment at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and like the surface detector from IceCube at the South Pole, namely up to about 1 EeV. However, Tunka-133 uses a different measuring technique and can thus independently check the results of KASCADE-Grande and IceCube.
Tunka-Rex
Together with Tunka-HiSCORE, Tunka-Rex was the first expansion within the framework of a Helmholtz-Russia-Joint-Research-Group (HRJRG) running from 2012 to 2015. From 2012 to 2016 it was gradually expanded to a total of 63 antennas, which cover the entire area of Tunka-133. By comparison with Tunka-133 it could be shown that the radio measurements from Tunka-Rex achieve the same accuracy for the energy of cosmic rays as the Cherenkovlicht measurements from Tunka-133. While the Cherenkovlicht measurements are only possible on clear nights, the radio technology can be used around the clock.
Tunka-Grande
Tunka-Grande is a measuring field made up of 19 measuring stations with particle detectors that originate from the KASCADE-Grande experiment, which has now ended. The stations are also set up within Tunka-133 and always measure together with the Tunka-Rex radio antennas. This combination of different measurement techniques is intended to achieve greater accuracy for the properties of cosmic rays, especially for their composition.
Tunka-HiSCORE
Tunka-HiSCORE uses the same measuring principle as Tunka-133, but with significantly more sensitive and more precise detectors in the HiSCORE experiment . In particular, the higher time accuracy leads to a better angular resolution, which is decisive for the scientific goal: Tunka-HiSCORE is to identify sources of high-energy gamma radiation. The first HiSCORE prototype stations were expanded in 2012 and 29 stations have been in operation over an area of 0.3 km² since 2016. A further expansion is planned for 2017.
Tunka-IACT
Tunka-IACT will consist of imaging Cherenkovlicht telescopes and function on the same principle as MAGIC , HESS and CTA . The combination with HiSCORE enables a higher maximum energy of the observable gamma radiation. The construction of the first telescope has now largely been completed (as of November 2016).
Web links
- TAIGA (English)
- Homepage of the Tunka 133 experiment
- Tunka-Rex
- Helmholtz-Russia-Joint-Research-Group (HRJRG-303)
- Press release on the HRJRG
Coordinates: 51 ° 48 ′ 35 ″ N , 103 ° 4 ′ 2 ″ E