Mainz 2014 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 26: Ultrahochenergetische kosmische Strahlung 2

T 26.1: Group Report

Monday, March 24, 2014, 16:45–17:05, P3

The JEM-EUSO mission: towards Particle Astronomy — •Naoto Sakaki for the JEM-EUSO collaboration — Institut für Kernphysik (IKP) - Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

The JEM-EUSO mission is a next-generation international project to study the ultra-high energy universe with cosmic rays above 5×10¹⁹eV. The detector consists of three Fresnel lenses of ∼2.5 meter diameter with wide field of view and a focal surface of multi-anode photo-multiplier tubes with 3×10⁵ pixels in total to detect fluorescence and Cherenkov light in near ultra-violet region from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). It is expected to be launched in 2017 and to be attached to the International Space Station. The annual exposure will be 1 order of magnitude larger than experiments so far, and about 1,000 cosmic rays will be observed in the mission period of at minimum 3 years. UHECRs above 5×10¹⁹eV are barely bent in the extra-galactic and galactic magnetic field even if they are charged particles. Therefore, the identification of UHECR sources is expected. In addition to that, UHE neutrinos are expected to be detected because of the huge detection volume, ∼ 10¹² ton. In this talk, the science, the detector design, the present status of the JEM-EUSO mission will be presented and the German contribution to the mission discussed.