New air fluorescence detectors employed in the Telescope Array experiment

Abstract

Since 2007, the Telescope Array (TA) experiment, based in Utah, USA, has been observing ultra high energy cosmic rays to understand their origins. The experiment includes a surface detector (SD) array and three fluorescence detector (FD) stations. The FD stations, installed surrounding the SD array, measure the air fluorescence light emitted from extensive air showers (EASs) for precise determination of their energies and species. The detectors employed at one of the three FD stations were relocated from the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) experiment. At the other two stations, newly designed detectors were constructed for the TA experiment. An FD consists of a primary mirror and a camera equipped with photomultiplier tube pixels. To obtain the EAS parameters with high accuracy, understanding the FD optical characteristics is important. In this paper, we report the characteristics and installation of the new FDs and the performances of the FD components. The results of the monitored mirror reflectance during the observation time are also described in this report. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.