Although they may not know their exact origin, University researchers are amazed by the power behind the cosmic rays invading the Earth.
In Argentina, a group of University researchers is studying the origin of cosmic rays entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Currently the origin of these rays is unknown.
Although these cosmic rays are unnoticed by everyday individuals, researchers say people always are surrounded by them.
Cosmic rays are energy-charged particles that continually bombard the Earth. They vary from high energy to low energy. The low energy rays are more frequent and less harmful.
Several professors and graduate students from the physics and astronomy departments are currently working hard to find more information about where these rays come from.
James Matthews, an associate physics and astronomy professor, said people are constantly in a “bath of radiation.” If a cosmic ray went through a person’s head, he would not be aware of it.
Although these low energy rays are more common, Matthews’ research focuses more on high energy rays, which are more harmful and very rare.
“If you lifted Tiger Stadium above the atmosphere, a high energy cosmic ray would hit it once every twenty years,” Matthews said.
The project started ten years ago when Matthews and a Nobel Prize-winning professor from another university decided to begin a more in-depth study on the origin of cosmic rays.
When they were first getting started, the two professors began spreading the word to their colleagues about their research and trying to gather support.
Currently, the $100 million project is located in Argentina and includes 250 scientists from 14 different countries. The U.S. funds 20 percent of the project through the Dept. of Energy and the National Science Fund.
The researchers are trying to figure out the origin of the cosmic rays and what caused them to begin hitting Earth.
Matthews said finding the origin is a challenge because it is highly unlikely that the rays originated from an ordinary star. He said a high energy cosmic ray contains a billion times more energy than an ordinary star, so a star does not have enough power to create one of these rays.
“The particles are at such high energy that wherever they are being born and accelerated must be the most spectacular place in the universe,” Matthews said.
His overwhelming interest in the unknown is what keeps Matthews’ research alive.
In order to collect these cosmic rays, the researchers must have wide open space and dark, clear skies.
Instead of collecting the particles individually, they lay out detectors on the ground that collect millions of them. Matthews said there are 1,600 detectors one mile apart that sense particles when they fall from the atmosphere.
The shower of particles is 3 to 4 miles in diameter and 100 yards thick. Matthews said the particles splatter down on the ground like a pancake.
Another technique researchers use to detect the particles is a high-tech telescope called the Fly’s Eye. It is sensitive to faint light in the sky and requires a clear, dark sky to work.
Matthews said this equipment usually only works about 10 percent of the time.
The researchers’ study of the origin of these rays eventually will help them understand what causes them to hit Earth.
Matthews and his group are the first researchers to use these two techniques at the same time and to research cosmic rays on this grand of a scale. Matthews said they have plans to build another base in Utah or Colorado in order to broaden their view of the sky.