AAS Meeting #194 - Chicago, Illinois, May/June 1999
Session 11. Cosmic Rays, Supernova and Light Element Production
Display, Monday, May 31, 1999, 9:20am-6:30pm, Southwest Exhibit Hall

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[11.06] Light Transmission From Extended Air Showers Produced By Cosmic-Rays and Gamma-Rays

S.F. Taylor, T. Abu-Zayyad, K. Belov, Z. Cao, G. Chen, C.C.H. Jui, D.B. Kieda, J.N. Matthews, M. Salamon, P.V. Sokolsky, J.D. Smith, P. Sommers, R.W. Springer, B.T. Stokes, S.B. Thomas, L.R. Wiencke (U. Utah), J.A.J. Matthews (U. New Mexico), R.W. Clay, B.R. Dawson, K. Simpson (U. Adelaide), J. Bells (U. Montana), J. Boyer, B. Knapp, B.H. Song, X.Z. Zhang (Columbia U.), High Resolution Fly's Eye Collaboration, Telescope Array/U. Tokyo Collaboration

Cosmic-ray and gamma-ray experiments that use the atmosphere as a calorimeter, such as the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) and the Telescope Array (TA), require understanding the transmission of the light from the air shower of particles produced by the cosmic-ray or gamma-ray striking the atmosphere. To better understand the scattering and transmission of light to the detectors, HiRes measures light from different calibrated sources. We compare scattered light from laser shots a few kilometers away from the two HiRes detectors, with direct light from stable portable light sources placed a few meters in front of the phototubes. We use two HiRes detectors to study and isolate contributions to fluctuations of the measured light. These contributions include fluctuations in the source intensity, the night sky background, scattering and transmission of the laser beam, the phototubes and electronics, and photostatistics.

The High Resolution Fly's Eye Collaboration gratefully acknowledges the support of the US National Science Foundation, DOE, the US Army's Dugway Proving Grounds, and the support of our member universities.


If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is as follows:
http://sunshine.chpc.utah.edu/research/cosmic/hires/index.htm

stuart@cosmic.utah.edu

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