LAGO: The Latin American giant observatory

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Abstract

The Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) is an extended cosmic ray observatory composed of a network of water-Cherenkov detectors (WCD) spanning over different sites located at significantly different altitudes (from sea level up to more than 5000 m a.s.l.) and latitudes across Latin America, covering a wide range of geomagnetic rigidity cut-offs and atmospheric absorption/reaction levels. The LAGO WCD is simple and robust, and incorporates several integrated devices to allow time synchronization, autonomous operation, on board data analysis, as well as remote control and automated data transfer.

This detection network is designed to make detailed measurements of the temporal evolution of the radiation flux coming from outer space at ground level. LAGO is mainly oriented to perform basic research in three areas: high energy phenomena, space weather and atmospheric radiation at ground level. It is an observatory designed, built and operated by the LAGO Collaboration, a non-centralized collaborative union of more than 30 institutions from ten countries.

In this paper we describe the scientific and academic goals of the LAGO project - illustrating its present status with some recent results - and outline its future perspectives.

Introduction

Astroparticle physics is nowadays one of the scientific fields that evidence large interdisciplinary contributions. This is not only possible but even needed, given the large array of topics this discipline covers. Several space-borne and ground-based cosmic ray observatories have been built or are under development. These facilities are mainly coordinated in large international collaborations with hundreds or even thousands of scientists. In the particular case of Latin America (LA), the successful installation and commissioning of the Pierre Auger Observatory [1] in Malargüe, Argentina, generated an outstanding opportunity to develop Astroparticle physics and High Energy Physics in this region. In this work, we describe one of the resulting projects of this regional development: the Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO).

Section snippets

The Latin American giant observatory

The Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO), formerly known as the Large Aperture Gamma Ray Bursts Observatory, is a project conceived in 2006 [2] to detect the high energy component of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs, with typical energy of primaries Ep20GeV) by installing 10 m2–20 m2 water Cherenkov detectors (WCD) at very high altitude sites across the Andean ranges. From this initial aim, LAGO has evolved toward an extended astroparticle observatory at a regional scale, currently operating WCDs and

The LAGO programs

Scientific and academic objectives are organized in different programs and are carried out by the corresponding working groups. LAGO programs cover several aspects of the project, from the installation, calibration and operation of the detectors to the search for pathways to transfer data from remote sites. Complete simulation chains involving all the related aspects (from CR propagation to detector response) [5], data analysis techniques specially designed for the very different energy and

Conclusions

In this paper we outline the Latin American Giant Observatory, its main scientific capabilities and implications for the development of astroparticle physics at Latin America. We also describe the key programs of LAGO, oriented to search for GRBs, high energy phenomena, and space weather, using low cost and reliable detectors at ground level. A complete chain of simulations and data analysis techniques has been developed to exploit WCD measuring capabilities in different energy regimes. Several

Acknowledgments

The LAGO Collaboration is very thankful to all the participating institutions and to the Pierre Auger Collaboration for their continuous support.

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1

See the full list of members and institutions at lagoproject.org/collab.html.

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