SciPost Submission Page
The ALPACA experiment: The project of the first sub-PeV gamma-ray observation in the southern sky
by Teruyoshi Kawashima, The ALPACA Collaboration
Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Teruyoshi Kawashima |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | scipost_202208_00093v1 (pdf) |
| Date accepted: | Sept. 8, 2022 |
| Date submitted: | Aug. 31, 2022, 1:36 p.m. |
| Submitted by: | Teruyoshi Kawashima |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics Proceedings |
| Proceedings issue: | 21st International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI2022) |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
|
| Approach: | Experimental |
Abstract
The ALPACA experiment is a project aiming to observe sub-PeV gamma rays for the first time in the southern hemisphere. The main goal of ALPACA is to identify PeVatrons, the accelerators of Galactic PeV cosmic rays, by observing sub-PeV pion-decay gamma rays generated in interactions between PeV cosmic rays and the interstellar medium. This new air shower experiment is located at an altitude of 4,740 m above sea level in the middle of Mt. Chakartaya in Bolivia. The air shower array consists of 401 scintillation counters covering an 83,000 m^2 surface area. In addition, a water-Cherenkov-type muon detector array with an area of 3,700 m^2 is installed to discriminate gamma rays from background cosmic rays. The prototype array ALPAQUITA will start data taking in 2022 and will extend to ALPACA in 2024. We report on a general introduction to ALPACA, the progress of the project, and the sensitivity to sub-PeV gamma rays.
Published as SciPost Phys. Proc. 13, 008 (2023)