It is now widely accepted that cosmic rays are the nuclei of atoms, from the entire range of naturally occurring elements, that travel at near-light-speeds for millions of years before reaching Earth. However, identifying the source of cosmic rays has proved to be a very difficult task.
The Pierre Auger Observatory – a 3000 km2 site in Argentina – is one of many institutions around the world scouring the universe for the source of cosmic rays and currently has 1600 Cherenkov detectors in operation, each looking to find the source of cosmic-ray showers with extremely high energies.
The Moon as seen by the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, in gamma rays of greater than 20 MeV. These are produced by cosmic ray bombardment of its surface.
This is in massive contrast to the techniques used by Austrian scientist Victor Hess, who was the first to discover cosmic rays on 7 August 1912 by travelling 5000 m above ground in a hot-air balloon. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1936 for his efforts.
The story of cosmic rays started in the 1780s when French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb noticed that an electrically charged sphere spontaneously lost its charge, which at the time was strange as scientists believed that air was an insulator, rather than a conductor.
Further investigations showed that air became a conductor when the molecules were ionized by charged particles or X-rays.
The source of these charged particles puzzled scientists as experiments revealed that objects were losing their charge even when shielded by a large volume of lead, which was known to block X-rays and other radioactive sources.
Hess was the first to discover that the ionization of air was three times greater at high altitudes than it was at ground level, leading him to conclude that there was a very large source of radiation penetrating our atmosphere from above.
The Moon‘s cosmic ray shadow, as seen in secondary muons detected 700 m below ground, at theSoudan 2detector
Credit: Wikipedia
In this feature, Watson states that there is an unexpected benefit stemming from Hess’s original cosmic-ray research: the designer of the communications system at the Pierre Auger Observatory has used the same sophisticated software to build a radio-based signalling system that now extends over 700 km of the single-track train line in the Scottish Highlands.
“The safety and reliability that rail travellers now enjoy while passing by lochs and through glens is a benefit from Hess’s daring flight a century ago that surely he could never have foreseen,” Watson writes.
Also in this issue:
The long road to the Higgs boson – With the discovery of the Higgs boson seemingly accomplished, Michael Riordan looks back at how this long-sought particle was predicted and the first quarter century of experimental searches for it
The next coolest thing – Laser cooling and trapping have transformed experimental atomic physics, and Kevin Weatherill and Edgar Vredenbregt describe how ultracold particle beams could soon do the same for nanoscience
Making the ‘wonder material’ – With the 2D carbon material graphene taking the world of physics by storm, Daniel Stolyarov – chief technology officer at Graphene Laboratories – describes how he and his wife, Elena Polyakova, turned the graphene boom into a business.
