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Science education trough cosmic ray experiments in high schools

Science education trough cosmic ray experiments in high schools. V. Popa, ISS Bucharest. Carpathian Summer School of Physics 2007 Sinaia, Romania, August 20th-31st, 2007.

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Science education trough cosmic ray experiments in high schools

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  1. Science educationtrough cosmic ray experimentsin high schools V. Popa, ISS Bucharest Carpathian Summer School of Physics 2007 Sinaia, Romania, August 20th-31st, 2007

  2. The basic idea: involve high school students and teachers in a network of “simple-minded”, easy to build, maintain and use, Cosmic Ray Detectors. Make science education, but also research, by expanding the network at a large scale. The original idea was implemented from ’98 by the Alberta University, Edmonton, Canada (Jim Pinfold): ALTA (Alberta Large Time Coincidence Array).

  3. Central (cluster) control GPS LED PM DAQ Plastic scintillator ? Local station

  4. Properties an ALTA-like Detector • LOCAL COINCIDENCE obtained using local system and hardwired electronics. Allows pointing of shower direction to  2->3 degrees. • GPS TIME STAMP is obtained when a local coincidence occurs. Timing is good to ~15 ns • MIP SENSITIVITY. Each detector should respond to a single MIP. • ENERGY THRESHOLD for a local detector with a 10m triangle is 1014 eV (from Corsika) • OFFLINE “TRIGGER” timed stamped local coincidences, or events, are stored for various offline studies. Average size Of a 1014 ev shower 10m

  5. Physics: Time coincidences: mapping the sky in V(U)HECR (Extensive Air Showers with local coincidences and Giant AS with coincidences between sites) Single muon rates: seasonal variations, correlations with the atmospheric pressure, large electromagnetic storms early warning (Forbush effect) Education: “… to increase the number of students completing a scientific or technical study in 2010 by 15%” (Lisbon, 2000) How to use that? Physics & Educational goals

  6. CR Physics could be fascinating for students… • The Sun Solar Wind Low Energy < 10 GeV • Supernovae Capable of accelerating particles to ~1015eV • AGNs / GRBs … Possible sources for UHECRs • Exotic UHECR Sources “Top Down”solutions (topological defects), SUSY, VHE Neutrinos, Monopoles, etc. Cosmic Strings

  7. …giving them hands-on experience, they will learn not only CR physics, but also how to build and use a radiation detector, how to analyze data, how to use Internet for other than chat & games… and they will find out how science works, and get used to belong to a large community.

  8. The ALTA idea spread first in North America…

  9. NALTA – Sites in North America CANLACT CANLACT ALTA BC-ALTA CANLACT CANLACT CROP SCROD WALTA CosRayHS CosRayHS SALTA CosRayHS CHICOS Detectors in place CosRayHS TECOSE In preparation Mexico City, etc.) In planning

  10. ASDA SEASA DEMOS DUKS Roland Maze CREATE HiSPARC SkyView CZELTA OCRE RoALTA CCREA HELYCON RENATO TRC From ~ 2000 several European countries started to develop similar detector arrays. Some are already operational (involving high schools), other in an initial development stage…

  11. HiSPARC (FOM-NIKHEF)

  12. SkyView (BUW)

  13. Roland Maze (IPJ, Lodz)

  14. HELYCON (Hellenic Open U.)

  15. ALTA SEASA HiSPARK

  16. Coordination at European level needed…

  17. FOM-NIKHEF U Sheffield ULB KTH CTU European cosmic ray science education network U Århus U Alcalá U Jiväskylä MEPhI “Discovering, understanding and enjoying Science trough Experimentation” BUW ISS HOU LIP IPJ U Catania

  18. Some of the EuroCosmics Objectives: • A computer network connecting clusters of detectors, GPS-antennae and local data servers to a central server and data base. • Standards for safe, robust, cost-effective and easy-to-handle instruments which can be made and operated by high-school stdents. • Standard data formats • Web-based tools for data storage and access • Digital archives for technical and educational materials • Knowledge transfer, including the EuroCosmics web site and a Summer Academy for high-school teachers, and regional meetings for students.

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