URL: https://physikseminar.desy.de/zeuthen/past_colloquia/colloquia_in_2014/june_25_2014/@@siteview
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Exploring the Universe at the highest energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory
Karl-Heinz Kampert (AUGER)
Seminar room 3, 3.00 pm
Enormous progress has been made recently in observing the most energetic particles in Nature. However, major puzzles remain to be solved. In particular, a flux suppression of cosmic rays has been observed above an energy of 5x10^19 eV, such as expected from photo-pion production by protons propagating through the CMB (GZK-effect). However, data from the Pierre Auger Observatory, the worlds largest cosmic ray observatory located in Argentina, show a shift towards heavier primary particles above 5x10^18 eV, thereby suggesting to see the maximum energy of cosmic particle accelerators rather than energy losses by propagation effects. We shall review the experimental data and discuss its consequences. Observing particles up to 10^20 eV enable tests also of particle- and fundamental physics, such as features of hadronic interaction at energies up to sqrt(s)=100 TeV, or Lorentz invariance violation or smoothness of space-time structure. We shall end the presentation by outlining plans for the near-term future and discussing the prospects and future challenges of UHECR physics.
