Optical calibration of the Auger Fluorescence Telescopes

John A. J. Matthews

doi:10.1117/12.458013

3 March 2003 Optical calibration of the Auger fluorescence telescopes

John A. J. Matthews

Proceedings Volume 4858, Particle Astrophysics Instrumentation; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.458013
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Observatory is optimized to study the cosmic ray spectrum in the region of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) cutoff, i.e.cosmic rays with energies of ~10²⁰eV. Cosmic rays are detected as extensive air showers. To measure these showers each Auger site combines a 3000sq-km ground array with air fluorescence telescopes into a hybrid detector. Our design choice is motivated by the heightened importance of the energy scale, and related systematic uncertainties in shower energies, for experiments investigating the GZK cutoff. This paper focuses on the optical calibration of the Auger fluorescence telescopes. The optical calibration is done three independent ways: an absolute end-to-end calibration using a uniform, calibrated intensity, light-source at the telescope entrance aperture, a component by component calibration using both laboratory and in-situ measurements, and Rayleigh scattered light from external laser beams. The calibration concepts and related instrumentation are summarized. Results from the 5-month engineering array test are presented.

Citation Download Citation

John A. J. Matthews "Optical calibration of the Auger fluorescence telescopes", Proc. SPIE 4858, Particle Astrophysics Instrumentation, (3 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.458013

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