The high-altitude cosmic line observatory LHAASO will be built in Haizishan, Rice City County, Ganzi Prefecture.

Large scientific installations to uncover the origin of cosmic rays1, the high-energy Cosmic Line Observatory 2 already built in Argentina, the yet-to-be-launched Cherenkov Telescope Array 3, the High Altitude Cosmic Line Observatory 4 at Haizi Mountain in Ganzi City, and the Neuron Observatory, which has been built in Antarctica, june 4, in Gan, Sichuan Province. On Haizi Mountain in Rice City County, Zizhou, Cao Wei, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stood on a granite boulder, pointing to the open, flat mountain ahead, and said that in about four years, a high-altitude Cosmic Line Observatory (LHAASO) would be built, which would be the world's largest cosmic line detection device with the largest energy range.
LHAASO is about to be fully operational.
High-Energy Cosmic Line Opens a Window to Understanding the Milky Way The Cosmic Line is a high-energy particle from space with an energy span of 109-1020 electron volts, consisting mainly of protons and nucleus of various elements, and also containing a small number of electrons and photons.
it pervades the universe, always on our planet.
, chief scientist and project manager of LHAASO, said the cosmic line is a "galaxy meteorite", a "messenger" that transmits large events in the universe, and is the only sample of matter outside the solar system that exists on Earth.
so far we have not been in a way to obtain samples of objects outside the solar system, especially outside the Milky Way, so the cosmic rays emitted by these objects are a window into our understanding of the Milky Way, " he said.
the cosmic line carries important scientific information such as the origin of the universe, the evolution of the astro-body, solar activity and the earth's space environment, and the study of the cosmic line and its origin is an important way for mankind to explore the universe.
1912, Austrian scientist Hess first discovered the cosmic rays.
more than 100 years ago, many elementary particles were discovered in the study of cosmic rays, particle physics was pioneered, and six Nobel laureates in related research were born, but humans have never solved the mystery of the origin of cosmic rays.
thus, the origin of the cosmic line has always been recognized as a major frontier issue in the scientific community, ranking in the top 5 of the six or 11 basic scientific problems that have been condensed by scientific decision-making bodies in Europe and the United States.
from the end of the last century to the present, through the efforts of scientists from all over the world, more than 180 gamma-ray source objects have been found in the universe, which may be candidates for cosmic lines.
LHAASO project deputy manager, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of High Energy Physics researcher He Hehai said that high-energy cosmic line particles, may be produced by violent cosmic events, such as supernova eruptions, black hole eruptions, collisions between giant galaxies, etc. , may produce cosmic lines, are the objects we look for sources.
current research suggests that particles over 1018 electron volts should have originated outside the Milky Way, and studying the cosmic rays will allow us to know exactly what's going on in the universe.
" cosmic line particles have very high energy.
" He Hehai to the highest energy cosmic line protons, for example, its mass is only 10-24 grams, but its dynamic energy is comparable to the athlete Li Na played 150 kilometers per hour tennis ball.
the current human electronic collider has been able to produce high-energy particles.
But the energy of high-energy particles in the cosmic rays is far greater than that of the highest-energy collider ever developed by humans, and is 100 billion times higher than that of the Beijing positive and negative electron collider particles.
this high level of energy produced? What is the acceleration principle? It is these incredibles that have a great appeal to scientists.
thousands of detectors in three arrays, how can the cosmic line capture magical cosmic line particles? He first described the process by which cosmic particles entered the Earth.
high-energy cosmic line particles enter the Earth's atmosphere, they interact with the nucleus of the atmosphere, such as those of nitrogen or oxygen, which are broken like shells.
the result is that the nucleus, together with the shell, becomes a pile of secondary particles.
these secondary particles still carry high levels of energy, continue to interact with the nucleus of the atmosphere in the same way, and break up other nucleuses, producing more secondary particles.
repeated more than a dozen times, this is an exponential growth process, producing many secondary particles, the final number of secondary particles up to tens of billions, in the air like a particle "shower" instantly scattered over several square kilometers of area.
scientists call this process clustering.
particles produced by clustering are almost always running at the speed of light, and many secondary particles arrive almost simultaneously.
he said LHAASO wants to build a lot of detectors.
when cluster shooting occurs, as soon as a particle hits the detector, the detector flashes weakly.
if dozens or hundreds of detectors flashed at the same time, scientists would know that there was a very high-energy particle in the sky.
LHAASO covers an area of 2040 acres.
scientists plan to deploy thousands of detectors inside the observatory.
they are divided into three arrays.
array is a ground cluster particle array consisting of 5,195 electromagnetic particle detectors and 1,171 muse detectors.
5,195 electromagnetic particle detectors are lined up in a 15-meter-long positive triangle, while a muse detector is placed every 30 meters under 2.5 meters of soil.
second array is the Water Cherenkov detector, a 4.5-meter deep, 78,000 square meters of pure water pool, fully sealed, underwater arrangement of 3000 detection units.
third array is the 12 wide-angle Cherenkov telescopes.
these three types of detector arrays are connected to each other to form a huge composite detection device.
Chief Scientist Cao Yu said that LHAASO's specific scientific goal is to explore the origin of high-energy cosmic rays, to study the mechanisms of cosmic acceleration and propagation, and to conduct all-day gamma source scanning and search, accumulating statistical samples from various sources and exploring their high-energy radiation mechanisms.
scientists will also use LHAASO to explore new physical phenomena such as dark matter, quantum gravity, or Lorentz insanity destruction to discover new patterns.
"LHAASO's three detection arrays work together to solve the problem of the origin of cosmic lines.
" is full of confidence in this.
Why LHAASO chose the site 4410 meters above sea level Sichuan Rice City Haizi Mountain through extensive site selection and field survey in China's high-altitude areas, LHAASO finally selected the highlands located in Sichuan Rice City Haizi Mountain, with an average elevation of 4410 meters as the observation base.
he said, cosmic particles are absorbed by the atmosphere as they travel through the atmosphere.
high altitude and thin air, the probe can capture more cosmic particles.
the international scientific community generally believe that the Andes in South America and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China are better suited for high-energy particle observation, both at altitudes above 4,000 meters.
in addition to convenient observation, LHAASO selected Rice City Haizi Mountain also has a certain relationship with the living facilities of Rice City.
traffic, just 10 km from LHAASO is the civilian airport in Rice City.
scientists, to LHAASO work, expeditions and other activities do not have to ride Lawton.
where do scientists and staff who work at LHAASO live? And don't worry.
is only 50 kilometers away from LHAASO, and the altitude suddenly dropped to 3750 meters, eating and living are more convenient.
therefore part of the project is the construction of LHAASO's measurement and control base and living base in the county town of Rice City.
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