The Complex of Experimental Facilities for the Cosmic Ray Investigation at the Tien Shan Mountain Station

Abstract

The study describes the experimental complex of the station located in the Tien Shan mountains at an elevation of 3340 m above sea level. The complex consists of detectors of different types scattered across the station area, such as scintillation particles detectors, Cherenkov detectors, radio emission detectors for the measurement of the electron component of extensive air showers (EAS) created by the (1–1000) PeV cosmic ray particles, an ionization calorimeter and neutron detectors for the study of the nuclear-active component of EAS cores, and the underground particle detectors for the detection of cosmic ray muons. The data acquisition system allows the simultaneous recording of parameters from various stand-alone detectors registering an EAS, and storage of the acquired data in the database. As an illustration of research capability, the results of the EAS study are presented here which were obtained during the last few years at the different experimental set-ups constituting the Tien Shan complex.

On the use of the mutual correlation of cosmic rays penetrating the earth’s crust with geoacoustic emission

“…It is known [13,17] that one of the conditions for the occurrence of acoustic emission in the Earth's crust is the threshold energy of muons, which is 3 GeV. Muons of such energies arise under the condition that the energy of primary particles reaches 10 15 eV.…”

Characterization of Thermoluminescent Dosimeters for Neutron Dosimetry at High Altitudes

“…The dosimetric monitoring in these areas combines scientific interest aiming to deepen the knowledge of the physical aspects of cosmic radiation with the need to meet the requirements of radiation protection recommendations for human exposure. Many studies demonstrated that aircraft crew and astronauts constitute a group of workers receiving one of the highest annual effective doses [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Because of this scientific evidence, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) stated that the exposure to cosmic radiation of aircraft crew and frequent flyers must be managed as a planned exposure situation in order to monitor the received dose and minimize the potential risk of radio-induced effects on health [ 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”