[Explanation] On February 17, in Daocheng County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, on Haizi Mountain at an altitude of 4,410 meters, the high-altitude cosmic ray observatory "Lasuo" captured the cosmic rays in the atmosphere and converted them into data.
At the same time, more than 600 kilometers away, in the Tianfu Cosmic Ray Research Center in Tianfu New District, Sichuan, researchers are debugging equipment and analyzing the returned data.
Recently, the Tianfu Cosmic Ray Research Center officially settled in Tianfu New District, Sichuan, marking that China's national major scientific and technological infrastructure "Lasso" has the "strongest brain".
Chen Songzhan, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and deputy director of the Tianfu Cosmic Ray Research Center, introduced that the research center relies on the "cable" construction and consists of a cosmic ray research laboratory, a detection technology research laboratory, and a high-altitude observation and verification laboratory. The top team supports the scientific operation of the "cable", conducts in-depth physical research on the "cable", and upgrades the research and development of the "cable" in the future.
[Concurrent] Chen Songzhan, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Our center is built on the basis of the observatory. The observatory needs to operate stably for a long time, so there may be maintenance, research and development, and technical support in the middle. Our center is the first to provide very important technical support.
The observatory needs to obtain a lot of data, and at the same time attract talents to carry out research here for a long time. Based on our data, we can achieve a major physical achievement.
In the future, the observatory may be upgraded or improved, and we will carry out technology research and development here (the center).
Because we make such a large device, we must serve the local economy and society, so we want to carry out science popularization, and at the same time plant a scientific dream with primary and middle school students.
[Explanation] In 2021, the "Lasso" experiment detected the highest energy photon ever observed by human beings, breaking through human's traditional understanding of the acceleration of particles in the Milky Way, and opening the observation window of ultra-high energy gamma rays.
In this regard, Chen Songzhan said that the "Lasso" experiment can help humans observe many new astronomical phenomena.
[Concurrent] Chen Songzhan, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Although this experiment is at a cosmic ray observatory, a small part of it is gamma astronomy, so one of our very important (purposes) is to do astronomical research.
We see these stars in an optical band, and we are in a gamma band (observation) starry sky with a higher frequency and a shorter band, that is, the astronomical phenomena seen in different bands are different.
In particular, our best place is that we can detect ultra-high gamma rays with higher energy.
In fact, our cosmic ray research is also related to the sun, so through the influence of the sun on us, we can actually make a measurement and forecast of solar activities and the space environment of the sun and the earth.
Record the effects of lightning, thunderstorms, and cosmic rays. In fact, we can study the mechanism of these effects and the like.
[Explanation] It is understood that in the next step, the Tianfu Cosmic Ray Research Center will build corresponding cosmic ray research laboratories, detection technology research and development laboratories, high-altitude observation and verification laboratories, gather top teams in related fields, and carry out in-depth physical research.
[Concurrent] Chen Songzhan, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
At present, we actually have three directions for the future (exploration). The first one is that the short-term must be around the "cable" experiment, that is, there may be some deficiencies, so we hope to increase some equipment to improve.
Because China is in the northern sky area, we definitely hope to move our equipment to the southern sky area in the mid-term and cooperate with many countries in the world.
In the long run, we hope to develop a neutrino detection device, which needs to be detected in the deep sea.
Reporter Lu Yang reports from Chengdu
Responsible editor: [Wang Kai]