MuSTAnG

Muon Spaceweather Telescope for Anisotropies Greifswald

INTAS Project - Solar and galactic cosmic ray particle acceleration and modulation

Consortium

University of Greifswald - Germany
University of Bern - Switzerland
Tel Aviv University and Israel Space Agency - Israel
Yerevan Physics Institute - Armenia

Summary

An investigation of energetic solar particle events is proposed. The use of large area particle detectors which can only be accommodated at Earth surface is vital for measuring the low fluxes of high energy particles accelerated in the vicinity of the Sun. The enigma of particle acceleration in the Universe can not be explored without understanding of solar particle accelerators. The energy spectra of highest energy solar particles, as measured by the surface detectors will shed light on this universal processes of high-energy particles acceleration at numerous galactic and extragalactic sites.

Detected at earth, energetic particles also provide highly cost-effective information on the key characteristics of the interplanetary disturbances. Because cosmic rays are fast and have large scattering mean free paths in the solar wind, this information travels rapidly and can be useful for spaceweather forecasting. Taking into account that only few of a great number of Solar Flares (SF) and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) produce intensive ion fluxes (so called - Solar Energetic Particle events - SEP), it is not only critical to alert clients about the arrival of the most severe radiation storms, but also to minimize the number of false alarms against events which are not severe enough to cause damage. Because the flux of high-energy ions is weak and because the most violent particle events are usually highly anisotropic, a network of large area particle detectors is necessary for reliable measurements. The present proposal is focused along these lines, as it investigates the characteristics of violent SEP events by a proposed Eurasian network of cosmic ray detectors at Armenia, Germany, Israel, and Switzerland.