Tunka-Experiment

The Tunkinskaya experiment measures extensive air showers that are triggered by charged cosmic rays or high-energy gamma radiation. It is located in Siberia near Lake Baikal in Tunkatal. Main component of the Tunkinskaya experiment is a 1 sq. km large measuring field of 133 photomultiplier detectors, with the dark, clear nights Cherenkov light of air showers is measured. From these measurements, the arrival direction, energy and type of cosmic rays can be reconstructed. In this way will be using the Tunkinskaya experiment, the origin of high-energy cosmic rays. The Tunkinskaya experiment covers approximately the same energy as the KASCADE -Grande experiment at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ( KIT) in Germany from, namely to about 1 EeV, but uses a different measurement technique and so can the results of KASCADE -Grande independently checked.

Expansion plans

When Tunkinskaya experiment several enhancements are planned. The size of the field is to be increased significantly through the establishment of additional, external detector stations to measure air showers more precisely on the rare high energies. In addition, as part of a 2012 starting Helmholtz-Russia Joint Research Group ( HRJRG ) two detector systems are to be installed on Tunkinskaya Experiment: Prototype stations of HiScore experiment aimed at the high-energy gamma radiation measurements. Tunkinskaya Rex, which consists of about 25 radio antennas extension of Tunkinskaya experiment, which also are used to measure hochnergetischer cosmic radiation.