Introduction to Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO)

• Published in: Chinese astronomy and astrophysics 2019-10, Vol.43 (4), p.457-478
• Main Authors: Zhen, Cao, Ming-jun, Chen, Song-zhan, Chen, Hong-bo, Hu, Cheng, Liu, Ye, Liu, Ling-ling, Ma, Xin-hua, Ma, Xiang-dong, Sheng, Han-rong, Wu, Gang, Xiao, Zhi-guo, Yao, Li-qiao, Yin, Min, Zha, Shou-shan, Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cosmic ray—VHE gamma ray—extensive air shower—LHAASO
• ISSN: 0275-1062; 1879-128X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chinastron.2019.11.001

Since the century discovery of cosmic ray, the origin of cosmic ray is always a mystery. The study on the origin of high-energy cosmic ray is in an interdiscipline between the very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy and the cosmic ray physics. The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) is a unique and new generation cosmic-ray station with the advantages of high altitude, all-weather, and large-scale. It takes the function of hybrid technology to detect cosmic rays and to upgrade greatly the resolving power between gamma rays and cosmic rays. The LHAASO is expected to make the full-sky survey to find new gamma-ray sources, to obtain the highest sensitivity of gamma-ray detection at the high energy band of > 30 TeV, and to make the very high precision measurement on the component energy spectra of cosmic rays in a broad energy range of 5 orders of magnitude, in order to provide the evidence for revealing the mystery of the origin of cosmic ray. This paper describes the detector structure, performance superiority and scientific motivation of the LHAASO.