Underground water Cherenkov muon detector array with the Tibet air shower array for gamma-ray astronomy in the 100 TeV region

• Published in: Astrophysics and space science 2007-06, Vol.309 (1-4), p.435-439
• Main Authors: Amenomori, M., Ayabe, S., Bi, X. J., Chen, D., Cui, S. W., Danzengluobu, Ding, L. K., Ding, X. H., Feng, C. F., Feng, Zhaoyang, Feng, Z. Y., Gao, X. Y., Geng, Q. X., Guo, H. W., He, H. H., He, M., Hibino, K., Hotta, N., Hu, Haibing, Hu, H. B., Huang, J., Huang, Q., Jia, H. Y., Kajino, F., Kasahara, K., Katayose, Y., Kato, C., Kawata, K., Labaciren, Le, G. M., Li, A. F., Li, J. Y., Lu, H., Lu, S. L., Meng, X. R., Mizutani, K., Mu, J., Munakata, K., Nagai, A., Nanjo, H., Nishizawa, M., Ohnishi, M., Ohta, I., Onuma, H., Ouchi, T., Ozawa, S., Ren, J. R., Saito, T., Saito, T. Y., Sakata, M., Sako, T. K., Sasaki, T., Shibata, M., Shiomi, A., Shirai, T., Sugimoto, H., Takita, M., Tan, Y. H., Tateyama, N., Torii, S., Tsuchiya, H., Udo, S., Wang, B., Wang, H., Wang, X., Wang, Y. G., Wu, H. R., Xue, L., Yamamoto, Y., Yan, C. T., Yang, X. C., Yasue, S., Ye, Z. H., Yu, G. C., Yuan, A. F., Yuda, T., Zhang, H. M., Zhang, J. L., Zhang, N. J., Zhang, X. Y., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Yi, Zhaxisangzhu, Zhou, X. X.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics; Atoms & subatomic particles; Energy sources; Gamma rays
• ISSN: 0004-640X; 1572-946X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10509-007-9395-x

Issue Title: The Multi-Messenger Approach to High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources: Third Workshop on the Nature of Unidentified High-Energy Sources We propose to build a large water-Cherenkov-type muon-detector array (Tibet MD array) around the 37000 m^sup 2^ Tibet air shower array (Tibet AS array) already constructed at 4300 m above sea level in Tibet, China. Each muon detector is a waterproof concrete pool, 6 m wide × 6 m long × 1.5 m deep in size, equipped with a 20 inch-in-diameter PMT. The Tibet MD array consists of 240 muon detectors set up 2.5 m underground. Its total effective area will be 8640 m^sup 2^ for muon detection. The Tibet MD array will significantly improve gamma-ray sensitivity of the Tibet AS array in the 100 TeV region (10-1000 TeV) by means of gamma/hadron separation based on counting the number of muons accompanying an air shower. The Tibet AS+MD array will have the sensitivity to gamma rays in the 100 TeV region by an order of magnitude better than any other previous existing detectors in the world. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]