Young scientists from Altai State University, with the support of the Priority 2030 program, completed an internship at a world-class gamma observatory

In November, a graduate student Artemy Revyakin and master's students Ruslan Bizhanov and Mikhail Grebenkov from the Institute if Digital Technologies, Electronics and Physics completed an internship at the laboratory of astrophysics of elementary particles and gamma-ray astronomy of Scientific Research Institute of Applied Physics of Irkutsk State University (SRIAP ISU). SRIAP ISU is one of the key developers of detectors and software for the TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for Cosmic Ray Physics and Gamma Astronomy) observatory.

The TAIGA observatory, deployed in the Tunka Valley in the Republic of Buryatia, approximately 50 km west of Lake Baikal, has the status of a unique scientific installation with the potential for expansion and modernization to a “megascience” class installation. The research carried out here is aimed at studying the sources of gamma radiation and ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This area belongs to the most rapidly developing and relevant areas of high-energy particle astrophysics.

Artemy, Ruslan and Mikhail are research associates of the Laboratory of Space Monitoring and Computational Technologies, where, under the leadership of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor Anatoly Lagutin, the Russian Science Foundation-funded project “Energy spectra and mass composition of cosmic rays according to the data of the TAIGA astrophysical complex: development of new methods and techniques of restoration."

The astrophysical group and the team of the Center for Space Monitoring and Emergency Forecasting of Altai State University have been included in the international TAIGA collaboration since 2018. As part of the collaboration, in particular, research was carried out to find the optimal location for placing a full-scale “megascience” observatory. By analyzing a large array of satellite data over a long period of time, it was established that, according to astroclimatic and infrastructural criteria, the preferred area is the Chuya steppe in the Altai Republic.

It is worth noting that in 2023, the honorary status of “Editor's Choice” of the journal “Izvestia RAS. Physical Series" in the thematic issue "Physics of Cosmic Rays" was assigned to the scientific article of the TAIGA collaboration "Main results of the TUNKA-GRANDE experiment."

During the internship we studied specialized software blocks for reading and processing experimental data from the Tunka-Grande and TAIGA-HiSCORE installations, the technical design of detectors and data collection procedures, and measurement recording formats. The software blocks and acquired skills in working with them will allow to independently restore the parameters of air showers from high-energy cosmic rays. Young Altai State University researchers discussed experimental plans for the current season, studied the status and configurations of existing installations.

Support for Artemy Revyakin’s internship was provided as part of the academic mobility program for young scientists, and Ruslan Bizhanov and Mikhail Grebenkov became winners of the travel grant competition.

Cosmic rays are charged particles of extraterrestrial origin, the energies of which can reach colossal values – tens of joules per particle. The highest-energy particle in the history of observations was recorded on Earth in 1991 and was called “Oh-my-god!” – its energy was so incredibly high, comparable to the kinetic energy of a tennis ball after a professional serve. And recently, on November 23, 2023, an article was published in Science reporting on the registration by the international Telescope Array collaboration (in which Russian scientists also participate) of the second highest-energy cosmic ray particle, which later received the name Amaterasu, in honor of the Japanese goddess of the sun. It is equally important to observe cosmic gamma rays, which are not deflected by interstellar magnetic fields and can clearly indicate the source that generated them. It is still not completely known what is the source of super-high and ultra-high energy cosmic rays. They are probably born outside our Galaxy, but the data from recent studies are very contradictory and difficult to interpret unambiguously. The reason for the appearance of such particles may be new, unknown to scientists, physics outside the framework of the Standard Model. For scientists, this is a rare opportunity to literally touch something unknown to science, to look into the secrets of the Universe. And scientific instruments, methods and technologies created for these purposes, as a rule, quickly find their application beyond the boundaries of fundamental science.

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