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PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY

PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY. Education and Outreach. Gregory Snow University of Nebraska DPF 2011, Providence, Rhode Island 9-13 August 2011. Outline. Introduction to the Auger Observatory and Goals of the Education and Outreach Task Efforts in Mendoza Province, Argentina

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PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY

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  1. PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY Education and Outreach Gregory Snow University of Nebraska DPF 2011, Providence, Rhode Island 9-13 August 2011 DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  2. Outline • Introduction to the Auger Observatory and Goals • of the Education and Outreach Task • Efforts in Mendoza Province, Argentina • Public Lectures • Building Open House Celebrations • Visitor Center in Office Building • Rural Schools Program • Science Fairs • James Cronin School in Malargüe • Other Education/Outreach Efforts • Online Resources • New video documentary • Michigan Technical University Scholarship Highlights of 10+ years of outreach activities DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  3. The Pierre Auger Observatory We are here. Malargüe is a small town on the high plains, the foothills of the Andes. Mendoza Province is also the wine making region of Argentina.

  4. Observatory Layout Surface Detector (SD) Array 1600 detector stations 1.5 km spacing 3000 km2 Fluorescence Detectors (FD) 4 Telescope enclosures 6 Telescopes per enclosure 24 Telescopes total DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  5. The Hybrid Design – 2 detector techniques employed Surface detector array + Air fluorescence detectors • Nearly calorimetric energy calibration of the fluorescence detector transferred to the event gathering power of the surface array. • A complementary set of mass sensitive shower parameters. • Different measurement techniques force understanding of systematic uncertainties • Determination of the angular and core position resolutions Glow represents UV fluorescence light emitted by N2 in atmosphere

  6. ICRC 2011, Beijing, August 2011 Proceedings contribution • Education and • Outreach paper and • poster presented • at each ICRC along • with science papers DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  7. Goals of the Education/Outreach Task • Use the Auger Observatory and international collaboration to enhance • science literacy and technology skills in the regions of the Auger sites • and internationally • Increase public awareness and support for basic research in physics, • astrophysics, and all areas of science • Encourage and support a wide range of education/outreach projects • which link schools, community groups, and the public with the • science and scientists of the Auger Observatory • Provide technical and non-technical information on Auger to a wide • range of audiences – students, public, government officials, scientific • colleagues • Recruit and encourage the participation of groups underrepresented • in science in Auger education/outreach activities DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  8. 2000 2004 Auger collaborators participatingin Malargüe Day parade – a tradition !! 2003 2005 DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  9. Auger collaboration participatesin Malargüe Day parades 2010

  10. Public Lectures in Malargüe • Nightly science talks given to student and • adult groups during collaboration meetings DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  11. Auger Office Complex InaugurationOctober 2001

  12. Visitor Center at Auger Office Building Data Acquisition Visitor Center 10  12 m2 DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  13. Visitor Center at Auger Office Building PC and multimedia projection Seats 60 people Spark Chamber from Portugal Quarter-size FD mirror set-up from Karlsruhe DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  14. Visitor Center Hosts Many School Groups 60 elementary students from Malargüe 57 7th graders from General Alvear 50 7th graders from Maipu DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  15. Visitors logged since 2001 by year Over 65,000 total, about 6000 per year DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  16. Collaboration instrumental in • Malargüe’s new planetarium, the • 2nd in Argentina. On Scientific Council DPF 2009, Detroit, July 28, 2009 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  17. Rural Schools Program Science presentation Donation of electric heaters Observatory staff members volunteer their time to bring cosmic ray science and infrastructure improvements to remote schools which have difficulty visiting the Observatory Supported by donations from collaborating institutions and individuals to an Education Fund DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  18. The Collaboration has sponsored three Science Fairs in its Assembly Building 2005 Science Fair 25 student-teachers teams from all over Mendoza Province Poster for advertising DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  19. November 2007 Science Fair drew42 participating teams Jim Cronin with first-placeteam in Technology DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  20. November 2010 Science Fair drew22 participating teams Youngest team and farthest distance traveled Collaborators serve as judges Prizes awarded DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  21. Close Contact with Malargüe Schools

  22. Diplomas for students with names on SD tanks November 2003 “Ezra” • Tank names solicited from • Malargüe students DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  23. Collaboration members present frequent courses for local science teachers Rebeca Lopez presenting hands-on course to teachers in General Alvear, 200 km from Malargüe Rebeca Lopez (Mexico) explains hands-on optics experiments to Malargüe teachers Beatriz García (UTN Mendoza) presents an astronomy course to Malargüe teachers Malargüe teachers demonstrate their own experiments to other teachers

  24. James Cronin School Inauguration New school openedNovember 2007 Funding from Malargüe,Mendoza Province,U.S. Grainger Foundation DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  25. Google Earth Model of the Observatory 3D images of Observatory buildings and detectors with fly-over capability DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  26. Release of event information to public • Since October 2007 • 5 languages • Wikipedia links • Google site statistics, 4000 hits per year DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  27. Using Auger data released to public Lamar, Colorado, high school students win regional science fair DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  28. New Auger Video Documentary Surface detector and signage along Route 40 Fermilab’s Carlos Hojvat with Geiger counters • “Voces del Universo”, 26 minutes • Features detectors and work at the site, plus activities • at collaborating universities, interviews in native languages • English and Spanish subtitles • DVD and video stream at http://www.auger.org DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  29. Michigan Technological UniversityScholarship • One student from Malargüe supported • for 4-year program every other year • Tuition, room and board, fees covered • Students selected by Malargüe’s • school principals and mayor • 1st student enrolled Autumn 2001 • 4th student graduated May 2011 • Students have embarked on engineering • or science careers in the U.S. or • Argentina • 5th student to started in the Autumn 2010 Dave Nitz and Angelo Chialva at MTU DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  30. Conclusions • Outreach in the local community and beyond has • been instrumental to the success of the Auger • Observatory • Close contact with the community and schools has • fostered a sense of ownership and being part of the • experiment’s scientific mission DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  31. Backup Slides DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  32. U.S. Institutions (17) Argonne NYU N. Mex. Case Western Northeastern Penn Colo. School of Mines Ohio State Utah Colo. State Penn State Wisconsin Fermilab UCLA Louisiana State Chicago Michigan Tech Nebraska The Auger Collaboration67 Institutions, 369 Collaborators Argentina Netherlands Australia Poland Bolivia* Portugal Brazil Slovenia Czech Republic Spain France U.K. Germany USA Italy Vietnam* Mexico * associate Alan Watson Jim Cronin DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  33. Aerial Photos of Fluorescence BuildingsNovember 2006 LIDAR Enclosure

  34. Some nights in Spanish Tere got inspired Hans spoke Spanish Many collaborators participate Hans: Welcome Beatriz: Physics intro Ingo: SD status Alberto: FD status Tere: Results 40 students and teachers in attendance DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  35. Some nights in English 68 people in attendance, mostly students of English Question to Alan: “What do cosmic rays have to do with the origin of the Universe?” DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  36. Mendoza Province’s only Planetarium in Malargüe • Auger collaboration and city of Malargüe • worked together on the idea of a • planetarium DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  37. Press coverage, press releases DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  38. Forum with Teachers and Students • 120 participants • 8 Auger collaborators • Discussion of future programs • requested by teachers and • students • Many good ideas: future course • topics, coordination with School • Board, science fair, … DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  39. Eureka Science Park in MendozaParque de la Ciencia y la Tecnología • Two years of planning and logistics led to the public inauguration of an • Auger Observatory exhibit on November 22, 2003 • Outside: 2 Mexican SD tanks outdoors with explanatory signs • Inside: Italian FD prototype from Los Leones, posters, brochures, PC with • interactive activities, small displays

  40. Eureka Science Museum • Mexican prototype • SD tanks • Outfitted by UTN, • Mendoza, group DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  41. Eureka Science Museum Former Los Leones prototype mirrors donated to Eureka by Torino group/INFN Children are fascinated by it! DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  42. Eureka Science Museum Electronics displays PCs, brochures, posters Beeping Geiger counter display DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  43. Eureka Science Museum History of cosmic ray physics in Argentina and Auger details DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  44. Auger Exhibit Inauguration • Governor elect of • Mendoza Province, • Ing. Julio Cobos • Press • coverage DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  45. The James Cronin School of Communication, Art and Design Visits with students Naming ceremony New building needed Funding initiative in progress 1st graduation festival Nov. 2003

  46. Collaborators help with local student science projects Three students place 11th (out of 300) in Mendoza Science Fair with their Auger exhibit and accompanying posters DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  47. Press coverage, press releases Mendoza Eureka exhibit opening DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  48. Press coverage, press releases Rumbos Magazine (Los Andes) DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  49. Press coverage, press releases December 2003 Louisiana State, Jim Matthews January 2004 Professors, students part of effort to learn about cosmic rays The mention of Argentina conjures any number of exotic or dramatic images ... Eva Peron ... dancing the tango ... gauchos riding the plains ... falling high-energy cosmic rays ….. DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow

  50. Visitor Center Web Site Home page News postings DPF 2011, August 9, 2011 Auger Education and Outreach – G. Snow Monthly news and events E-mail bulletin

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