MARIACHI, the Mixed Apparatus for Radar Investigation of Cosmic-rays of High Ionization, is an apparatus for the detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray

Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray

In astroparticle physics, an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray or extreme-energy cosmic ray is a cosmic ray with an extreme kinetic energy, far beyond both its rest mass and energies typical of other cosmic rays....

s (UHECR) via bi-static radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

 using VHF

Very high frequency

Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

 transmitters. MARIACHI is also the name of the research project at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...

 operating the apparatus. The apparatus is located on Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

.

Its inventors hope that the MARIACHI apparatus will detect UHECR over much larger areas than previously possible, and that it will also detect ultra high energy neutrino

Neutrino

A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...

 flux. The ground array detectors are scintillator

Scintillator

A scintillator is a special material, which exhibits scintillation—the property of luminescence when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate, i.e., reemit the absorbed energy in the form of light...

 arrays that are built and operated by high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 students and teachers.

External links

• Implementation of ground-based scintillation detectors as a tool for studying cosmic ray activity- Matthew Lucia, University of Notre Dame
  University of Notre Dame
  The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
  
  ; Matthew Captaine, St. Norbert College
  St. Norbert College
  St. Norbert College is a private Catholic liberal arts college in De Pere, Wisconsin. Founded in October 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Norbertine priest and educator, the school was named after Saint Norbert of Xanten. In 1952, the college became coeducational and today enrolls about 2,175...
  
  ; Dima Vavilov, Michael Marx, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University