Department of Astroparticle Physics

The most important involvement of the department is our participation in the world largest detection system of cosmic rays - the Pierre Auger Observatory. This apparatus measures cosmic ray showers, which develop in the atmosphere as a result of an interaction of a cosmic ray particle coming from the universe with atomic nuclei of air gases. The energy of primary cosmic ray particles exceeds by many orders of magnitude the energy limit of human-made accelerators. The department staff is involved in the operation of the fluorescence telescopes, the data analysis and the atmospheric monitoring that is essential for an unbiased shower reconstruction. Scientists in the department attempt to understand, how the properties of hadronic interactions taking place during the shower development influence the shower properties, and which sources and processes are responsible for an origin of high-energy cosmic particles, and how these particles propagate through the universe to the Earth.

Other activities of the department concern the measurement of the fluorescence yield in air, which is crucial for precise energy reconstruction in fluorescence detectors, and the participation in the pioneering project attempting to detect cosmic ray showers at gigahertz frequencies. Furthermore, we also participate in the project of the largest survey telescope LSST, where the determination of properties of dark energy and dark matter is between the most important goals of this experiment.

The astroparticle physics team focuses also on outreach and educational activities. We stay in daily contact with students from the Charles University, the Palacky University and the Czech Technical University. In outreach we greatly benefit from experience of our senior team member Dr. Jiri Grygar - well known to the public in the Czech Republic and Slovakia because of his famous TV series about the Universe Okna vesmíru dokořán (Wide open windows of the Universe) from the years 1982–1990.

Research subjects

• CTA - photons of the highest energies
• Pierre Auger Observatory - Cosmic rays of the highest energies
• Measurment of the fluorescence yield in air
• LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope)
• Gigahertz emission caused by cosmic air shower