Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic rays and Gamma Astronomy

The paper is a script of a lecture given at the ISAPP-Baikal summer school in 2018. The lecture gives an overview of the Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic rays and Gamma Astronomy (TAIGA) facility including historical introduction, description of existing and future setups, and outreach and open data activities.Comment: Lectures given at the ISAPP-Baikal Summer School 2018: Exploring the Universe through multiple messengers, 12-21 July 2018, Bol'shie Koty, Russi

Method of Separation Between Light and Heavy Groups of Primary CR Nuclei by LDF of Cherenkov Light in the Range 300–3000 TeV

The problem of chemical composition below the knee in the cosmic-ray energy spectrum has not yet been solved due to low statistics collected from direct experiments. In the HiSCORE experiment the lateral distribution functions (LDF) of Cherenkov light of EASs with energy greater than hundreds of TeV can be measured in detail for millions of individual events. A full steepness of LDF is sensitive to the depth of shower maximum and as a result to primary particle type. In this paper, we developed a parametric method of separation between heavy and light groups of nuclei using the ’knee-like’ approximation of LDF and taking into account measurement uncertainty

TAIGA -- an advanced hybrid detector complex for astroparticle physics and high energy gamma-ray astronomy

The physical motivations, present status, main results in study of cosmic rays and in the field of gamma-ray astronomy as well future plans of the TAIGA-1 (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma Astronomy) project are presented. The TAIGA observatory addresses ground-based gamma-ray astronomy and astroparticle physics at energies from a few TeV to several PeV, as well as cosmic ray physics from 100 TeV to several EeV. The pilot TAIGA-1 complex is located in the Tunka valley, ~50 km west from the southern tip of the lake Baikal.Comment: Submission to SciPost Phys. Proc., 10 pages, 2 figure

Primary Cosmic Rays Energy Spectrum and Mean Mass Composition by the Data of the TAIGA Astrophysical Complex

The corrected dependence of the mean depth of the EAS maximum $X_{max}$ on the energy was obtained from the data of the Tunka-133 array for 7 years and the TAIGA-HiSCORE array for 2 year. The parameter $\langle\ln A\rangle$, characterizing the mean mass compositon was derived from these results. The differential energy spectrum of primary cosmic rays in the energy range of $2\cdot 10^{14}$ - $2\cdot 10^{16}$\,eV was reconstructed using the new parameter $Q_{100}$ the Cherenkov light flux at the core distance 100 m.}Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to SciPost Phys.Pro

First results of the tracking system calibration of the TAIGA-IACT telescope

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Development of hybrid reconstruction techniques for TAIGA

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Tunka-Grande array for high-energy gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray physics: preliminary results.

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The Search for Diffuse Gamma Rays Using Data from the Tunka-Grande Experiment

The Tunka-Grande array is part of an experimental complex located in the Tunka Valley (Republic of Buryatia, Russia) about 50 km from Lake Baikal. This complex also contains the Tunka-133 and Tunka-Rex arrays. The aim of this complex is to study the primary cosmic ray energy spectrum and mass composition in the energy range of 1016–1018 eV, and to search for diffuse gamma rays in the energy range of 5 × 1016–5 × 1017 eV. The design of the Tunka-Grande array and the procedure for reconstructing the parameters of extensive air showers (EASes) are described, and preliminary results are presented from the search for diffuse gamma rays with energies of more than 5 × 1016 eV

Simulation of the hybrid Tunka Advanced International Gamma-ray and Cosmic ray Astrophysics (TAIGA)

Up to several 10s of TeV, Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) have proven to be the instruments of choice for GeV/TeV gamma-ray astronomy due to their good reconstrucion quality and gamma-hadron separation power. However, sensitive observations at and above 100 TeV require very large effective areas (10 km(2) and more), which is difficult and expensive to achieve.The alternative to IACTs are shower front sampling arrays (non-imaging technique or timing-arrays) with a large area and a wide field of view. Such experiments provide good core position, energy and angular resolution, but only poor gamma-hadron separation. Combining both experimental approaches, using the strengths of both techniques, could optimize the sensitivity to the highest energies.The TAIGA project plans to combine the non-imaging HiSCORE [8] array with small (∼10m(2)) imaging telescopes. This paper covers simulation results of this hybrid approach