The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) project is a new
generation multi-component instrument, to be built at 4410 meters of altitude
in the Sichuan province of China, with the aim to study with unprecedented
sensitivity the spec trum, the composition and the anisotropy of cosmic rays in
the energy range between 1012 and 1018 eV, as well as to act
simultaneously as a wide aperture (one stereoradiant), continuously-operated
gamma ray telescope in the energy range between 1011 and 1015 eV. The
experiment will be able of continuously surveying the TeV sky for steady and
transient sources from 100 GeV to 1 PeV, t hus opening for the first time the
100-1000 TeV range to the direct observations of the high energy cosmic ray
sources. In addition, the different observables (electronic, muonic and
Cherenkov/fluorescence components) that will be measured in LHAASO will allow
to investigate origin, acceleration and propagation of the radiation through a
measurement of energy spec trum, elemental composition and anisotropy with
unprecedented resolution. The remarkable sensitivity of LHAASO in cosmic rays
physics and gamma astronomy would play a key-role in the comprehensive general
program to explore the High Energy Universe. LHAASO will allow important
studies of fundamental physics (such as indirect dark matter search, Lorentz
invariance violation, quantum gravity) and solar and heliospheric physics. In
this document we introduce the concept of LHAASO and the main science goals,
providing an overview of the project.Comment: This document is a collaborative effort, 185 pages, 110 figure