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From: guy@slu70.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.physics,net.sci
Subject: Re: Particle Accelerators/ Cosmic Rays
Message-ID: <156@slu70.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Feb-86 13:17:11 EST
Article-I.D.: slu70.156
Posted: Thu Feb 13 13:17:11 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Feb-86 04:20:31 EST
References: <572@hounx.UUCP> <139@epimass.UUCP> <11782@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
Lines: 12
Xref: watmath net.physics:3866 net.sci:534
Summary: detectors

In article <11782@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, desj@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (David desJardins) writes:
> 
>    If this is really true why don't we build orbiting detectors and wait
> for cosmic rays to strike their targets at these extremely high energies?
> Is the density of cosmic rays too low to make this practical?
>    Sounds a lot cheaper than $1E10 for the SSC!
> 
We do, or send them up in balloons or whatever to get them above most
of the atmosphere. The problem, as you suggest, is one of density.
Compared to the beam density of a typical accelerator, cosmic rays are very
diffuse. As I recall, the brouhaha over the claimed discovery of a magnetic
monopole back in the middle seventies was based on cosmic ray data.