The ARGO detector and its physics goals

  ARGO is a cosmic ray telescope optimized for the detection of small size air showers. The design of the detector is very simple: it consists of a single layer of RPC's (Resistive Plate Counters) covering an area of approximately 6500 sqm and providing a detailed space-time picture of the shower front. Performances, low cost and the opportunity of assembling in a close structure make RPC detectors a very attractive alternative to the traditional scintillation counters.
  Once operated at high elevation (~4000m a.s.l.), the ARGO detector could image with high efficiency and sensitivity atmospheric showers initiated by primaries of energies in the range 10GeV/500TeV.
  We propose building this detector at the Yanbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (Lhasa, Tibet), 4300 m a.s.l., 30 N latitude. The Yanbajing Laboratory offers important advantages provided by its unique natural environment. It is only 90 Km far from Lhasa, connected by an asphalt road, and, due to the shielding provided by the Himalayan mountains, benefits of good weather conditions also during the winter. It has to be stressed that the high elevation of the site provides very important advantages in various aspects of cosmic ray physics.

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Physics with ARGO

Data gathered with ARGO will allow to face a wide range of fundamental issues:

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Argo papers

All files are in PS format, compressed using GZIP.

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"Roma Tre" group activities

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Argo sites in other institutes

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Photo Gallery

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About the name ARGO

Meaning of the name ARGO and why it was chosen for our experiment.

ARGO is a common name in the greek mithology. It was used to name a city, a dog, a ship etc... We want to refer to the monster named Argo (sometimes written Argus) Panoptes (all-seeing) described with 100 eyes. Argo was believed to be so strong because he was able to sleep closing only 50 out of his 100 eyes. The legend tells that Argo was killed by Hermes, because Hermes, willing to steal the heifer Io that was guarded by Argo, was so skilfull with the sound of his flute that Argo fell asleep with all his eyes. After the death of Argo, the goddess Hera transformed Argo in the tail of a peacock. The graphic representation of Argo Panoptes is quite rare; usually one finds, painted in ancient greek vases, the scene in which Argo, Io, Hermes and sometimes Hera are represented together. The experiment ARGO (Astrophysical Radiation Ground-based Observatory) is similar to the mithological Argo Panoptes because it looks at all the sky with many detectors (eyes) day and night and never falls asleep.

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Giorgia Baldassarri, the first Argo graduate in Roma Tre

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Stefano Cardillo, the second Argo graduate in Roma Tre

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At "General Tecnica"

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