Cosmic rays using water Cherenkov detectors in Antarctic: First Campaign toward the Antarctic node of the LAGO Collaboration

S. DASSO; O. ARESO; A.M GULISANO; M. RAMELLI

Ostend

Congreso; European Space Weather Week; 2017

Groundobservations of galactic Cosmic Rays (CRs) are systematically done fromseveraldecadesusingNeutronMonitors(NMs)atdifferentlocations. TheseobservationsallowedtoquantifyseveraleffectsoftheinterplanetarymagneticconditionsonthetransportofCRsintheheliosphere,bothonlargetimescales (e.g.,thesolarcycle)aswellasonshortertimescales(e.g. Forbush decreases).From NMs located at high latitudes it is also possible toobservesolarcosmicrays(e.g.,GroundLevelEnhancements,GLEs).BeyondthatobservationsusingNMsareveryusefultoquantifyCRsfluxesandhaveanindisputableimportanceinthepresent to determinethe conditions ofSpaceWeather, they are proportional counters ofneutronsthatcannotdiscriminateenergybandsfortheobservedparticles.WaterCherenkovdetectors (WCDs) have shown to be able to reproduce time structuresobservedwith NMs (e.g., observations from surface detectors of thePierre Augercollaboration).ThemajoradvantageofWCDscomparedwithNMsisthattheformeronescandiscriminate energy channels for the observed secondary chargedparticles (as forinstancemuons,electrons,gammaraysproducingcreationsofelectron-positronpairs).Fromnumericalsimulations,thisenergydiscriminationcanbeusedforabetterunderstandingofthefluxofprimaryCRsarrivingtotheterrestrialenvironment.In this work,we present the project LAGO-Antarctic node (LAGO: Latin AmericanGiantObservatory). The LAGO project is a collaborative network formed byeleven countries(Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,Guatemala,Mexico, Peru, Spain, andVenezuela).Many of these countrieshave LAGO-WCDs working in an operative way. ThenetworkofWCDshasnodesatsiteswithdifferentrigiditycut-offsanddifferentaltitudes.OneoftheaimsofLAGOistostudythefluxofthesecondaryparticlesatgroundlevel,andtolinkthemwiththeassociatedprimaryfluxestobetterunderstandthemodulationofCRsintheheliosphere.Anothermainaimis tomonitorthis flux toprovideoperativeSpaceWeatherinformation. In particular,wepresent herean update of the state of theart of the LAGOAntarcticnode,tobedeployedintheArgentineMarambiobase,intheAntarcticpeninsula.Thisnodewillhavetheminimumrigiditycut-off($R_c/sim$ 2GV)ofthecollaboration,andwillbetheonlyLAGOnodethatwillbeabletoobserveGLEs.WewillpresentthepresentLAGOAntarcticcampaignof2017-2018inMarambio,whereameteorologicalstationwillbeinstalled, a thermalcontrol system will be tested, and several tests of telemetry fromAntarctictoBuenosAireswillbedone.