EEE project: Science in the schools

The EEE (extreme energy event) project will study extensive air showers through the detection of the muon component by means of a network of tracking detectors, installed inside high schools distributed all over Italy. Project's aim is to involve teachers and students in a frontier cosmic ray experiment, as well. The EEE telescope is based on a large but simplified and cheap version of the detector designed for the time of flight measurements (TOF) of the ALICE experiment at LHC: 3 large (~2 m2) multi-gap resistive plate chambers (MRPC), built at CERN by high school students and teachers, which contribute directly to the full operation of the telescope. Using multiple small gas gaps combined with the use of high gain and fast gas mixture (Freon and SF6 based), the MRPCs show a time resolution of the order of 100 ps. Particle tracking is performed equipping MRPCs with 24 strips read, at both ends, by front-end electronics based on NINO ASIC and using commercial multi-hit TDCs. The two-dimensional information on the cosmic muon impact point is obtained by the hit strip, in one direction, and by the time difference of the signals arriving at the two strip ends in the other direction, thus providing space resolution of the order of 1 cm. By using the three impact points it is possible to reconstruct the direction of the crossing muon. The angular resolution obtained for the muon zenith angle is about 1deg. The GPS synchronization of the telescopes will open the way to search for coincidences. The school involvement in the Project started around 2003 with 7 pilot towns. The project, supported by the Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) and Museo Storico della Fisica e Centre Studi e Ricerche "E. Fermi", has been conceived and lead by Prof. Antonino Zichichi.