Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory: a global network of detectors to probe contemporary physics mysteries

TL;DR

CREDO aims to detect ultra-high energy cosmic-ray super-preshowers using a global network of detectors, including citizen science, to explore fundamental physics questions about cosmic-ray origins.

Contribution

This paper introduces the CREDO project, a novel global network integrating existing detectors and citizen science to search for super-preshowers and address cosmic-ray physics mysteries.

Findings

Development of a worldwide detector network

Integration of citizen science with cosmic-ray detection

Potential to identify super-preshower events

Abstract

In the past few years, cosmic-rays beyond the GZK cut-off ($E > 5 \times 10^{19}$ eV) have been detected by leading collaborations such as Pierre Auger Observatory. Such observations raise many questions as to how such energies can be reached and what source can possibly produce them. Although at lower energies, mechanisms such as Fermi acceleration in supernovae front shocks seem to be favored, top-down scenarios have been proposed to explain the existence of ultra-high energy cosmic-rays: the decay of super-massive long-lived particles produced in the early Universe may yield to a flux of ultra-high energy photons. Such photons might be presently generating so called super-preshowers, an extended cosmic-ray shower with a spatial distribution that can be as wide as the Earth diameter. The Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory (CREDO) mission is to find such events by means of a network of detectors spread around the globe. CREDO's strategy is to connect existing detectors and create a worldwide network of cosmic-ray observatories. Moreover, citizen-science constitutes an important pillar of our approach. By helping our algorithms to recognize detection patterns and by using smartphones as individual cosmic-ray detectors, non-scientists can participate in scientific discoveries and help unravel some of the deepest mysteries in physics.