The Project

The main task of the Project is to understand where, when and how the primary (protons or nuclei) cosmic rays form, as being the original ashes of the Big Bang and travel billions of years starting from the most remote regions of the Universe, much further than the Moon, the Sun and the stars visible by naked eye.
When a cosmic proton encounters a layer of matter, in particular the Earth's atmosphere, it interacts with the nuclei of which the matter itself is composed. During this interaction, particles of the Subnuclear Universe are produced, very short-living (fractions of billionth of a second). During such a short life they transform in other particles whose last stage are the so-called muons. At sea level, the most part of the electrically charged component of the cosmic rays is made of muons. The very high energy primary cosmic protons produce extensive "showers", made of numerous muons (more and more as the primary's energy increases). The imprint of a high energy shower covers an area than can be as large as tens of square kilometers.
This project aims to give the role of bringing the Science in the youths' hearts to the study of the cosmic events of extreme high energy (Extreme Energy Events - EEE).
The EEE Project has a modular structure and the plan will realize in many High Schools all over Italy (Licei and Technical Schools) a modulus of experimental apparatus, i.e. a "telescope" made of MRPC detectors (Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber), devoted to the observation and the measures of cosmic muons. In each School, students will participate to assembling and complete set up of the telescope. In this way, they will realize how to transform basic components of common use to a very high precision instrument. The data obtained by each School will be an original contribution for the studies regarding Cosmic Rays belonging to the EEE class. Dealing with Cosmic Rays, in the students a direct interest to the open problems in the related Physics will grow: this will be a fundamental aspect of Scientific Culture and awareness investigated for the realization of the Project. The EEE Project will be able to bring the Science to the youths' hearts through a direct cultural incentive, naturally borning when the students feel of being main actors in the construction of a scientific instrument and contributors in the data analysis at the frontiers of the scientific thought.