BERTAINA M. - Progetto ASI/INAF 2017 dal titolo "Search for Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays and nuclearites with TUS satellite"

TUS (Track Ultraviolet Setup) is the first space experiment aimed to check the possibility of register- ing Extreme-Energy Cosmic Rays (EECRs) at E > 50 EeV by measuring the fluorescence signal of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) in the atmosphere. TUS is a mission funded by the Russian Space Agency ROSCOSMOS, and has operated as a part of the scientific payload of the Lomonosov satellite since April 2016. The plan of the present project is to analyze the data collected by the TUS satellite to search for EECRs and for possible strangelets (nuclearites) and to determine their properties through comparison with simulated candidates making use of the ESAF (EUSO Simulation and Analysis Framework) software. Moreover, we want to determine the flux, or an upper limit in case of no-detection, of EECRs and nuclearites based on the number of recorded detections. This study is of fundamental importance for any future mission aimed at detecting EECRs and nuclearites from space.