High Energy Physics Seminars

In this talk I discuss the possibility of using a network smartphones and similar devices to search for ultra-high energy ($>10^{18}$ eV) cosmic rays via a community-sourced scientific platform. Muons and energetic photons produced in UHECR events leave a signature of bright pixels in images from on-board CMOS cameras, while GPS location data allows for the reconstruction of extensive air showers observed by multiple devices. The ubiquity of these consumer devices around the globe enables instrumenting a far greater area than conventional observatories, enhancing sensitivity to the very rarest events. Given certain levels of participation, it is even possible to match the observational power of state-of-the-art facilities such as the Pierre Auger observatory, at the highest energies.