CREDO-Maze project: global network of small extensive air shower arrays

Abstract The CREDO-Maze project, which is being carried out at the University of Łódź, has at least two important objectives. The first is purely scientific. It involves searching for the Cosmic Ray Ensemble, more specifically, identifying long-range correlations between extensive air showers. The distances involved can be hundreds or even thousands of kilometres. Observing these hypothetical phenomena would necessitate a significant revision of our views on the universe and its origins. The second goal is equally important and has an educational focus. The aim is to establish an experimental base that will enable a large number of young people to learn about modern physics and become familiar with scientific methods, thereby stimulating their interest in science – particularly physics. The project is based on Linsley’s concept of a distributed air shower array, but on a global scale. This involves installing small particle arrays in numerous locations via a network of high schools. In this paper, we discuss the design of a single detector and the ’minimal’, local (school) shower array, as well as the structure of the entire CREDO-Maze network. We present the results of some detector tests, as well as selected results of the apparatus operating in atypical geometries. These results confirm the validity of our assumptions and demonstrate the significant potential of the apparatus for non-trivial and unusual measurements, including the search for Cosmic Ray Ensembles.