Speaker
Description
The Probing Extreme PeVatron Sources (PEPS) project is designed to explore the largely uncharted energy range between $10^{15}$ eV and $5 \times 10^{16}$ eV in gamma rays. PEPS will search for the most extreme Galactic accelerators, probe super-heavy dark matter scenarios, and investigate the transition from Galactic to extragalactic cosmic rays. The experiment will be deployed at the site of the Pierre Auger Observatory, taking advantage of its infrastructure and excellent view of the Galactic Plane and the Galactic Center. The detector concept is based on two-layer water-Cherenkov stations, enabling a suppression of the cosmic-ray background by more than three orders of magnitude at PeV energies with a gamma-ray efficiency of about 50%. The initial $2\ \mathrm{km}^2$ array will already represent the largest detector in this energy range. Prototype detectors operated at the Pierre Auger Observatory over the past decade have demonstrated the robustness of the design. A new prototype is planned in Japan to further optimize the detector and strengthen international collaboration. In this contribution, we present the current status of PEPS, its expected performance, and its scientific potential in the context of PeV gamma-ray observations.
