App could turn smartphones into vast cosmic-ray detector

Ars Technica : Cosmic rays are constantly bombarding Earth. Trying to detect them to study their origins has proven to be a challenge because as they strike Earth’s atmosphere, they break up into showers of secondary particles. Even the largest detectors can only capture a few traces of the high-energy photons and other particles that manage to reach Earth’s surface. Now researchers at the University of California’s Davis and Irvine campuses have proposed a novel design for a vast detector array that takes advantage of the global proliferation of smartphones. Their CRAYFIS (cosmic rays found in smartphones) app would make use of the digital sensors in the phones’ high-resolution cameras to watch for the high-energy particles—but only when the phone is inactive and plugged in for charging. Anyone interested can sign on for the beta testing of either the Android or iOS version.