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Sample records for cosmic-ray neutron spectrometry

  1. Cosmic-ray neutron simulations and measurements in Taiwan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Wei-Lin; Jiang, Shiang-Huei; Sheu, Rong-Jiun

    2014-01-01

    This study used simulations of galactic cosmic ray in the atmosphere to investigate the neutron background environment in Taiwan, emphasising its altitude dependence and spectrum variation near interfaces. The calculated results were analysed and compared with two measurements. The first measurement was a mobile neutron survey from sea level up to 3275 m in altitude conducted using a car-mounted high-sensitivity neutron detector. The second was a previous measured result focusing on the changes in neutron spectra near air/ground and air/water interfaces. The attenuation length of cosmic-ray neutrons in the lower atmosphere was estimated to be 163 g cm -2 in Taiwan. Cosmic-ray neutron spectra vary with altitude and especially near interfaces. The determined spectra near the air/ground and air/water interfaces agree well with measurements for neutrons below 10 MeV. However, the high-energy portion of spectra was observed to be much higher than our previous estimation. Because high-energy neutrons contribute substantially to a dose evaluation, revising the annual sea-level effective dose from cosmic-ray neutrons at ground level in Taiwan to 35 μSv, which corresponds to a neutron flux of 5.30 x 10 -3 n cm -2 s -1 , was suggested. The cosmic-ray neutron background in Taiwan was studied using the FLUKA simulations and field measurements. A new measurement was performed using a car-mounted high-efficiency neutron detector, re-coding real-time neutron counting rates from sea level up to 3275 m. The attenuation of cosmic-ray neutrons in the lower atmosphere exhibited an effective attenuation length of 163 g cm -2 . The calculated neutron counting rates over predicted the measurements by ∼32 %, which leaded to a correction factor for the FLUKA-calculated cosmic-ray neutrons in the lower atmosphere in Taiwan. In addition, a previous measurement regarding neutron spectrum variation near the air/ground and air/water interfaces was re-evaluated. The results showed that the

  2. A study of the cosmic-ray neutron field near interfaces

    CERN Document Server

    Sheu, R J; Jiang, S H

    2002-01-01

    This study investigated the characteristics of the cosmic-ray neutron field near air/ground and air/water interfaces with an emphasis on the angular distribution. Two sets of high-efficiency neutron detecting systems were used. The first one, called the Bonner Cylinders, was used for measurements of the energy information. The other one, referred to as the eight-channel neutron detector (8CND), was used to characterize the angular information of the neutron field. The measured results were used to normalize and confirm one-dimensional transport calculations for cosmic-ray neutrons below 20 MeV in the air/ground and air/water media. Annual sea level cosmic-ray neutron doses were then determined based on the obtained characteristics of low-energy cosmic-ray neutrons near interfaces and estimated contribution from high-energy neutrons.

  3. Cosmic Ray induced Neutron and Gamma-Ray bursts in a Lead Pile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chapline, G; Hagmann, C; Kerr, P; Snyderman, N J; Wurtz, R

    2007-01-01

    The neutron background is created primarily by cosmic rays interactions. Of particular interest for SNM detection is an understanding of burst events that resemble fission chains. We have been studying the interaction of cosmic rays with a lead pile that is efficient at creating neutron bursts from cosmic ray interactions. The neutron burst size depends on the configuration of the lead. We have found that the largest bursts appear to have been created by primaries of energy over 100 GeV that have had a diffractive interaction with the atmosphere. The large events trigger muon coincidence paddles with very high efficiency, and the resulting interactions with the lead pile can create over 10, 000 neutrons in a burst

  4. Footprint Characteristics of Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensors for Soil Moisture Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrön, Martin; Köhli, Markus; Zreda, Marek; Dietrich, Peter; Zacharias, Steffen

    2015-04-01

    Cosmic-ray neutron sensing is a unique and an increasingly accepted method to monitor the effective soil water content at the field scale. The technology is famous for its low maintenance, non-invasiveness, continuous measurement, and most importantly, for its large footprint. Being more representative than point data and finer resolved than remote-sensing products, cosmic-ray neutron derived soil moisture products provide unrivaled advantage for mesoscale hydrologic and land surface models. The method takes advantage of neutrons induced by cosmic radiation which are extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and behave like a hot gas. Information about nearby water sources are quickly mixed in a domain of tens of hectares in air. Since experimental determination of the actual spatial extent is hardly possible, scientists have applied numerical models to address the footprint characteristics. We have revisited previous neutron transport simulations and present a modified conceptual design and refined physical assumptions. Our revised study reveals new insights into probing distance and water sensitivity of detected neutrons under various environmental conditions. These results sharpen the range of interpretation concerning the spatial extent of integral soil moisture products derived from cosmic-ray neutron counts. Our findings will have important impact on calibration strategies, on scales for data assimilation and on the interpolation of soil moisture data derived from mobile cosmic-ray neutron surveys.

  5. Sequential measurements of spectrum and dose for cosmic-ray neutrons on the ground

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirabayashi, N.; Nunomiya, T.; Suzuki, H.; Nakamura, T.

    2002-01-01

    The earth is continually bathed in high-energy particles that come from outside the solar system, known as galactic cosmic rays. When these particles penetrate the magnetic fields of the solar system and the Earth and reach the Earth's atmosphere, they collide with atomic nuclei in air and secondary cosmic rays of every kind. On the other hand, levels of accumulation of the semiconductor increase recently, and the soft error that the cosmic-ray neutrons cause has been regarded as questionable. There have been long-term measurements of cosmic-ray neutron fluence at several places in the world, but no systematic study on cosmic-ray neutron spectrum measurements. This study aimed to measure the cosmic-ray neutron spectrum and dose on the ground during the solar maximum period of 2000 to 2002. Measurements have been continuing in a cabin of Tohoku University Kawauchi campus, by using five multi-moderator spectrometers (Bonner sphere), 12.7 cm diam by 12.7 cm long NE213 scintillator, and rem counter. The Bonner sphere uses a 5.08 cm diam spherical 3 He gas proportional counter and the rem counter uses a 12.7 cm diam 3 He gas counter. The neutron spectra were obtained by unfolding from the count rates measured with the Bonner sphere using the SAND code and the pulse height spectra measured with the NE213 scintillator using the FORIST code . The cosmic- ray neutron spectrum and ambient dose rates have been measured sequentially from April 2001. Furthermore, the correlation between ambient dose rate and the atmospheric pressure was investigated with a barometer. We are also very much interested in the variation of neutron spectrum following big solar flares. From the sequential measurements, we found that the cosmic-ray neutron spectrum has two peaks at around 1 MeV and at around 100 MeV, and the higher energy peak increases with a big solar flare

  6. Cosmic Rays and Clouds, 1. Formation of Lead Mesoatoms In Neutron Monitor By Soft Negative Muons and Expected Atmospheric Electric Field Effect In The Cosmic Ray Neutron Component

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorman, L. I.; Dorman, I. V.

    We extend our model (Dorman and Dorman, 1995) of cosmic ray atmospheric electric field effect on the case of neutron monitor. We take into account that about 0.07 of neu- tron monitor counting rate caused by negative soft muons captured by lead nucleons and formed mesoatoms with generation of several MeV energy neutrons from lead. In this case the neutron monitor or neutron supermonitor works as analyzer which de- tects muons of only one, negative sign. It is very important because the atmospheric electric field effect have opposite signs for positive and negative muons that main part of this effect in the muon telescope or in ionization chamber is compensated and we can observe only small part of total effect of one sign muons. On the basis of our gen- eral theory of cosmic ray meteorological effects with taking into account of negative soft muon acceleration and deceleration in the Earth atmosphere (in dependence of di- rection and intensity of electric field) we discuss the possibility of existing this effect in cosmic ray neutron component and made some rough estimations. REFERENCES: Dorman L.I. and Dorman I.V., 1995. "Cosmic-ray atmospheric electric field effects". Canadian J. of Physics, Vol. 73, pp. 440-443.

  7. Aerial Neutron Detection of Cosmic-Ray Interactions with the Earth's Surface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richard Maurer

    2008-01-01

    We have demonstrated the ability to measure the neutron flux produced by the cosmic-ray interaction with nuclei in the ground surface using aerial neutron detection. High energy cosmic-rays (primarily muons with GeV energies) interact with the nuclei in the ground surface and produce energetic neutrons via spallation. At the air-surface interface, the neutrons produced by spallation will either scatter within the surface material, become thermalized and reabsorbed, or be emitted into the air. The mean free path of energetic neutrons in air can be hundreds of feet as opposed to a few feet in dense materials. As such, the flux of neutrons escaping into the air provides a measure of the surface nuclei composition. It has been demonstrated that this effect can be measured at long range using neutron detectors on low flying helicopters. Radiological survey measurements conducted at Government Wash in Las Vegas, Nevada, have shown that the neutron background from the cosmic-soil interactions is repeatable and directly correlated to the geological data. Government Wash has a very unique geology, spanning a wide variety of nuclide mixtures and formations. The results of the preliminary measurements are presented

  8. Exploring the potential of the cosmic-ray neutron method to measure interception storage dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jakobi, Jannis; Bogena, Heye; Huisman, Johan Alexander; Diekkrüger, Bernd; Vereecken, Harry

    2017-04-01

    Cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture probes are an emerging technology that relies on the negative correlation between near-surface fast neutron counts and soil moisture content. Hydrogen atoms in the soil, which are mainly present as water, moderate the secondary neutrons on the way back to the surface. Any application of this method needs to consider the sensitivity of the neutron counts to additional sources of hydrogen (e.g. above- and below-ground biomass, humidity of the lower atmosphere, lattice water of the soil minerals, organic matter and water in the litter layer, intercepted water in the canopy, and soil organic matter). In this study, we analyzed the effects of canopy-intercepted water on the cosmic-ray neutron counts. For this, an arable field cropped with sugar beet was instrumented with several cosmic-ray neutron probes and a wireless sensor network with more than 140 in-situ soil moisture sensors. Additionally rainfall interception was estimated using a new approach coupling throughfall measurements and leaf wetness sensors. The derived interception storage was used to correct for interception effects on cosmic ray neutrons to enhance soil water content prediction. Furthermore, the potential for a simultaneous prediction of above- and below-ground biomass, soil moisture and interception was tested.

  9. STUDIES OF COSMIC-RAY MUONS AND NEUTRONS IN A FIVE-STORY CONCRETE BUILDING.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wei-Lin; Sheu, Rong-Jiun

    2018-05-01

    This study thoroughly determined the flux and dose rate distributions of cosmic-ray muons and neutrons in a five-story concrete building by comparing measurements with Monte Carlo simulations of cosmic-ray showers. An angular-energy-dependent surface source comprising secondary muons and neutrons at a height of 200 m above ground level was established and verified, which was used to concatenate the shower development in the upper atmosphere with subsequent simulations of radiation transport down to ground level, including the effect of the terrain and studied building. A Berkeley Lab cosmic-ray detector and a highly sensitive Bonner cylinder were used to perform muon and neutron measurements on each building floor. After careful calibration and correction, the measured responses of the two detectors were discovered to be reasonably consistent with the theoretical predictions, thus confirming the validity of the two-step calculation model employed in this study. The annual effective doses from cosmic-ray muons and neutrons on the open roof of the building were estimated to be 115.2 and 35.2 μSv, respectively. Muons and neutrons were attenuated floor-by-floor with different attenuation factors of 0.97 and 0.78, and their resultant dose rates on the first floor of the building were 97.8 and 9.9 μSv, respectively.

  10. Cosmic-ray-veto detector system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, D.W.; Menlove, H.O.

    1992-12-01

    To reduce the cosmic-ray-induced neutron background, we are testing a cosmic-ray veto option with a neutron detector system that uses plastic scintillator slabs mounted on the outside of a 3 He-tube detector. The scintillator slabs eliminate unwanted cosmic-ray events, enabling the detector to assay low-level plutonium samples, for which a low-background coincident signature is critical. This report describes the design and testing of the prototype cosmic-ray-veto detector system

  11. The potential of detecting intermediate-scale biomass and canopy interception in a coniferous forest using cosmic-ray neutron intensity measurements and neutron transport modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreasen, M.; Looms, M. C.; Bogena, H. R.; Desilets, D.; Zreda, M. G.; Sonnenborg, T. O.; Jensen, K. H.

    2014-12-01

    The water stored in the various compartments of the terrestrial ecosystem (in snow, canopy interception, soil and litter) controls the exchange of the water and energy between the land surface and the atmosphere. Therefore, measurements of the water stored within these pools are critical for the prediction of e.g. evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge. The detection of cosmic-ray neutron intensity is a novel non-invasive method for the quantification of continuous intermediate-scale soil moisture. The footprint of the cosmic-ray neutron probe is a hemisphere of a few hectometers and subsurface depths of 10-70 cm depending on wetness. The cosmic-ray neutron method offers measurements at a scale between the point-scale measurements and large-scale satellite retrievals. The cosmic-ray neutron intensity is inversely correlated to the hydrogen stored within the footprint. Overall soil moisture represents the largest pool of hydrogen and changes in the soil moisture clearly affect the cosmic-ray neutron signal. However, the neutron intensity is also sensitive to variations of hydrogen in snow, canopy interception and biomass offering the potential to determine water content in such pools from the signal. In this study we tested the potential of determining canopy interception and biomass using cosmic-ray neutron intensity measurements within the framework of the Danish Hydrologic Observatory (HOBE) and the Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO). Continuous measurements at the ground and the canopy level, along with profile measurements were conducted at towers at forest field sites. Field experiments, including shielding the cosmic-ray neutron probes with cadmium foil (to remove lower-energy neutrons) and measuring reference intensity rates at complete water saturated conditions (on the sea close to the HOBE site), were further conducted to obtain an increased understanding of the physics controlling the cosmic-ray neutron transport and the equipment used

  12. THE UNREASONABLE WEAKNESS OF R -PROCESS COSMIC RAYS IN THE NEUTRON-STAR-MERGER NUCLEOSYNTHESIS SCENARIO

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kyutoku, Koutarou [Interdisciplinary Theoretical Science (iTHES) Research Group, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Ioka, Kunihito, E-mail: koutarou.kyutoku@riken.jp [Center for Gravitational Physics, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502 (Japan)

    2016-08-10

    We reach the robust conclusion that, by combining the observed cosmic rays of r -process elements with the fact that the velocity of the neutron-star-merger ejecta is much higher than that of the supernova ejecta, either (1) the reverse shock in the neutron-star-merger ejecta is a very inefficient accelerator that converts less than 0.003% of the ejecta kinetic energy to the cosmic-ray energy or (2) the neutron star merger is not the origin of the Galactic r -process elements. We also find that the acceleration efficiency should be less than 0.1% for the reverse shock of the supernova ejecta with observed cosmic rays lighter than the iron.

  13. Altitude variation of cosmic-ray neutrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamura, T.; Uwamino, Y.; Ohkubo, T.; Hara, A.

    1987-01-01

    The altitude variation of the cosmic-ray neutron energy spectrum and the dose equivalent rate was measured at an average geomagnetic latitude of 24 degrees N by using the high-efficiency multi-sphere neutron spectrometer and neutron dose-equivalent counter developed by the authors. The data were obtained from a 2-h flight over Japan on 27 February 1985. The neutron energy spectra measured at sea level and at altitudes of 4880 m and at 11,280 m were compared with the calculated spectra of O'Brien and with other experimental spectra, and they are in moderately good agreement with them. The dose equivalent rate increases according to a quadratic curve up to about 6000 m and then increases linearly between 6000 m and 11,280 m. The dependence of dose equivalent rates at sea level and at an altitude of 12,500 m on geomagnetic latitude also is given by referring to other experimental results

  14. Evaluation of the Neutron Detector Response for Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum by Monte Carlo Transport Simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pazianotto, Mauricio T.; Carlson, Brett V.; Federico, Claudio A.; Gonzalez, Odair L.

    2011-01-01

    Neutrons generated by the interaction of cosmic rays with the atmosphere make an important contribution to the dose accumulated in electronic circuits and aircraft crew members at flight altitude. High-energy neutrons are produced in spallation reactions and intranuclear cascade processes by primary cosmic-ray particle interactions with atoms in the atmosphere. These neutrons can produce secondary neutrons and also undergo a moderation process due to atmosphere interactions, resulting in a wider energy spectrum, ranging from thermal energies (0.025 eV) to energies of several hundreds of MeV. The Long-Counter (LC) detector is a widely used neutron detector designed to measure the directional flux of neutrons with about constant response over a wide energy range (thermal to 20 MeV). ). Its calibration process and the determination of its energy response for the wide-energy of cosmic ray induced neutron spectrum is a very difficult process due to the lack of installations with these capabilities. The goal of this study is to assess the behavior of the response of a Long Counter using the Monte Carlo (MC) computational code MCNPX (Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended). The dependence of the Long Counter response on the angle of incidence, as well as on the neutron energy, will be carefully investigated, compared with the experimental data previously obtained with 241 Am-Be and 252 Cf neutron sources and extended to the neutron spectrum produced by cosmic rays. (Author)

  15. Forward to all-around survey of environmental neutrons from cosmic ray secondary neutron measurements. History and prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aratani, M.

    2000-01-01

    At the present stage of our civilization, environmental neutrons come from not only cosmic ray but also the various kinds of nuclear facilities where uranium, plutonium, californium-252, and other transuranium elements are treated in a large scale. To be regret, those neutron-emitting elements have already been released into the environment by experiments with the military purpose, and been distributed among atmosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere in further larger scale than the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Now environmental neutrons should be surveyed against the horizontal component from the nuclear facilities, upward component from soil, and downward component as secondary neutron from cosmic ray, which is to be regarded as background neutron in the environment. The third category of neutrons have long been surveyed by Y. Nishina and his group of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (IPCR) since 1970 at the Itabashi Branch (Itabashi, Tokyo) of IPCR. The BF 3 gas-filled monitors (20 cm in diameter x 200 cm) of 28 (36 at maximum) vessels were used for neutrons till Sept. of 1998, and were transferred to Yanpahchin, Tibet, China for the primary neutrons that might be preferred to secondary ones by researchers of the cosmic ray. A critical accident happened at the Tokai facilities of JCO (Japan Conversion Organization) on Sept. 30 1999, and was discussed in various contexts at home and in a severe tone abroad. A background survey of the environmental neutrons has not been made at any nuclear site or facilities concerning fission in this country. The neutron monitor which detected and recorded the neutrons from the JCO critical accidents was what had been equipped for the fusion research, but not for fission application. Radiation education on neutron has not been made in both school and social education. Basic scientists also may be responsible for the critical accident through making light of these fundamental aspects of nuclear technology. In this

  16. Peculiarities of the Moon variations of the neutron and meson components of cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naskidashvili, B.D.; Shatashvili, L.Kh.

    1979-01-01

    Lunar variations of the neutron component of cosmic rays have been investigated individually for groups of stations of the northern hemisphere of the Earth and for groups of stations of the southern hemisphere. A dependence has been found of the amplitude and phase of the first harmonic of lunar variations in the intensity of neutron and meson components of cosmic rays on the geocentric distance of the Moon and on the epoch of solar activity. The amplitudes and phases of lunar variations were determined by the Chapman-Miller method. According to the data on the meson component of cosmic rays obtained by the Nagoya station (Japan), the amplitudes of the first harmonic of lunar daily variations point to the fact that as the Moon approaches the Earth the tidal effects do not exceed the effects of lunar gravitational forces when the Moon is at apogee

  17. Cosmic Ray Interactions in Shielding Materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aguayo Navarrete, Estanislao; Kouzes, Richard T.; Ankney, Austin S.; Orrell, John L.; Berguson, Timothy J.; Troy, Meredith D.

    2011-01-01

    This document provides a detailed study of materials used to shield against the hadronic particles from cosmic ray showers at Earth's surface. This work was motivated by the need for a shield that minimizes activation of the enriched germanium during transport for the MAJORANA collaboration. The materials suitable for cosmic-ray shield design are materials such as lead and iron that will stop the primary protons, and materials like polyethylene, borated polyethylene, concrete and water that will stop the induced neutrons. The interaction of the different cosmic-ray components at ground level (protons, neutrons, muons) with their wide energy range (from kilo-electron volts to giga-electron volts) is a complex calculation. Monte Carlo calculations have proven to be a suitable tool for the simulation of nucleon transport, including hadron interactions and radioactive isotope production. The industry standard Monte Carlo simulation tool, Geant4, was used for this study. The result of this study is the assertion that activation at Earth's surface is a result of the neutronic and protonic components of the cosmic-ray shower. The best material to shield against these cosmic-ray components is iron, which has the best combination of primary shielding and minimal secondary neutron production.

  18. Multitaper spectral analysis of cosmic rays Sao Martinho da Serra's muon telescope and Newark's neutron monitor data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silva, Marlos Rockenbach da; Alarcon, Walter Demetrio Gonzalez; Echer, Ezequiel; Lago, Alisson dal; Lucas, Aline de [National Institute for Space Research - INPE-MCT, Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Vieira, Luis Eduardo Antunes; Guarnieri, Fernando Luis [Universidade do Vale do Paraiba - UNIVAP, Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Schuch, Nelson Jorge [Southern Regional Space Research Center - CRSPE/INPE-MCT, Santa Maria, RS (Brazil); Munakata, Kazuoki, E-mail: marlos@dge.inpe.br, E-mail: gonzalez@dge.inpe.br, E-mail: eecher@dge.inpe.br, E-mail: dallago@dge.inpe.br, E-mail: delucas@dge.inpe.br, E-mail: levieira@univap.br, E-mail: guarnieri@univap.br, E-mail: njschuch@lacesm.ufsm.br, E-mail: kmuna00@gipac.shinshu-u.ac.jp [Physics Department, Shinshu University, Matsumoto (Japan)

    2007-07-01

    In this work we present an analysis on the correction efficiency of atmospheric effects on cosmic ray Sao Martinho da Serra's muon telescope and Newark's neutron monitor data. We use a Multitaper spectral analysis of cosmic rays time series to show the main periodicities present in the corrected and uncorrected data for the atmospheric effects. This kind of correction is very important when intends to study cosmic rays variations of extra-terrestrial origin. (author)

  19. Exploring the potential of the cosmic-ray neutron method to simultaneously predict soil water and vegetation dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogena, H. R.; Fuchs, H.; Jakobi, J.; Huisman, J. A.; Diekkrüger, B.; Vereecken, H.

    2016-12-01

    Cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture probes are an emerging technology that rely on the negative correlation between near-surface fast neutron counts and soil moisture content since hydrogen atoms in the soil, which are mainly present as water, moderate the secondary neutrons on the way back to the surface. Any application of this method needs to consider the sensitivity of the neutron counts to additional sources of hydrogen (e.g. above- and below-ground biomass, humidity of the lower atmosphere, lattice water of the soil minerals, organic matter and water in the litter layer, intercepted water in the canopy, and soil organic matter). In this study, we analyzed the effects of temporally changing above- and below-ground biomass and intercepted water in the canopy on the cosmic-ray neutron counts and the calibration parameter N0. For this, two arable fields cropped with winter wheat and sugar beet were instrumented with several cosmic-ray neutron probes and a wireless sensor network with more than 200 in-situ soil moisture sensors. In addition, we measured rainfall interception in the wheat canopy at several locations in the field using totalisators and leaf wetness sensors. In order to track the changes in above- and below-ground biomass, roots and plants were sampled approximately every four weeks and LAI was measured weekly during the growing season. Weekly biomass changes were derived by relating LAI to total biomass. As expected, we found an increasing discrepancy between cosmic-ray-derived and in-situ measured soil moisture during the growing season and a sharp decrease in discrepancy after the harvest. In order to quantify the effect of hydrogen stored in the vegetation on fast neutron intensity, we derived time series of the calibration parameter N0 using a weekly moving-window optimization. We found a linear negative relationship between N0 and total fresh biomass and N0 and intercepted precipitation. Using these relationships for the correction of fast neutron

  20. Sealed drift tube cosmic ray veto counters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rios, R.; Tatar, E.; Bacon, J.D.; Bowles, T.J.; Hill, R.; Green, J.A.; Hogan, G.E.; Ito, T.M.; Makela, M.; Morris, C.L.; Mortenson, R.; Pasukanics, F.E.; Ramsey, J.; Saunders, A.; Seestrom, S.J.; Sondheim, W.E.; Teasdale, W.; Saltus, M.; Back, H.O.; Cottrell, C.R.

    2011-01-01

    We describe a simple drift tube counter that has been used as a cosmic ray veto for the UCNA experiment, a first-ever measurement of the neutron beta-asymmetry using ultra-cold neutrons. These detectors provide an inexpensive alternative to more conventional scintillation detectors for large area cosmic ray anticoincidence detectors.

  1. Neutron production by cosmic-ray muons in various materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manukovsky, K. V.; Ryazhskaya, O. G.; Sobolevsky, N. M.; Yudin, A. V.

    2016-07-01

    The results obtained by studying the background of neutrons produced by cosmic-raymuons in underground experimental facilities intended for rare-event searches and in surrounding rock are presented. The types of this rock may include granite, sedimentary rock, gypsum, and rock salt. Neutron production and transfer were simulated using the Geant4 and SHIELD transport codes. These codes were tuned via a comparison of the results of calculations with experimental data—in particular, with data of the Artemovsk research station of the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR, Moscow, Russia)—as well as via an intercomparison of results of calculations with the Geant4 and SHIELD codes. It turns out that the atomic-number dependence of the production and yield of neutrons has an irregular character and does not allow a description in terms of a universal function of the atomic number. The parameters of this dependence are different for two groups of nuclei—nuclei consisting of alpha particles and all of the remaining nuclei. Moreover, there are manifest exceptions from a power-law dependence—for example, argon. This may entail important consequences both for the existing underground experimental facilities and for those under construction. Investigation of cosmic-ray-induced neutron production in various materials is of paramount importance for the interpretation of experiments conducted at large depths under the Earth's surface.

  2. Ames collaborative study of cosmic-ray neutrons. II. Low- and mid-latitude flights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stephens, L.D.; McCaslin, J.B.; Smith, A.R.; Thomas, R.H.; Hewitt, J.E.; Hughes, L.

    1978-01-01

    The continuing progress of the Ames Collaborative Study of Cosmic Ray Neutrons is described. Data obtained aboard flights from Hawaii at altitudes of 41,000 and 45,000 feet, and in the range of geomagnetic latitude 17 0 N less than or equal to lambda less than or equal to 21 0 N are reported. Preliminary estimates of neutron spectra were made

  3. Cosmic ray modulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal Mishra, Rekha; Mishra, Rajesh Kumar

    2016-07-01

    Propagation of cosmic rays to and inside the heliosphere, encounter an outward moving solar wind with cyclic magnetic field fluctuation and turbulence, causing convection and diffusion in the heliosphere. Cosmic ray counts from the ground ground-based neutron monitors at different cut of rigidity show intensity changes, which are anti-correlated with sunspot numbers. They also lose energy as they propagate towards the Earth and experience various types of modulations due to different solar activity indices. In this work, we study the first three harmonics of cosmic ray intensity on geo-magnetically quiet days over the period 1965-2014 for Beijing, Moscow and Tokyo neutron monitoring stations located at different cut off rigidity. The amplitude of first harmonic remains high for low cutoff rigidity as compared to high cutoff rigidity on quiet days. The diurnal amplitude significantly decreases during solar activity minimum years. The diurnal time of maximum significantly shifts to an earlier time as compared to the corotational direction having different cutoff rigidities. The time of maximum for first harmonic significantly shifts towards later hours and for second harmonic it shifts towards earlier hours at low cutoff rigidity station as compared to the high cut off rigidity station on quiet days. The amplitude of second/third harmonics shows a good positive correlation with solar wind velocity, while the others (i.e. amplitude and phase) have no significant correlation on quiet days. The amplitude and direction of the anisotropy on quiet days does not show any significant dependence on high-speed solar wind streams for these neutron monitoring stations of different cutoff rigidity threshold. Keywords: cosmic ray, cut off rigidity, quiet days, harmonics, amplitude, phase.

  4. Signatures of cosmic-ray interactions on the solar surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seckel, D.; Stanev, Todor; Gaisser, T. K.

    1991-01-01

    The fluxes of neutrinos, gamma rays, antiprotons, neutrons, and antineutrons that result from collisions of high-energy Galactic cosmic rays with the solar atmosphere are estimated. The results are sensitive to assumptions about cosmic-ray transport in the magnetic fields of the inner solar system. The high-energy photon flux should be observable by the Gamma Ray Observatory. The neutrino flux should produce less than one event per year in the next generation of neutrino telescopes. The antiproton flux is unobservable against the Galactic background. The neutron and antineutron fluxes are detectable only if neutrons produced in terrestrial cosmic-ray events may be discriminated against.

  5. R -process Element Cosmic Rays from Neutron Star Mergers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Komiya, Yutaka; Shigeyama, Toshikazu [Research Center for the Early Universe, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, 113-0033, Tokyo (Japan)

    2017-09-10

    Neutron star mergers (NSMs) are one of the most plausible sources of r -process elements in the universe. Therefore, NSMs can also be a major source of ultra-heavy elements in cosmic rays. In this paper, we first estimate the contribution of r -process elements synthesized in NSMs to the ultra-heavy element cosmic rays (UHCRs) by calculating transport equations that take into account energy loss processes and spallations. We show that the flux of UHCRs accelerated by the NSMs themselves fluctuates by many orders of magnitude on a timescale of several million years and can overwhelm UHCRs accelerated by supernova remnants (SNRs) after an NSM takes place within a few kiloparsec from the solar system. Experiments with very long exposure times using meteorites as UHCR detectors can detect this fluctuation. As a consequence, we show that if NSMs are the primary source of UHCRs, future experiments using meteorites may be able to reveal the event history of NSMs in the solar vicinity. We also describe a possible difference in the abundance pattern and energy spectrum of UHCRs between NSM and SNR accelerations.

  6. Background estimation of cosmic-ray induced neutrons in Chooz site water veto tank for possible future Ricochet Deployment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, James

    2017-09-01

    The Ricochet experiment seeks to measure Coherent (neutral-current) Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE νNS) using metallic superconducting and germanium semi-conducting detectors with sub-keV thresholds placed near a neutrino source such as the Chooz Nuclear Reactor Complex. In this poster, we present an estimate of the flux of cosmic-ray induced neutrons, which represent an important background in any (CE νNS) search, based on reconstructed cosmic ray data from the Chooz Site. We have simulated a possible Ricochet deployment at the Chooz site in GEANT4 focusing on the spallation neutrons generated when cosmic rays interact with the water tank veto that would surround our detector. We further simulate and discuss the effectiveness of various shielding configurations for optimizing the background levels for a future Ricochet deployment.

  7. Cosmic ray modulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ueno, Hirosachi

    1974-01-01

    It is important to know the physical state of solar plasma region by the observation of intensity variation of cosmic ray which passed through the solar plasma region, because earth magnetosphere is formed by the interaction between geomagnetic field and solar plasma flow. The observation of cosmic ray intensity is useful to know the average condition of the space of 0.1--3 A.U., and gives the structure of the magnetic field in solar wind affecting the earth magnetosphere. The observation of neutron component in cosmic ray has been carried out at Norikura, Tokyo, Fukushima and Morioka. The lower limit of the energy of incident cosmic ray which can be observed at each station is different, and the fine structure of the variation can be known by comparison. The intensity of meson component in cosmic ray has been measured in underground, and the state of solar plasma region 2--3 A.U. from the earth can be known. The underground measurement has been made at Takeyama and Matsumoto, and a new station at Sakashita is proposed. The measurement at Sakashita will be made by proportional counters at the depth of 100m (water equivalent). Arrangement of detectors is shown. (Kato, T.)

  8. Analysis of cosmic ray neutron-induced single-event phenomena

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tukamoto, Yasuyuki; Watanabe, Yukinobu; Nakashima, Hideki

    2003-01-01

    We have developed a database of cross sections for the n+ 28 Si reaction in the energy range between 2 MeV and 3 GeV in order to analyze single-event upset (SEU) phenomena induced by cosmic-ray neutrons in semiconductor memory devices. The data are applied to calculations of SEU cross sections using the Burst Generation Rate (BGR) model including two parameters, critical charge and effective depth. The calculated results are compared with measured SEU cross-sections for energies up to 160 MeV, and the reaction products that provide important effects on SEU are mainly investigated. (author)

  9. Cosmic ray production curves below reworking zones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanford, G.E.

    1980-01-01

    A method is presented for calculating cosmic ray production profiles below reworking zones. The method uses an input reworking depth determined from data such as signatures in the depth profile of ferromagnetic resonance intensity and input cosmic ray production profiles for an undisturbed surface. Reworking histories are simulated using Monte Carlo techniques, and depth profiles are used to determine cosmic ray exposure age limits with a specified probability. It is shown that the track density profiles predict cosmic ray exposure ages in lunar cores that are consistent with values determined by other methods. Results applied to neutron fluence and spallation rare gases eliminate the use of reworking depth as an adjustable parameter and give cosmic ray exposure ages that are compatible with each other

  10. Cosmic-ray neutron transport at a forest field site: the sensitivity to various environmental conditions with focus on biomass and canopy interception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreasen, Mie; Jensen, Karsten H.; Desilets, Darin; Zreda, Marek; Bogena, Heye R.; Looms, Majken C.

    2017-04-01

    Cosmic-ray neutron intensity is inversely correlated to all hydrogen present in the upper decimeters of the subsurface and the first few hectometers of the atmosphere above the ground surface. This correlation forms the base of the cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture estimation method. The method is, however, complicated by the fact that several hydrogen pools other than soil moisture affect the neutron intensity. In order to improve the cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture estimation method and explore the potential for additional applications, knowledge about the environmental effect on cosmic-ray neutron intensity is essential (e.g., the effect of vegetation, litter layer and soil type). In this study the environmental effect is examined by performing a sensitivity analysis using neutron transport modeling. We use a neutron transport model with various representations of the forest and different parameters describing the subsurface to match measured height profiles and time series of thermal and epithermal neutron intensities at a field site in Denmark. Overall, modeled thermal and epithermal neutron intensities are in satisfactory agreement with measurements; however, the choice of forest canopy conceptualization is found to be significant. Modeling results show that the effect of canopy interception, soil chemistry and dry bulk density of litter and mineral soil on neutron intensity is small. On the other hand, the neutron intensity decreases significantly with added litter-layer thickness, especially for epithermal neutron energies. Forest biomass also has a significant influence on the neutron intensity height profiles at the examined field site, altering both the shape of the profiles and the ground-level thermal-to-epithermal neutron ratio. This ratio increases with increasing amounts of biomass, and was confirmed by measurements from three sites representing agricultural, heathland and forest land cover. A much smaller effect of canopy interception on the ground

  11. Sulphur mountain: Cosmic ray intensity records

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Venkatesan, D.; Mathews, T.

    1985-01-01

    This book deals with the comic ray intensity registrations at the Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Laboratory. The time series of intensity form a valuable data-set, for studying cosmic ray intensity variations and their dependence on solar activity. The IGY neutron monitor started operating from July 1, 1957 and continued through 1963. Daily mean values are tabulated for the period and these are also represented in plots. This monitor was set up by the National Research Council of Canada

  12. Cosmic-ray-induced ship-effect neutron measurements and implications for cargo scanning at borders

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kouzes, Richard T. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, MS K7-36, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)], E-mail: richard.kouzes@pnl.gov; Ely, James H.; Seifert, Allen; Siciliano, Edward R.; Weier, Dennis R.; Windsor, Lindsay K.; Woodring, Mitchell L. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, MS K7-36, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 (United States); Borgardt, James; Buckley, Elise; Flumerfelt, Eric; Oliveri, Anna; Salvitti, Matt [Juniata College Physics Department, 1700 Moore St., Huntingdon, PA 16652 (United States)

    2008-03-11

    Neutron measurements are used as part of the interdiction process for illicit nuclear materials at border crossings. Even though the natural neutron background is small, its variation can impact the sensitivity of detection systems. The natural background of neutrons that is observed in monitoring instruments arises almost entirely from cosmic-ray-induced cascades in the atmosphere and the surrounding environment. One significant source of variation in the observed neutron background is produced by the 'ship effect' in large quantities of cargo that transit past detection instruments. This paper reports on results from measurements with typical monitoring equipment of ship effect neutrons in various materials. One new result is the 'neutron shadow shielding' effect seen with some low neutron density materials.

  13. Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing in Complex Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piussi, L. M.; Tomelleri, E.; Tonon, G.; Bertoldi, G.; Mejia Aguilar, A.; Monsorno, R.; Zebisch, M.

    2017-12-01

    Soil moisture is a key variable in environmental monitoring and modelling: being located at the soil-atmosphere boundary, it is a driving force for water, energy and carbon fluxes. Nevertheless its importance, soil moisture observations lack of long time-series at high acquisition frequency in spatial meso-scale resolutions: traditional measurements deliver either long time series with high measurement frequency at spatial point scale or large scale and low frequency acquisitions. The Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) technique fills this gap because it supplies information from a footprint of 240m of diameter and 15 to 83 cm of depth at a temporal resolution varying between 15 minutes and 24 hours. In addition, being a passive sensing technique, it is non-invasive. For these reasons, CRNS is gaining more and more attention from the scientific community. Nevertheless, the application of this technique in complex systems is still an open issue: where different Hydrogen pools are present and where their distributions vary appreciably with space and time, the traditional calibration method shows some limits. In order to obtain a better understanding of the data and to compare them with remote sensing products and spatially distributed traditional measurements (i.e. Wireless Sensors Network), the complexity of the surrounding environment has to be taken into account. In the current work we assessed the effects of spatial-temporal variability of soil moisture within the footprint, in a steep, heterogeneous mountain grassland area. Measurement were performed with a Cosmic Ray Neutron Probe (CRNP) and a mobile Wireless Sensors Network. We performed an in-deep sensitivity analysis of the effects of varying distributions of soil moisture on the calibration of the CRNP and our preliminary results show how the footprint shape varies depending on these dynamics. The results are then compared with remote sensing data (Sentinel 1 and 2). The current work is an assessment of

  14. Calibration and correction procedures for cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture probes located across Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawdon, Aaron; McJannet, David; Wallace, Jim

    2014-06-01

    The cosmic-ray probe (CRP) provides continuous estimates of soil moisture over an area of ˜30 ha by counting fast neutrons produced from cosmic rays which are predominantly moderated by water molecules in the soil. This paper describes the setup, measurement correction procedures, and field calibration of CRPs at nine locations across Australia with contrasting soil type, climate, and land cover. These probes form the inaugural Australian CRP network, which is known as CosmOz. CRP measurements require neutron count rates to be corrected for effects of atmospheric pressure, water vapor pressure changes, and variations in incoming neutron intensity. We assess the magnitude and importance of these corrections and present standardized approaches for network-wide analysis. In particular, we present a new approach to correct for incoming neutron intensity variations and test its performance against existing procedures used in other studies. Our field calibration results indicate that a generalized calibration function for relating neutron counts to soil moisture is suitable for all soil types, with the possible exception of very sandy soils with low water content. Using multiple calibration data sets, we demonstrate that the generalized calibration function only applies after accounting for persistent sources of hydrogen in the soil profile. Finally, we demonstrate that by following standardized correction procedures and scaling neutron counting rates of all CRPs to a single reference location, differences in calibrations between sites are related to site biomass. This observation provides a means for estimating biomass at a given location or for deriving coefficients for the calibration function in the absence of field calibration data.

  15. Multi-spectra Cosmic Ray Flux Measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Xiaochun; Dayananda, Mathes

    2010-02-01

    The Earth's upper atmosphere is constantly bombarded by rain of charged particles known as primary cosmic rays. These primary cosmic rays will collide with the atmospheric molecules and create extensive secondary particles which shower downward to the surface of the Earth. In recent years, a few studies have been done regarding to the applications of the cosmic ray measurements and the correlations between the Earth's climate conditions and the cosmic ray fluxes [1,2,3]. Most of the particles, which reach to the surface of the Earth, are muons together with a small percentage of electrons, gammas, neutrons, etc. At Georgia State University, multiple cosmic ray particle detectors have been constructed to measure the fluxes and energy distributions of the secondary cosmic ray particles. In this presentation, we will briefly describe these prototype detectors and show the preliminary test results. Reference: [1] K.Borozdin, G.Hogan, C.Morris, W.Priedhorsky, A.Saunders, L.Shultz, M.Teasdale, Nature, Vol.422, 277 (2003). [2] L.V. Egorova, V. Ya Vovk, O.A. Troshichev, Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics 62, 955-966 (2000). [3] Henrik Svensmark, Phy. Rev. Lett. 81, 5027 (1998). )

  16. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2010-01-01

    experimentally the problems of mass composition and EAS. development in the atmosphere in the energy range 10 15 - 1- 18 eV. Knowledge of the mass composition would contribute to models and the search for Cosmic Ray astrophysical sources. The interaction models in the simulation code CORSIKA play an essential role in the interpretation of the data. These are studied experimentally using the KASCADE hadron calorimeter and by measuring EAS muon directions and lateral distributions. The LOPES Collaboration is developing radio techniques for EAS measurements in Karlsruhe. · Locally in Lodz we concentrate on methodological studies of the detection of neutrons and the interpretation of multiple neutron registrations in the underground laboratory. By examining EAS data it is possible to study some properties of very high energy interactions. Detectors at the recently started LHC could verify the models used in the EAS simulations. In the area of high energy particle physics the Department participates in the ZEUS experiment at DESY (Hamburg, Germany), and in the WASA at COSY Collaboration in Juelich, Germany. (author)

  17. Definition by modelling, optimization and characterization of a neutron spectrometry system based on Bonner spheres extended to the high-energy range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serre, S.

    2010-01-01

    This research thesis first describes the problematic of the effects of natural radiation on micro- and nano-electronic components, and the atmospheric-radiative stress of atmospheric neutrons from cosmic origin: issue of 'Single event upsets', present knowledge of the atmospheric radiative environment induced by cosmic rays. The author then presents the neutron-based detection and spectrometry by using the Bonner sphere technique: principle of moderating spheres, definition and mathematical formulation of neutron spectrometry using Bonner spheres, active sensors of thermal neutrons, response of a system to conventional Bonner spheres, extension to the range of high energies. Then, he reports the development of a Bonner sphere system extended to the high-energy range for the spectrometry of atmospheric neutrons: definition of a conventional system, Monte Carlo calculation of response functions, development of the response matrix, representation and semi-empirical verification of fluence response, uncertainty analysis, extension to high energies, and measurement tests of the spectrometer. He reports the use of a Monte Carlo simulation to characterize the spectrometer response in the high-energy range

  18. Studies in cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bemalkhedkar, M.M.

    1974-03-01

    The investigation of the diurnal variation in the cosmic ray intensity on individual days has revealed a new class of diurnal variation showing a maximum around 09 hour direction in the interplanetary space. It is shown to occur during the recovery phase of Forbush decreases as well as during quiet periods. The rigidity spectrum of the anomalous diurnal variation has an exponent around zero, the same as that for the average diurnal variation exhibiting maximum around 18 hours in the interplanetary space. It is shown that the Forbush decreases associated with the diurnal variation exhibiting morning maximum, are 27 day recurrent in nature and are preceded by east limb solar flares on most of the occasions. A qualitative model of the transient modulation by solar corotating corpuscular streams of enhanced solar wind velocity, emanating from the active regions on the solar disc, is proposed to explain the anomalous diurnal anisotropy in the recovery phase of 27 day recurrent Forbush decreases. From this model, the cosmic ray diffusion coefficients, parallel and perpendicular to the interplanetary magnetic field inside the corotating stream, are derived and compared with the average values. To investigate the possibility of determining the energy spectra of cosmic ray intensity variations from a single station, a continuous record of neutron multiplicity spectrum has been obtained for the period October, 1967 - October, 1971, using the Gulmarg neutron monitor. The average multiplicity spectrum in the Gulmarg neutron monitor shows a mean multiplicity approximately equal to 1.4 for 12 Boron-tri-fluoride counters and is an increasing function of the number of counters used. The mean multiplicity measured in various other neutron monitors, when normalized to the cutoff rigidity of Gulmurg (11.91 GV), shows a systematic increase with the altitude of the station. (author)

  19. Half a century of cosmic x-ray research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Makishima, Kazuo; Takahashi, Tadayuki

    2012-01-01

    The year of 2012, which is the centennial of the cosmic-ray discovery, happens to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. First carried by cosmic-ray physicists, the study of cosmic X-rays has made explosive developments over the last half a century, and has established the X-ray wavelength as an indispensable window onto the Universe. Among a variety of X-ray emitting celestial objects, we choose here neutron stars as a representative, and review the 50 years connecting the dawn era of the research and the state-of-the-art ASTRO-H satellite to be launched in 2014. In this article, 'X-rays' mean energetic photons with energies from 0.1 keV up to a few hundreds keV. (author)

  20. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2009-01-01

    Full text: The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the high-energy Cosmic Ray field. Cosmic Rays are energetic particles from outside the Solar System. Most of the studies of Cosmic Rays address fundamental problems: - the nature of the physical and astrophysical processes responsible for the high energies of the particles - an estimation of the astrophysical conditions at the acceleration sites and/or the search for sources of Cosmic Rays, - properties of high-energy particle interactions at very high energies. Some Cosmic Ray studies might have practical (commercial) implications, e.g. - '' cosmic weather '' forecasting - predictions of geomagnetic disturbances related to Solar activity changes (due to large Solar Flares/Coronal Mass Ejection events); these are important for large electricity networks, gas pipelines, radio-wave connections, space missions and satellite experiments. Presentation of Cosmic Ray registration to high school students has become a popular way to introduce particle physics detectors and elementary particle detection techniques to young people. We organize in Lodz and Poznan workshops on particle physics for high school students. This is a part of the European activity: EPPOG's Masterclass - Hands on CERN. Energetic Cosmic Ray particles produce cascades of particles in the atmosphere, called Extensive Air Showers (EAS). Registering EAS and their properties is the main way of experimentally study's very high energy Cosmic Rays. Locally in Lodz we concentrate on methodological studies of the detection of neutrons correlated with EAS and the interpretation of this phenomenon. We have also performed two series of neutron background measurements in the deep underground Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy (within the ILIAS-TA Project). In 2004, we began the Roland Maze Project, a network of EAS detectors placed on the roofs of high schools in Lodz. The pilot project is to equip 10 high schools, each with four 1m

  1. The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray induced neutrons measured on an airplane over a wide range of altitude and latitude

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldhagen, P.; Clem, J. M.; Wilson, J. W.

    2004-01-01

    Crews of high-altitude aircraft are exposed to radiation from galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). To help determine such exposures, the Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation Project, an international collaboration of 15 laboratories, made simultaneous radiation measurements with 14 instruments on a NASA ER-2 high-altitude airplane. The primary instrument was a sensitive extended-energy multisphere neutron spectrometer. Its detector responses were calculated for energies up to 100 GeV using the radiation transport code MCNPX 2.5.d with improved nuclear models and including the effects of the airplane structure. New calculations of GCR-induced particle spectra in the atmosphere were used to correct for spectrometer counts produced by protons, pions and light nuclear ions. Neutron spectra were unfolded from the corrected measured count rates using the deconvolution code MAXED 3.1. The results for the measured cosmic-ray neutron spectrum (thermal to >10 GeV), total neutron fluence rate, and neutron dose equivalent and effective dose rates, and their dependence on altitude and geomagnetic cut-off agree well with results from recent calculations of GCR-induced neutron spectra. (authors)

  2. Nuclear data relevant to single event upsets in semiconductor memories induced by cosmic-ray neutrons and protons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Yukinobu

    2008-01-01

    The role of nuclear data is examined in the study of single event upset (SEU) phenomena in semiconductor memories caused by cosmic-ray neutrons and protons. Neutron and proton SEU cross sections are calculated with a simplified semi-empirical model using experimental heavy-ion SEU cross-sections and a dedicated database of neutron and proton induced reactions on 28 Si. Some impacts of the nuclear reaction data on SEU simulation are analyzed by investigating relative contribution of secondary ions and neutron elastic scattering to SEU and influence of simultaneous multiple ions emission on SEU. (author)

  3. Modulation of cosmic rays with particular reference to the Hermanus neutron monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoker, P.H.

    1982-01-01

    Investigations at Potchefstroom has directed interest to the interaction between cosmic rays and the interplanetary magnetic field. In this paper the period of increasing modulation of cosmic rays from 1976 is discussed. The geomagnetic field as spectrometer for primary cosmic rays will be discussed and applied to the latitude surveys of 1975 and 1976. Features of the coronal magnetic field, the solar wind with interplanetary magnetic field and the transport of cosmic rays in the interplanetary magnetic field are outlined in order to relate cosmic ray recordings of fixed groundlevel stations to observations made in outerspace by space crafts and satellites and to explain these recordings in terms of cosmic ray modulation processes

  4. Cosmic-ray exposure records and origins of meteorites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reedy, R.C.

    1985-01-01

    The cosmic-ray records of meteorites are used to infer much about their origins and recent histories. The methods used to interpret meteorites cosmic-ray records, especially identifying simple or complex exposure histories, often are inadequate. Spallogenic radionuclides, stable nuclides, and measurements of products that have location-sensitive production rates, such as the tracks of heavy cosmic-ray nuclei or neutron-capture nuclides, are very useful in accurately determining a meteorite's history. Samples from different, known locations of a meteorite help in studying the cosmic-ray record. Such extensive sets of meteorite measuremetns, plus theoretical modeling of complex histories, improves the ability to predict the production of cosmogenic nuclides in meteorites, to distinguish simple and complex exposure histories, and to better determine exposure ages

  5. Cosmic Ray Background Analysis For A Cargo Container Counter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ensslin, Norbert; Geist, W.H.; Lestone, J.P.; Mayo, D.R.; Menlove, Howard O.

    2001-01-01

    We have developed a new model for calculating the expected yield of cosmic-ray spallation neutrons in a Cargo Container Counter, and we have benchmarked the model against measurements made with several existing large neutron counters. We also developed two versions of a new measurement uncertainty prediction code based on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The codes calculate the minimum detectability limit for the Cargo Container Counter for either neutron singles or doubles counting, and also propagate the uncertainties associated with efficiency normalization flux monitors and cosmic ray flux monitors. This paper will describe the physics basis for this analysis, and the results obtained for several different counter designs.

  6. Airborne Detection of Cosmic-Ray Albedo Neutrons for Regional-Scale Surveys of Root-Zone Soil Water on Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrön, M.; Bannehr, L.; Köhli, M.; Zreda, M. G.; Weimar, J.; Zacharias, S.; Oswald, S. E.; Bumberger, J.; Samaniego, L. E.; Schmidt, U.; Zieger, P.; Dietrich, P.

    2017-12-01

    While the detection of albedo neutrons from cosmic rays became a standard method in planetary space science, airborne neutron sensing has never been conceived for hydrological research on Earth. We assessed the applicability of atmospheric neutrons to sense root-zone soil moisture averaged over tens of hectares using neutron detectors on an airborne vehicle. Large-scale quantification of near-surface water content is an urgent challenge in hydrology. Information about soil and plant water is crucial to accurately assess the risks for floods and droughts, to adjust regional weather forecasts, and to calibrate and validate the corresponding models. However, there is a lack of data at scales relevant for these applications. Most conventional ground-based geophysical instruments provide root-zone soil moisture only within a few tens of m2, while electromagnetic signals from conventional remote-sensing instruments can only penetrate the first few centimeters below surface, though at larger spatial areas.In the last couple of years, stationary and roving neutron detectors have been used to sense the albedo component of cosmic-ray neutrons, which represents the average water content within 10—15 hectares and 10—50 cm depth. However, the application of these instruments is limited by inaccessible terrain and interfering local effects from roads. To overcome these limitations, we have pioneered first simulations and experiments of such sensors in the field of airborne geophysics. Theoretical investigations have shown that the footprint increases substantially with height above ground, while local effects smooth out throughout the whole area. Campaigns with neutron detectors mounted on a lightweight gyrocopter have been conducted over areas of various landuse types including agricultural fields, urban areas, forests, flood plains, and lakes. The neutron signal showed influence of soil moisture patterns in heights of up to 180 m above ground. We found correlation with

  7. Neutron monitor latitude survey of cosmic ray intensity during the 1986/1987 solar minimum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moraal, H.; Potgieter, M.S.; Stoker, P.H.; van der Walt, A.J.

    1989-01-01

    A latitude survey of the cosmic ray intensity at sea level was conducted during the 1986/1987 solar minimum period on commercial vessels of the South African Marine Corporation (SAFMARINE). The results show that the differential response function for the 1986/1987 solar minimum agrees well with that measured in 1965. Both these response functions are significantly lower than those for 1976 and 1954. This result supports the 22-year modulation cycle as predicted, for example, by models including drift effects of the charged cosmic ray particles in the large-scale interplanetary magnetic field. A crossover of the spectra at rigidities of about 7 GV was also observed. Such a crossover is necessary to explain both the stationary neutron monitor counting rates and the lower-energy balloon and space observations in consecutive solar cycles. copyright American Geophysical Union 1989

  8. Is there a link between cancer and cosmic rays?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Astbury, A.

    2000-06-01

    Conventional wisdom on the carcinogenic effects of ionizing radiation predicts that only a very small percentage of human deaths from cancer can be attributed to cosmic rays. The intensity of the hadronic component of terrestrial cosmic rays, in particular neutrons, is well measured as a function of vertical threshold rigidity (M, in GeV/c). The crude death rates from malignant neoplasms for countries of the world and states of the US reveal a correlation with M. A close examination of eight US states with M ≤ 1.5 GeV/c over the period 1947-1997 shows systematic time variations with periodicities reminiscent of sunspot cycles (∼11 years). A very simple model linking the death rate from cancer to the count rate in a cosmic ray neutron monitor reproduces the gross features of the data. The evidence suggests that conventional wisdom could well be challenged. The situation may only be resolved by a series of detailed measurements of the genetic impact of hadronic cosmic rays on cells. (author)

  9. Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic-ray induced neutrons aboard an ER-2 high-altitude airplane

    CERN Document Server

    Goldhagen, P E; Kniss, T; Reginatto, M; Singleterry, R C; Van Steveninck, W; Wilson, J W

    2002-01-01

    Crews working on present-day jet aircraft are a large occupationally exposed group with a relatively high average effective dose from galactic cosmic radiation. Crews of future high-speed commercial aircraft flying at higher altitudes would be even more exposed. To help reduce the significant uncertainties in calculations of such exposures, the atmospheric ionizing radiation (AIR) project, an international collaboration of 15 laboratories, made simultaneous radiation measurements with 14 instruments on five flights of a NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft. The primary AIR instrument was a highly sensitive extended-energy multisphere neutron spectrometer with lead and steel shells placed within the moderators of two of its 14 detectors to enhance response at high energies. Detector responses were calculated for neutrons and charged hadrons at energies up to 100 GeV using MCNPX. Neutron spectra were unfolded from the measured count rates using the new MAXED code. We have measured the cosmic-ray neutron spectrum (t...

  10. Cosmic-ray exposure records and origins of meteorites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reedy, R.C.

    1985-01-01

    The cosmic-ray records of meteorites can be used to infer much about their origins and recent histories. Some meteorites had simple cosmic-ray exposure histories, while others had complex exposure histories with their cosmogenic products made both before and after a collision in space. The methods used to interpret meteorites' cosmic-ray records, especially identifying simple or complex exposure histories, often are inadequate. Besides spallogenic radionuclides and stable nuclides, measurements of products that have location-sensitive production rates, such as the tracks of heavy cosmic-ray nuclei or neutron-capture nuclides, are very useful in accurately determining a meteorite's history. Samples from different, known locations of a meteorite help in studying the cosmic-ray record. Such extensive sets of meteorite measurements, plus theoretical modeling of complex histories, will improve our ability to predict the production of cosmogenic nuclides in meteorites, to distinguish simple and complex exposure histories, and to better determine exposure ages

  11. Are gamma-ray bursts the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baerwald, Philipp

    2014-07-01

    We reconsider the possibility that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the sources of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) within the internal shock model, assuming a pure proton composition of the UHECRs. For the first time, we combine the information from gamma-rays, cosmic rays, prompt neutrinos, and cosmogenic neutrinos quantitatively in a joint cosmic ray production and propagation model, and we show that the information on the cosmic energy budget can be obtained as a consequence. In addition to the neutron model, we consider alternative scenarios for the cosmic ray escape from the GRBs, i.e., that cosmic rays can leak from the sources. We find that the dip model, which describes the ankle in UHECR observations by the pair production dip, is strongly disfavored in combination with the internal shock model because (a) unrealistically high baryonic loadings (energy in protons versus energy in electrons/gamma-rays) are needed for the individual GRBs and (b) the prompt neutrino flux easily overshoots the corresponding neutrino bound. On the other hand, GRBs may account for the UHECRs in the ankle transition model if cosmic rays leak out from the source at the highest energies. In that case, we demonstrate that future neutrino observations can efficiently test most of the parameter space - unless the baryonic loading is much larger than previously anticipated.

  12. Application of high resolution x-ray spectrometry preceded by neutron activation for elemental analysis of soil samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernandez Rivero, A.; Capote Rodriguez, G.; Padilla Alvarez, R.; Herrera Peraza, E.

    1997-01-01

    Utilization of High Resolution X-Ray Spectrometry preceded by activation of the samples by irradiation with neutron fluxes (NAA-RX) is a relatively modern trend in application of nuclear techniques. This method may complement advantageously the usual Neutron Activation Analysis by means of Gamma Spectrometry (NAA-G). In this work results obtained by the application of NAA-RX for non-destructive analysis of Cuban soil samples are discussed. The samples were irradiated with reactor neutron fluxes and the induced characteristic X-rays were measured by using Si(Li)-detector. Concentrations of Fe, Zn and Eu as determined by NAA-RX are compared with both NAA-G and XRF data. For the elaboration of X-Ray and Gamma Spectra the computer programs AXIL and ACTAN were used respectively. (author) [es

  13. Application of high resolution x-ray spectrometry preceded by neutron activation for elemental analysis of soil samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernandez Rivero, A.; Capote Rodriguez, G.; Herrera Peraza, E.

    1996-01-01

    Utilization of High Resolution X-Ray Spectrometry preceded by activation of the samples by irradiation with neutron fluxes (NAA R X) is a relatively modern trend in application of nuclear techniques. This method may complement advantageously the usual Neutron Activation Analysis by means of Gamma Spectrometry (NAA-G) In this work results obtained by the application of NAA-RX for non-destructive analysis of Cuban soil samples are discussed. The samples were irradiated with reactor neutron fluxes and the induced characteristic X-rays were measured by using Si(li)-detector. Concentrations of Fe, Zn and Eu as determined by NAA-RX are compared with both NAA-G and XRF data. For the elaboration of X-ray and Gamma Spectra the computer programs AXIL and ACTAN were used respectively

  14. COSMOS: the COsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Zreda

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The newly-developed cosmic-ray method for measuring area-average soil moisture at the hectometer horizontal scale is being implemented in the COsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System (or the COSMOS. The stationary cosmic-ray soil moisture probe measures the neutrons that are generated by cosmic rays within air and soil and other materials, moderated by mainly hydrogen atoms located primarily in soil water, and emitted to the atmosphere where they mix instantaneously at a scale of hundreds of meters and whose density is inversely correlated with soil moisture. The COSMOS has already deployed more than 50 of the eventual 500 cosmic-ray probes, distributed mainly in the USA, each generating a time series of average soil moisture over its horizontal footprint, with similar networks coming into existence around the world. This paper is written to serve a community need to better understand this novel method and the COSMOS project. We describe the cosmic-ray soil moisture measurement method, the instrument and its calibration, the design, data processing and dissemination used in the COSMOS project, and give example time series of soil moisture obtained from COSMOS probes.

  15. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics; Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2003-01-01

    Full text: Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the area of high-energy physics and cosmic ray physics related to: - Experimental and phenomenological studies of Extensive Air Showers induced by cosmic ray particles. - Studies of ultra-high energy (above 10 19 eV) cosmic rays: determination of energy spectrum and mass composition of primary particles - Studies of asymptotic properties of hadronic interactions based on the analysis of cosmic ray propagation through the atmosphere. - Studies of mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 - 10 17 eV. - Registration of cosmic ray intensity variation correlated with solar activity. Theoretical and experimental studies of Extensive Air Shower properties are performed mostly basing on the results obtained by the Lodz Extensive Air Shower Array. We have noticed unexplainable delayed signals registered about 500-900 microseconds after the main EAS pulse. Neutron transport simulations were performed in collaboration with JINR in Dubna. We prepared hardware for further experimental study of this effect. Continuous registrations of 5 GeV muon flux with the underground muon telescope have been carried on over the year 2001. We have detected several changes of muon intensity correlated with Forbush decreases registered at lower energies. We have also started registrations of muon counting rate in the on-surface scintillation detectors. These measurements will be included to the analysis of the disturbed energy spectrum of primary cosmic rays and its dependence on interplanetary disturbances related to the solar activity. In construction and data interpretation of cosmic ray experiments the Lodz group collaborates with many foreign institutes and laboratories: Forschungszentrum in Karlsruhe (Germany), College de France, Institute for Nuclear Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, JINR in Dubna (Russia), Uppsala University (Sweden) and DESY (Germany). We have prepared a

  16. Multi-parametric Effect of Solar Activity on Cosmic Rays V. K. Mishra ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Key words. Sun—solar parameters—cosmic ray modulation—running ... Neutron monitors are most sensitive to cosmic rays in the energy range. 0.5–20 GeV ... been considered as a primary indicator to define the level of solar activity, which.

  17. Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere: Requirements for Future Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mewaldt, R. A.

    2013-06-01

    Since the publication of Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere in 1998 there has been great progress in understanding how and why cosmic rays vary in space and time. This paper discusses measurements that are needed to continue advances in relating cosmic ray variations to changes in solar and interplanetary activity and variations in the local interstellar environment. Cosmic ray acceleration and transport is an important discipline in space physics and astrophysics, but it also plays a critical role in defining the radiation environment for humans and hardware in space, and is critical to efforts to unravel the history of solar activity. Cosmic rays are measured directly by balloon-borne and space instruments, and indirectly by ground-based neutron, muon and neutrino detectors, and by measurements of cosmogenic isotopes in ice cores, tree-rings, sediments, and meteorites. The topics covered here include: what we can learn from the deep 2008-2009 solar minimum, when cosmic rays reached the highest intensities of the space era; the implications of 10Be and 14C isotope archives for past and future solar activity; the effects of variations in the size of the heliosphere; opportunities provided by the Voyagers for discovering the origin of anomalous cosmic rays and measuring cosmic-ray spectra in interstellar space; and future space missions that can continue the exciting exploration of the heliosphere that has occurred over the past 50 years.

  18. Spectrographical method for determining temperature variations of cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorman, L.I.; Krest'yannikov, Yu.Ya.; AN SSSR, Irkutsk. Sibirskij Inst. Zemnogo Magnetizma Ionosfery i Rasprostraneniya Radiovoln)

    1977-01-01

    A spectrographic method for determining [sigmaJsup(μ)/Jsup(μ)]sub(T) temperature variations in cosmic rays is proposed. The value of (sigmaJsup(μ)/Jsup(μ)]sub(T) is determined from three equations for neutron supermonitors and the equation for the muon component of cosmic rays. It is assumed that all the observation data include corrections for the barometric effect. No temperature effect is observed in the neutron component. To improve the reliability and accuracy of the results obtained the surface area of the existing devices and the number of spectrographic equations should be increased as compared with that of the unknown values. The value of [sigmaJsup(μ)/Jsup(μ)]sub(T) for time instants when the aerological probing was carried out, was determined from the data of observations of cosmic rays with the aid of a spectrographic complex of devices of Sib IZMIR. The r.m.s. dispersion of the difference is about 0.2%, which agrees with the expected dispersion. The agreement obtained can be regarded as an independent proof of the correctness of the theory of meteorological effects of cosmic rays. With the existing detection accuracy the spectrographic method can be used for determining the hourly values of temperature corrections for the muon component

  19. The Global Survey Method Applied to Ground-level Cosmic Ray Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belov, A.; Eroshenko, E.; Yanke, V.; Oleneva, V.; Abunin, A.; Abunina, M.; Papaioannou, A.; Mavromichalaki, H.

    2018-04-01

    The global survey method (GSM) technique unites simultaneous ground-level observations of cosmic rays in different locations and allows us to obtain the main characteristics of cosmic-ray variations outside of the atmosphere and magnetosphere of Earth. This technique has been developed and applied in numerous studies over many years by the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation (IZMIRAN). We here describe the IZMIRAN version of the GSM in detail. With this technique, the hourly data of the world-wide neutron-monitor network from July 1957 until December 2016 were processed, and further processing is enabled upon the receipt of new data. The result is a database of homogeneous and continuous hourly characteristics of the density variations (an isotropic part of the intensity) and the 3D vector of the cosmic-ray anisotropy. It includes all of the effects that could be identified in galactic cosmic-ray variations that were caused by large-scale disturbances of the interplanetary medium in more than 50 years. These results in turn became the basis for a database on Forbush effects and interplanetary disturbances. This database allows correlating various space-environment parameters (the characteristics of the Sun, the solar wind, et cetera) with cosmic-ray parameters and studying their interrelations. We also present features of the coupling coefficients for different neutron monitors that enable us to make a connection from ground-level measurements to primary cosmic-ray variations outside the atmosphere and the magnetosphere. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the current version of the GSM as well as further possible developments and improvements. The method developed allows us to minimize the problems of the neutron-monitor network, which are typical for experimental physics, and to considerably enhance its advantages.

  20. On the continuous measurement of the cosmic-ray intensity, 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishida, Yoshio; Kanno, Tsunekichi

    1974-01-01

    Since November 1971, the cosmic ray neutron intensity has been measured continuously with 3NM-64 neutron monitor at Fukushima University (140 0 29'E geographic longitude, 37 0 45'N geographic latitude, 27.6 0 N geomagnetic latitude and 10.55 GV cut-off rigidity). After the neutron monitor had been operated during the period of fourteen months at the ground floor of 3-storied ferro-reinforced concrete building, it was removed to the prefabricated house near the old position of the monitor at January 1973. As a result of the removement of the monitor, the expected values for the counting rate and barometric coefficient of our neutron monitor were obtained, 7.5x10 4 cph and -0.64% mb respectively. The monitor was moved out into a new place, the statistical accuracy of counting rate is altered from 0.44% (hourly counting rate) to 0.36%. It can be considered that there is no effect of concrete building near the monitor, for reason that the zenith angle is opened more than 60 0 over the monitor. The difference between the new and the old measurement - measurement environments, intensities, barometric coefficient and others - were discussed. The continuous measurement of the cosmic ray neutron intensity at Fukushima will be kept on beaten track, and the obtained data of the cosmic ray neutron intensity (uncorrected, corrected intensity and barometric pressure) will be sent to WDC-C2 in form of monthly tables. (author)

  1. Spherical zonal components of cosmic ray between Forbush decreases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, Hachiro; Yahagi, Naohiro; Nagashima, Kazuo.

    1974-01-01

    Two examples are added to the previous report on the zonal harmonic components of cosmic ray in the space between planets by the three dimensional analysis of anisotropy of cosmic ray. Remarkable Forbush decreases occurred in region I during the period from March 20th to April 11th, 1966 and in region II during the period from August 29th to September 11th, 1966. The data used for analysis are the neutron components that have been informed from cosmic ray observation stations in the world. Power type and power exponential type differential rigidity spectra G(P) were used to find isotropic components. The change of the isotropic component a 0 0 was similar to the change of the neutron intensity in Deep River. The southnorth anisotropic phenomenon of cosmic ray intensity was recognized. The anisotropy in the opposite direction to the southnorth anisotropic phenomenon reported by Nagashima et al. was recognized markedly during the period from March 26th to 30th. These tendencies were checked by comparing with the data from the cosmic ray observation stations located near both poles of the earth. McMurdo and Mawson near the south pole, and Thule and Alert near the north pole were selected. The results of analysis were confirmed with these data. Further, the results of the previous report were checked by using the data from the stations near both poles, namely Thule, Resolute Bay, and Mawson. The good coincidence was confirmed on the anisotropic components. (Iwakiri, K.)

  2. Cosmic-ray-induced sup 6 sup 3 Ni -A potential confounder of fast-neutron-induced sup 6 sup 3 Ni in copper samples from Hiroshima

    CERN Document Server

    Rühm, W; Wallner, A; Fästermann, T; Knie, K; Heisinger, B; Nolte, E; Korschinek, G; Marchetti, A A; Martinelli, R E; Carroll, K L

    2003-01-01

    Recently, the determination of sup 6 sup 3 Ni in copper samples has been suggested as a means to assess fast-neutron fluences in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In those samples, sup 6 sup 3 Ni (half-life: 100.07 years) was produced by MeV neutrons from the A-bomb explosions via the reaction sup 6 sup 3 Cu(n,p) sup 6 sup 3 Ni. For large distances from the hypocenters, cosmic-ray-induced production of sup 6 sup 3 Ni might also be important and, therefore, it is calculated here. The effective probability f sup * which is required to quantify the cosmic-ray-induced production by stopped muons, was measured, and a value of (12.6 +-1.6)% obtained. The cross-section for the cosmic-ray-induced production by fast muons was measured to be (0.64 +-0.33) mb, at a muon energy of 100 GeV. To validate the proposed method, cosmic-ray-induced production of sup 3 sup 2 P in sulfur and of sup 3 sup 9 Ar in granite was also calculated, and reasonable agreement with literature values was found. Our estimates indicate that as many as (4 ...

  3. Cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tkachev, I.I.

    2014-01-01

    In this talk I will review results of cosmic ray observations at the highest energies. This year the new results on energy spectra, composition and the study of arrival directions of cosmic ray primaries came from the Telescope Array collaboration. I present these results in comparison with measurements done by other recent experiments and discuss their implications for the search of cosmic ray sources. Some related results in gamma-ray astronomy and selected recent advances in theory are also covered. (author)

  4. Determination of trace elements in Katana (Japanese sword) by neutron activation analysis with multidimensional γ-ray spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okada, Y.; Hirai, S.; Ohya, S.; Kimura, Atsushi; Hatsukawa, Yuichi; Toh, Yosuke; Koizumi, Mitsuo; Oshima, Masumi

    2006-01-01

    In this study, we tried to measure trace elements (As and Sb) in Katana (Japanese swords) by multidimensional γ-ray spectrometry method (GEMINI-II) and conventional counting method for neutron activation analysis (NAA). The determined values by GEMINI-II and conventional counting were in good agreement with. Using the multidimensional γ-ray spectrometry (GEMINI-II) to determine As and Sb was improved by 7 times and 10 times compared with the conventional counting method. (author)

  5. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2008-01-01

    Full text: The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the high energy Cosmic Ray field. Cosmic Rays are energetic particles from outside the Solar System. Most of the studies of Cosmic Rays address fundamental problems: · the nature of the physical and astrophysical processes responsible for high energies of particles · an estimation of the astrophysical conditions at the acceleration sites and/or search for sources of Cosmic Rays, · properties of high energy particle interactions at very high energies. Some Cosmic Ray studies might have practical (commercial) implications, e.g. · '' cosmic weather '' forecast - predictions of geomagnetic disturbances related to Solar activity changes (due to large Solar Flares / events of Coronal Mass Ejection); these are important for large electricity networks, gas pipes, radio-wave connections, space missions and satellite experiments. Presentation of Cosmic Ray registration to high school students becomes a popular way to introduce particle physics detectors and elementary particle detection techniques to young people. We organize in Lodz several workshops on particle physics for high school students. This is a part of European activity: EPPOG's Masterclass - Hands on CERN. Energetic Cosmic Ray particles produce cascades of particles in the atmosphere, called Extensive Air Showers (EAS). Registering EAS and their properties is the main way of experimental studies of very high energy Cosmic Rays. In Lodz Department we run Extensive Air Shower array where EAS are continuously being registered. We concentrate on the studies of detection of neutrons correlated with EAS and interpretation of this phenomenon. In 2004 we started realisation of the Roland Maze Project, the network of EAS detectors placed on the roofs of high schools in Lodz. We received funds from the City of Lodz budget to make a pilot project and equip 10 high schools, each with four 1m 2 detectors and GPS. The network is

  6. Neutron stars as cosmic neutron matter laboratories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pines, D.

    1986-01-01

    Recent developments which have radically changed our understanding of the dynamics of neutron star superfluids and the free precession of neutron stars are summarized, and the extent to which neutron stars are cosmic neutron matter laboratories is discussed. 17 refs., 1 tab

  7. Hard X ray lines from neutron stars

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Polcaro, V.F.; Bazzano, A.; La Padula, C.; Ubertini, P.

    1982-01-01

    Experimental evidence is presented and evaluated concerning the features of the hard X-ray spectra detected in a number of cosmic X-ray sources which contain a neutron star. The strong emission line at cyclotron resonance detected in the spectrum of Her XI at an energy of 58 keV is evaluated and the implications of this finding are discussed. Also examined is the presence of spectral features in the energy range 20-80 keV found in the spectra of gamma-ray bursts, which have been interpreted as cyclotron resonance from interstellar-gas-accreting neutron stars. The less understood finding of a variable emission line at approximately 70 keV in the spectrum of the Crab Pulsar is considered. It is determined that several features varying with time are present in the spectra of cosmic X-ray sources associated with neutron stars. If these features are due to cyclotron resonance, it is suggested that they provide a direct measurement of neutron star magnetic fields on the order of 10 to the 11th-10 to the 13th Gauss. However, the physical condition of the emitting region and its geometry are still quite obscure.

  8. Soil Moisture Estimation Across Scales with Mobile Sensors for Cosmic-Ray Neutrons from the Ground and Air

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrön, Martin; Köhler, Mandy; Bannehr, Lutz; Köhli, Markus; Fersch, Benjamin; Rebmann, Corinna; Mai, Juliane; Cuntz, Matthias; Kögler, Simon; Schröter, Ingmar; Wollschläger, Ute; Oswald, Sascha; Dietrich, Peter; Zacharias, Steffen

    2016-04-01

    Soil moisture is a key variable for environmental sciences, but its determination at various scales and depths is still an open challenge. Cosmic-ray neutron sensing has become a well accepted and unique method to monitor an effective soil water content, covering tens of hectares in area and tens of centimeters in depth. The technology is famous for its low maintanance, non-invasiveness, continous measurement, and most importantly its large footprint and penetration depth. Beeing more representative than point data, and finer resolved plus deeper penetrating than remote-sensing products, cosmic-ray neutron derived soil moisture products provide unrivaled advantage for agriculture, regional hydrologic and land surface models. The method takes advantage of omnipresent neutrons which are extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen in soil, plants, snow and air. Unwanted hydrogen sources in the footprint can be excluded by local calibration to extract the pure soil water information. However, this procedure is not feasible for mobile measurements, where neutron detectors are mounted on a car to do catchment-scale surveys. As a solution to that problem, we suggest strategies to correct spatial neutron data with the help of available spatial data of soil type, landuse and vegetation. We further present results of mobile rover campaigns at various scales and conditions, covering small sites from 0.2 km2 to catchments of 100 km2 area, and complex terrain from agricultural fields, urban areas, forests, to snowy alpine sites. As the rover is limited to accessible roads, we further investigated the applicability of airborne measurements. First tests with a gyrocopter at 150 to 200m heights proofed the concept of airborne neutron detection for environmental sciences. Moreover, neutron transport simulations confirm an improved areal coverage during these campaigns. Mobile neutron measurements at the ground or air are a promising tool for the detection of water sources across many

  9. Physical methods for studying minerals and solid materials: X-ray, electron and neutron diffraction; scanning and transmission electron microscopy; X-ray, electron and ion spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eberhart, J.-P.

    1976-01-01

    The following topics are discussed: theoretical aspects of radiation-matter interactions; production and measurement of radiations (X rays, electrons, neutrons); applications of radiation interactions to the study of crystalline materials. The following techniques are presented: X-ray and neutron diffraction, electron microscopy, electron diffraction, X-ray fluorescence analysis, electron probe microanalysis, surface analysis by electron emission spectrometry (ESCA and Auger electrons), scanning electron microscopy, secondary ion emission analysis [fr

  10. Solar cycle variation of cosmic ray intensity along with interplanetary and solar wind plasma parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mishra, R.K.; Tiwari, S.; Agarwal, R.

    2008-01-01

    Galactic cosmic rays are modulated at their propagation in the heliosphere by the effect of the large-scale structure of the interplanetary medium. A comparison of the variations in the cosmic ray intensity data obtained by neutron monitoring stations with those in geomagnetic disturbance, solar wind velocity (V), interplanetary magnetic field (B), and their product (V , B) near the Earth for the period 1964-2004 has been presented so as to establish a possible correlation between them. We used the hourly averaged cosmic ray counts observed with the neutron monitor in Moscow. It is noteworthy that a significant negative correlation has been observed between the interplanetary magnetic field, product (V , B) and cosmic ray intensity during the solar cycles 21 and 22. The solar wind velocity has a good positive correlation with cosmic ray intensity during solar cycle 21, whereas it shows a weak correlation during cycles 20, 22 and 23. The interplanetary magnetic field shows a weak negative correlation with cosmic rays for solar cycle 20, and a good anti-correlation for solar cycles 21-23 with the cosmic ray intensity, which, in turn, shows a good positive correlation with disturbance time index (Dst) during solar cycles 21 and 22, and a weak correlation for cycles 20 and 23. (Authors)

  11. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J

    2005-01-01

    Full text: The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the high energy Cosmic Ray field. Cosmic Rays are energetic particles from outside the Solar System. The energy spectrum (power law energy dependence) suggests a non-thermal origin of these particles. Most studies of Cosmic Rays address fundamental problems: - the nature of the physical and astrophysical processes responsible for high energies of particles (up to about 10 20 eV/particle), - estimation of the astrophysical conditions at the acceleration sites and/or search for sources of Cosmic Rays, - properties of high energy particle interactions at very high energies (nuclear interactions at energies exceeding energy available in laboratories). - Some Cosmic Ray studies might have practical (commercial) implications, e.g. - ''cosmic weather'' forecast - predictions of geomagnetic disturbances related to Solar activity changes (due to large Solar Flares / events of Coronal Mass Ejection); these are important for large electricity networks, gas pipes, radio-wave connections, space missions and satellite experiments. Presentation of Cosmic Ray registration to high school students is a popular way to introduce particle physics detectors and elementary particle detection techniques to young people. Energetic Cosmic Ray particles produce cascades of particles in the atmosphere, called Extensive Air Showers (EAS). Registering the EAS and their properties is the main way of experimental studies of very high energy Cosmic Rays. In our Lodz Department we run an Extensive Air Shower array where EAS are continuously being registered. We concentrate on the studies of detection of neutrons correlated with EAS and interpretation of this phenomenon. In 2004 we started realisation of the Roland Maze Project, the network of EAS detectors placed on the roofs of high schools in Lodz. We received funds from the City of Lodz's budget to make a pilot project and equip 10 high schools, each with

  12. Measurement of planetary surface composition by gamma-ray and neutron spectrometry - Preparatory studies for Mars and for the Moon by numerical simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gasnault, O.

    1999-01-01

    Gamma-ray and neutron spectrometry sets up a powerful tool of geological and geochemical characterization of planetary surfaces. This method allows to tackle some critical planet science questions: crustal and mantle compositions; ices; volcanism; alteration processes... Most of the neutrons and gamma photons result from the interactions of galactic cosmic rays with matter. The first chapter introduces the physics of these nuclear interactions in planetary soils and in detectors. Our work aims at optimizing the observations by specifying instrumental performances, and by highlighting relations between soil composition and neutron fluxes. Numerical simulations using the GEANT code from CERN support our analysis. The second chapter estimates the performances of the Germanium gamma-ray spectrometer for MARS SURVEYOR 2001. The result of simulations is compared to calibration measurements; then performances are calculated in flight configuration. The background at Mars is estimated to about 160 c/s. The instrument offers a fine sensitivity to: Fe, Mg, K, Si, Th, Cl and O. It will also be possible to measure U, Ti, H, C, S, Ca and Al. The emission lobes at the surface are calculated too. These measurements shall permit a better understanding of the Martian surface. The last chapter deals with fast neutrons [500 keV; 10 MeV] emitted by the Moon. The strong influence of oxygen is underlined. As observed by LUNAR PROSPECTOR, the integrated flux shows a pronounced dependence with regolith content in iron and titanium, allowing the mapping. The influence of the other chemical elements is quantified. A simple mathematical formula is suggested to estimate the integrated neutron flux according to soil composition. At last, a study of hydrogen effects on fast neutron flux is carried out; we examine the possibilities to quantify its abundance in the soil by this method. (author)

  13. Gamma-ray spectrometry applied to down-hole logging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dumesnil, P.; Umiastowsky, K.

    1983-11-01

    Gamma-ray spectrometry permits to improve the accuracy of natural gamma, gamma-gamma and neutron-gamma geophysical measurements. The probe developed at Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay allows down-hole gamma-ray spectrometry. Among others, this probe can be applied to the uranium content determination by selective natural gamma method, down-hole determination of the ash content in the coal by gamma-gamma selective method and elemental analysis by neutron-gamma method. For the calibration and an exact interpretation of the measurements it is important to know the gamma-ray and neutron characteristics of the different kinds of rocks considered as probabilistic variables

  14. Heliospheric Impact on Cosmic Rays Modulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiwari, Bhupendra Kumar

    2016-07-01

    Heliospheric Impact on Cosmic RaysModulation B. K. Tiwari Department of Physics, A. P. S. University, Rewa (M.P.), btiwari70@yahoo.com Cosmic rays (CRs) flux at earth is modulated by the heliosphereric magnetic field and the structure of the heliosphere, controls by solar outputs and their variability. Sunspots numbers (SSN) is often treated as a primary indicator of solar activity (SA). GCRs entering the helioshphere are affected by the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind speed, their modulation varies with the varying solar activity. The observation based on data recoded from Omniweb data Centre for solar- interplanetary activity indices and monthly mean count rate of cosmic ray intensity (CRI) data from neutron monitors of different cut-off rigidities(Rc) (Moscow Rc=2.42Gv and Oulu Rc=0.80Gv). During minimum solar activity periodof solar cycle 23/24, the sun is remarkably quiet, weakest strength of the IMF and least dense and slowest, solar wind speed, whereas, in 2003, highest value of yearly averaged solar wind speed (~568 Km/sec) associated with several coronal holes, which generate high speed wind stream has been recorded. It is observed that GCRs fluxes reduces and is high anti-correlated with SSN (0.80) and IMF (0.86). CRI modulation produces by a strong solar flare, however, CME associated solar flare produce more disturbance in the interplanetary medium as well as in geomagnetic field. It is found that count rate of cosmic ray intensity and solar- interplanetary parameters were inverse correlated and solar indices were positive correlated. Keywords- Galactic Cosmic rays (GCRs), Sunspot number (SSN), Solar activity (SA), Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), Interplanetary magnetic field (IMF)

  15. RECORD-SETTING COSMIC-RAY INTENSITIES IN 2009 AND 2010

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mewaldt, R. A.; Davis, A. J.; Leske, R. A.; Stone, E. C.; Cummings, A. C.; Labrador, A. W.; Lave, K. A.; Binns, W. R.; Israel, M. H.; Wiedenbeck, M. E.; Christian, E. R.; De Nolfo, G. A.; Von Rosenvinge, T. T.

    2010-01-01

    We report measurements of record-setting intensities of cosmic-ray nuclei from C to Fe, made with the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer carried on the Advanced Composition Explorer in orbit about the inner Sun-Earth Lagrangian point. In the energy interval from ∼70 to ∼450 MeV nucleon -1 , near the peak in the near-Earth cosmic-ray spectrum, the measured intensities of major species from C to Fe were each 20%-26% greater in late 2009 than in the 1997-1998 minimum and previous solar minima of the space age (1957-1997). The elevated intensities reported here and also at neutron monitor energies were undoubtedly due to several unusual aspects of the solar cycle 23/24 minimum, including record-low interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) intensities, an extended period of reduced IMF turbulence, reduced solar-wind dynamic pressure, and extremely low solar activity during an extended solar minimum. The estimated parallel diffusion coefficient for cosmic-ray transport based on measured solar-wind properties was 44% greater in 2009 than in the 1997-1998 solar-minimum period. In addition, the weaker IMF should result in higher cosmic-ray drift velocities. Cosmic-ray intensity variations at 1 AU are found to lag IMF variations by 2-3 solar rotations, indicating that significant solar modulation occurs inside ∼20 AU, consistent with earlier galactic cosmic-ray radial-gradient measurements. In 2010, the intensities suddenly decreased to 1997 levels following increases in solar activity and in the inclination of the heliospheric current sheet. We describe the conditions that gave cosmic rays greater access to the inner solar system and discuss some of their implications.

  16. Instrumentation for continuous monitoring of low energy cosmic ray intensity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kumar, S; Prasad, R; Yadav, R S [Aligarh Muslim Univ. (India). Dept. of Physics; Naqvi, T H [Z.H. Engineering Coll., Aligarh (India); Ahmed, Rais [National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi (India)

    1975-12-01

    A high counting rate neutron monitor developed at Aligarh for continuous monitoring of low energy nucleonic component of cosmic rays is described. Transistorized electronic circuits used are described.

  17. On scaling cosmogenic nuclide production rates for altitude and latitude using cosmic-ray measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desilets, Darin; Zreda, Marek

    2001-11-01

    The wide use of cosmogenic nuclides for dating terrestrial landforms has prompted a renewed interest in characterizing the spatial distribution of terrestrial cosmic rays. Cosmic-ray measurements from neutron monitors, nuclear emulsions and cloud chambers have played an important role in developing new models for scaling cosmic-ray neutron intensities and, indirectly, cosmogenic production rates. Unfortunately, current scaling models overlook or misinterpret many of these data. In this paper, we describe factors that must be considered when using neutron measurements to determine scaling formulations for production rates of cosmogenic nuclides. Over the past 50 years, the overwhelming majority of nucleon flux measurements have been taken with neutron monitors. However, in order to use these data for scaling spallation reactions, the following factors must be considered: (1) sensitivity of instruments to muons and to background, (2) instrumental biases in energy sensitivity, (3) solar activity, and (4) the way of ordering cosmic-ray data in the geomagnetic field. Failure to account for these factors can result in discrepancies of as much as 7% in neutron attenuation lengths measured at the same location. This magnitude of deviation can result in an error on the order of 20% in cosmogenic production rates scaled from 4300 m to sea level. The shapes of latitude curves of nucleon flux also depend on these factors to a measurable extent, thereby causing additional uncertainties in cosmogenic production rates. The corrections proposed herein significantly improve our ability to transfer scaling formulations based on neutron measurements to scaling formulations applicable to spallation reactions, and, therefore, constitute an important advance in cosmogenic dating methodology.

  18. Neutron fluence spectrometry using disk activation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loevestam, Goeran; Hult, Mikael; Fessler, Andreas; Gasparro, Joel; Kockerols, Pierre; Okkinga, Klaas; Tagziria, Hamid; Vanhavere, Filip; Wieslander, J.S. Elisabeth

    2009-01-01

    A simple and robust detector for spectrometry of environmental neutrons has been developed. The technique is based on neutron activation of a series of different metal disks followed by low-level gamma-ray spectrometry of the activated disks and subsequent neutron spectrum unfolding. The technique is similar to foil activation but here the applied neutron fluence rates are much lower than usually in the case of foil activation. The detector has been tested in quasi mono-energetic neutron fields with fluence rates in the order of 1000-10000 cm -2 s -1 , where the obtained spectra showed good agreement with spectra measured using a Bonner sphere spectrometer. The detector has also been tested using an AmBe source and at a neutron fluence rate of about 40 cm -2 s -1 , again, a good agreement with the assumed spectrum was achieved

  19. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2007-01-01

    The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the high energy Cosmic Ray field. Cosmic Rays are energetic particles from outside the Solar System. The energy spectrum (power law energy dependence) suggests non-thermal origin of these particles. Most of the studies of Cosmic Rays address fundamental problems: · the nature of the physical and astrophysical processes responsible for high energies of particles (up to about 1020 eV/particle), · an estimation of the astrophysical conditions at the acceleration sites and/or search for sources of Cosmic Rays, · properties of high energy particle interactions at very high energies (nuclear interactions at energies exceeding energy available in the laboratories). Some Cosmic Ray studies might have practical (commercial) implications, e.g.: · '' cosmic weather '' forecast - predictions of geomagnetic disturbances related to Solar activity changes (due to large Solar Flares / events of Coronal Mass Ejection); these are important for large electricity networks, gas pipes, radio-wave connections, space missions and satellite experiments. Presentation of Cosmic Ray registration to high school students becomes a popular way to introduce particle physics detectors and elementary particle detection techniques to young people. We organize in Lodz several workshops on particle physics for high school students. This is a part of European activity: Masterclass - Hands on CERN. Energetic Cosmic Ray particles produce cascades of particles in the atmosphere, called Extensive Air Showers (EAS). Registering EAS and their properties is the main way of experimental studies of very high energy Cosmic Rays. In Lodz Department we run Extensive Air Shower array where EAS are continuously being registered. We concentrate on the studies of detection of neutrons correlated with EAS and interpretation of this phenomenon. Back in 2004 we started realisation of the Roland Maze Project, the network of EAS detectors

  20. Instrumentation for continuous monitoring of low energy cosmic ray intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, S.; Prasad, R.; Yadav, R.S.; Ahmed, Rais

    1975-01-01

    A high counting rate neutron monitor developed at Aligarh for continuous monitoring of low energy nucleonic component of cosmic rays is described. Transistorized electronic circuits used are described. (author)

  1. Examination of radioargon production by cosmic neutron interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, Christine; Armstrong, Hirotatsu; Wilson, William H.; Biegalski, Steven R.

    2015-01-01

    Radioargon isotopes, particularly 37 Ar, are currently being considered for use as an On-Site Inspection (OSI) relevant radionuclide within the context of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). In order to understand any soil air measurements taken during an OSI, the radioargon background due to cosmic ray induced activation along with other sources must be understood. An MCNP6 model was developed using the cosmic ray source feature within the code to examine the neutron flux at ground level as a function of various conditions: date during the solar magnetic activity cycle, latitude of sampling location, geology of the sampling location, and sampling depth. Once the cosmic neutron flux was obtained, calculations were performed to determine the rate of radioargon production for the main interactions. Radioargon production was shown to be highly dependent on the soil composition, and a range of 37 Ar production values at 1 m depth was found with a maximum production rate of 4.012 atoms/sec/m 3 in carbonate geologies and a minimum production rate of 0.070 atoms/sec/m 3 in low calcium granite. The sampling location latitude was also shown to have a measurable effect on the radioargon production rate, where the production of 37 Ar in an average continental crust is shown to vary by a factor of two between the equator and the poles. The sampling date's position within the solar magnetic activity cycle was also shown to cause a smaller change, less than a factor of 1.2, in activation between solar maxima and solar minima. - Highlights: • Cosmic neutron flux modeled in various geologic materials using MCNP6. • Radioargon production rate calculated in various geologic materials. • Variations in production considered for latitude, date, material, and depth. • Geology and depth have greatest impact, some latitude effect, smaller date effect

  2. Radiation transport of cosmic ray nuclei in lunar material and radiation doses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silberberg, R.; Tsao, C.H.; Adams, J.H. Jr.; Letaw, J.R.

    1985-01-01

    The radiation environment on the lunar surface is inhospitable. The permanent settlers may work ten hours per 24-hour interval for the two-week-long lunar day on the lunar surface, or 20 percent of the total time. At moderate depths below the lunar surface (less than 200 g/sq cm) the flux of secondary neutrons exceeds considerably that in the upper atmosphere of the earth, due to cosmic-ray interactions with lunar material. The annual dose equivalent due to neutrons is about 20 or 25 rem within the upper meter of the lunar surface. The dose equivalent due to gamma rays generated by nuclear interactions near the lunar surface is only on the order of 1 percent of that due to neutrons. However, gamma-ray line emission from excited nuclei and nuclear spallation products generated by cosmic rays near the lunar surface is of considerable interest: these lines permit the partial determination of lunar composition by gamma spectroscopy. 12 references

  3. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2006-01-01

    The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the high energy Cosmic Ray field. Cosmic Rays are energetic particles from outside the Solar System. The energy spectrum (power law energy dependence) suggests a non-thermal origin of these particles. Most of the studies of Cosmic Rays address fundamental problems: · The nature of the physical and astrophysical processes responsible for the high energies of the particles (up to about 1020 eV/particle), · An estimation of the astrophysical conditions at the acceleration sites and/or search for sources of Cosmic Rays, · properties of high energy particle interactions at very high energies (nuclear interactions at energies exceeding energy available in the laboratories). Some Cosmic Ray studies might have practical (commercial) implications, e.g. · 'cosmic weather' forecast - predictions of geomagnetic disturbances related to Solar activity changes (due to large Solar Flares / events of Coronal Mass Ejection); these are important for large electricity networks, gas pipes, radio-wave connections, space missions and satellite experiments. Presentation of Cosmic Ray registration to high school students becomes a popular way to introduce particle physics detectors and elementary particle detection techniques to young people. Energetic Cosmic Ray particles produce cascades of particles in the atmosphere, called Extensive Air Showers (EAS). Registering EAS and their properties is the main way of experimental studies of very high energy Cosmic Rays. In the Lodz Department we run the Extensive Air Shower array where EAS are being registered. We concentrate on the studies of detection of neutrons correlated with EAS and interpretation of this phenomenon. In 2004, we started realisation of the Roland Maze Project, the network of EAS detectors placed on roofs of high schools in Lodz. We received funds from the City of Lodz budget to make a pilot project and equip 10 high schools, each with four 1 m

  4. Neutron fluence spectrometry using disk activation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loevestam, Goeran [EC-JRC-Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Geel (Belgium)], E-mail: goeran.loevestam@ec.europa.eu; Hult, Mikael; Fessler, Andreas; Gasparro, Joel; Kockerols, Pierre; Okkinga, Klaas [EC-JRC-Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Geel (Belgium); Tagziria, Hamid [EC-JRC-Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (IPSC), Via E. Fermi 1, I-21020 Ispra (Vatican City State, Holy See,) (Italy); Vanhavere, Filip [SCK-CEN, Boeretang, 2400 Mol (Belgium); Wieslander, J.S. Elisabeth [EC-JRC-Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Geel (Belgium); Department of Physics, P.O. Box 35 (YFL), FIN-40014, University of Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

    2009-01-15

    A simple and robust detector for spectrometry of environmental neutrons has been developed. The technique is based on neutron activation of a series of different metal disks followed by low-level gamma-ray spectrometry of the activated disks and subsequent neutron spectrum unfolding. The technique is similar to foil activation but here the applied neutron fluence rates are much lower than usually in the case of foil activation. The detector has been tested in quasi mono-energetic neutron fields with fluence rates in the order of 1000-10000 cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, where the obtained spectra showed good agreement with spectra measured using a Bonner sphere spectrometer. The detector has also been tested using an AmBe source and at a neutron fluence rate of about 40 cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, again, a good agreement with the assumed spectrum was achieved.

  5. Determination of U, Th and K in bricks by gamma -ray spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence analysis and neutron activation analysis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bártová, H.; Kučera, Jan; Musílek, L.; Trojek, T.; Gregorová, E.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 140, NOV (2017), s. 161-166 ISSN 0969-806X R&D Projects: GA MŠk LM2015056 Institutional support: RVO:61389005 Keywords : Gamma-ray spectrometry * neutron activation analysis * environmental dosimetry Subject RIV: CB - Analytical Chemistry , Separation OBOR OECD: Analytical chemistry Impact factor: 1.315, year: 2016

  6. Heliospheric Modulation of Galactic Cosmic Rays; Diurnal Variability Abstract Details

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalu, D. F.; Okpala, K. C.

    2017-12-01

    We have studied the variability of Cosmic rays flux during solar quiet days at mid and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. By using the five (5) quietest days for each month and the five disturbed days for each month, the monthly mean diurnal variation of cosmic ray anisotropy have been derived for the period 1999-2015, which covers part of cycles 23, and cycle 24. This study seeks to understand the heliospheric contribution to the variation of these Cosmic rays on quietest days, three stations (Inuvik, Moscow, Rome) Neutron Monitors were employed. This study seeks to understand the important features of the high latitude and mid latitude diurnal wave, and how solar and geomagnetic activity may be influencing the wave characteristics. Cosmic ray wave characteristics were obtained by discrete Fourier transform (DFT). The mean, diurnal amplitude, phase and dispersion for each month's diurnal wave were calculated and profiled. There was clear indication that the terrestrial effect on the variability of the monthly mean was more associated with geomagnetic activity rather than rigidity of the cosmic rays. Correlation of the time series of these wave characteristic with solar and geomagnetic activity index showed better association with solar activity.

  7. Cosmic-ray neutron transport at a forest field site

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Mie; Jensen, Karsten Høgh; Desilets, Darin

    2017-01-01

    -ray neutron intensity is essential (e.g., the effect of vegetation, litter layer and soil type). In this study the environmental effect is examined by performing a sensitivity analysis using neutron transport modeling. We use a neutron transport model with various representations of the forest and different...

  8. Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing: Use, Calibration and Validation for Soil Moisture Estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2017-03-01

    Nuclear and related techniques can help develop climate-smart agricultural practices by optimizing water use efficiency. The measurement of soil water content is essential to improve the use of this resource in agriculture. However, most sensors monitor small areas (less than 1m in radius), hence a large number of sensors are needed to obtain soil water content across a large area. This can be both costly and labour intensive and so larger scale measuring devices are needed as an alternative to traditional point-based soil moisture sensing techniques. The cosmic ray neutron sensor (CRNS) is such a device that monitors soil water content in a non-invasive and continuous way. This publication provides background information about this novel technique, and explains in detail the calibration and validation process.

  9. About cosmic gamma ray lines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diehl, Roland

    2017-06-01

    Gamma ray lines from cosmic sources convey the action of nuclear reactions in cosmic sites and their impacts on astrophysical objects. Gamma rays at characteristic energies result from nuclear transitions following radioactive decays or high-energy collisions with excitation of nuclei. The gamma-ray line from the annihilation of positrons at 511 keV falls into the same energy window, although of different origin. We present here the concepts of cosmic gamma ray spectrometry and the corresponding instruments and missions, followed by a discussion of recent results and the challenges and open issues for the future. Among the lessons learned are the diffuse radioactive afterglow of massive-star nucleosynthesis in 26Al and 60Fe gamma rays, which is now being exploited towards the cycle of matter driven by massive stars and their supernovae; large interstellar cavities and superbubbles have been recognised to be of key importance here. Also, constraints on the complex processes making stars explode as either thermonuclear or core-collapse supernovae are being illuminated by gamma-ray lines, in this case from shortlived radioactivities from 56Ni and 44Ti decays. In particular, the three-dimensionality and asphericities that have recently been recognised as important are enlightened in different ways through such gamma-ray line spectroscopy. Finally, the distribution of positron annihilation gamma ray emission with its puzzling bulge-dominated intensity disctribution is measured through spatially-resolved spectra, which indicate that annihilation conditions may differ in different parts of our Galaxy. But it is now understood that a variety of sources may feed positrons into the interstellar medium, and their characteristics largely get lost during slowing down and propagation of positrons before annihilation; a recent microquasar flare was caught as an opportunity to see positrons annihilate at a source.

  10. Elemental composition of cosmic ray

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yanagida, Shohei

    1987-01-01

    The report first summarizes some data that have been obtained so far from observation of isotopes and elements in cosmic rays in the low energy region. Then, objectives of studies planned to be carried out with Astromag are outlined and the number of incident particles expected to be measured by baloon observation is estimated. Heavy elements with atomic numbers of greater than 30 are considered to be formed through neutron absorption reactions by the s- or r-process. Observations show that products of the r-process is abundant in cosmic ray sources. The escape length depends on energy. In relation to this, it has been reported that the ratios Ar-Fe and Ca-Fe increase above 200 GeV-n while such a tendency is not observed for K, Sc, Ti or V. Thus, no satisfactory models are available at present which can fully explain the changes in the escape length. The ratio 3 He- 4 He in the range of 5 - 10 GeV-n is inconsistent with the general theory that interprets the escape length of heavy elements. Some models, including the supermetallicity model and Wolf Rayet theory, have been proposed to explain unusual ratios of isotopes in cosmic rays, but more measurements are required to verify them. It is expected that Astromag can serve to make observations that can clarify these points. (Nogami, K.)

  11. Cosmic rays and terrestrial life: A brief review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atri, Dimitra; Melott, Adrian L.

    2014-01-01

    “The investigation into the possible effects of cosmic rays on living organisms will also offer great interest.” - Victor F. Hess, Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1936 High-energy radiation bursts are commonplace in our Universe. From nearby solar flares to distant gamma ray bursts, a variety of physical processes accelerate charged particles to a wide range of energies, which subsequently reach the Earth. Such particles contribute to a number of physical processes occurring in the Earth system. A large fraction of the energy of charged particles gets deposited in the atmosphere, ionizing it, causing changes in its chemistry and affecting the global electric circuit. Remaining secondary particles contribute to the background dose of cosmic rays on the surface and parts of the subsurface region. Life has evolved over the past ∼3 billion years in presence of this background radiation, which itself has varied considerably during the period [1-3]. As demonstrated by the Miller-Urey experiment, lightning plays a very important role in the formation of complex organic molecules, which are the building blocks of more complex structures forming life. There is growing evidence of increase in the lightning rate with increasing flux of charged particles. Is there a connection between enhanced rate of cosmic rays and the origin of life? Cosmic ray secondaries are also known to damage DNA and cause mutations, leading to cancer and other diseases. It is now possible to compute radiation doses from secondary particles, in particular muons and neutrons. Have the variations in cosmic ray flux affected the evolution of life on earth? We describe the mechanisms of cosmic rays affecting terrestrial life and review the potential implications of the variation of high-energy astrophysical radiation on the history of life on earth.

  12. Methods of neutron spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doerschel, B.

    1981-01-01

    The different methods of neutron spectrometry are based on the direct measurement of neutron velocity or on the use of suitable energy-dependent interaction processes. In the latter case the measuring effect of a detector is connected with the searched neutron spectrum by an integral equation. The solution needs suitable unfolding procedures. The most important methods of neutron spectrometry are the time-of-flight method, the crystal spectrometry, the neutron spectrometry by use of elastic collisions with hydrogen nuclei, and neutron spectrometry with the aid of nuclear reactions, especially of the neutron-induced activation. The advantages and disadvantages of these methods are contrasted considering the resolution, the measurable energy range, the sensitivity, and the experimental and computational efforts. (author)

  13. Galactic cosmic ray spectral index: the case of Forbush decreases of March 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livada, M.; Mavromichalaki, H.; Plainaki, C.

    2018-01-01

    During the burst of solar activity in March 2012, close to the maximum of solar cycle 24, a number of X-class and M-class flares and halo CMEs with velocity up to 2684 km/s were recorded. During a relatively short period (7-21 March 2012) two Forbush decreases were registered in the ground-level neutron monitor data. In this work, after a short description of the solar and geomagnetic background of these Forbush decreases, we deduce the cosmic ray density and anisotropy variations based on the daily cosmic ray data of the neutron monitor network (http://www.nmdb.eu; http://cosray.phys.uoa.gr). Applying to our data two different coupling functions methods, the spectral index of these Forbush decreases was calculated following the technique of Wawrzynczak and Alania (Adv. Space Res. 45:622-631, 2010). We pointed out that the estimated values of the spectral index γ of these events are almost similar for both cases following the fluctuation of the Forbush decrease. The study and the calculation of the cosmic ray spectrum during such cosmic ray events are very important for Space Weather applications.

  14. Reduction of cosmic-ray components by veto plastic scintillator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamajima, Y.; Komura, K.

    2004-01-01

    The cosmic-ray component causes the background (BG) in the Ge detector set up on the above ground. The background reduction system was examined by using a plastic scintillator (PS) as a guard counter. It was possible to detect cosmic-ray enough even with a thin PS (0.5 mm in thickness). The resolving time of the timing signal between PS and Ge detector was needed for 10 microseconds. In anti-coincidence with the timing signals of PS, it was possible to reject 90% of the cosmic-ray component by setting up PS to cover the above hemisphere of the Ge detector. It is significant for the anti-coincidence system at above ground to set up effective shield by using ultra low BG Ge and shielding materials as much as possible. It was difficult to reject the secondary neutron component with this system. (author)

  15. Neutron spectrometry and dosimetry in the environment and at workplaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alevra, A.V.; Klein, H.; Knauf, K.; Wittstock, J.; Wolber, G.

    1998-01-01

    Results obtained in diverse environments (including workplaces) using both spectrometric and dosimetric instrumentation were compared. The following topics are included: PTB Bonner sphere spectrometers; natural cosmic ray-induced neutron background; neutron fields at the Dukovany nuclear power plant (Czech Republic); neutron fields at the isochronous cyclotron of the German Cancer Research center in Heidelberg; and accuracy of the integral results obtained with Bonner spheres. (P.A.)

  16. Model-dependent estimate on the connection between fast radio bursts and ultra high energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Xiang; Zhou, Bei; He, Hao-Ning; Fan, Yi-Zhong; Wei, Da-Ming

    2014-01-01

    The existence of fast radio bursts (FRBs), a new type of extragalatic transient, has recently been established, and quite a few models have been proposed. In this work, we discuss the possible connection between the FRB sources and ultra high energy (>10 18 eV) cosmic rays. We show that in the blitzar model and the model of merging binary neutron stars, which includes the huge energy release of each FRB central engine together with the rather high rate of FRBs, the accelerated EeV cosmic rays may contribute significantly to the observed ones. In other FRB models, including, for example, the merger of double white dwarfs and the energetic magnetar radio flares, no significant EeV cosmic ray is expected. We also suggest that the mergers of double neutron stars, even if they are irrelevant to FRBs, may play a nonignorable role in producing EeV cosmic ray protons if supramassive neutron stars are formed in a sufficient fraction of mergers and the merger rate is ≳ 10 3 yr –1 Gpc –3 . Such a possibility will be unambiguously tested in the era of gravitational wave astronomy.

  17. Calculation of cosmic ray induced single event upsets: Program CRUP (Cosmic Ray Upset Program)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shapiro, P.

    1983-09-01

    This report documents PROGRAM CRUP, COSMIC RAY UPSET PROGRAM. The computer program calculates cosmic ray induced single-event error rates in microelectronic circuits exposed to several representative cosmic-ray environments.

  18. Cosmic ray diffusion: report of the workshop in cosmic ray diffusion theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birmingham, T.J.; Jones, F.C.

    1975-02-01

    A workshop in cosmic ray diffusion theory was held at Goddard Space Flight Center on May 16-17, 1974. Topics discussed and summarized are: (1) cosmic ray measurements as related to diffusion theory; (2) quasi-linear theory, nonlinear theory, and computer simulation of cosmic ray pitch-angle diffusion; and (3) magnetic field fluctuation measurements as related to diffusion theory. (auth)

  19. Reconstructing the long-term cosmic ray intensity: linear relations do not work

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Mursula

    2003-04-01

    Full Text Available It was recently suggested (Lockwood, 2001 that the cosmic ray intensity in the neutron monitor energy range is linearly related to the coronal source flux, and can be reconstructed for the last 130 years using the long-term coronal flux estimated earlier. Moreover, Lockwood (2001 reconstructed the coronal flux for the last 500 years using a similar linear relation between the flux and the concentration of cosmogenic 10 Be isotopes in polar ice. Here we show that the applied linear relations are oversimplified and lead to unphysical results on long time scales. In particular, the cosmic ray intensity reconstructed by Lockwood (2001 for the last 130 years has a steep trend which is considerably larger than the trend estimated from observations during the last 65 years. Accordingly, the reconstructed cosmic ray intensity reaches or even exceeds the local interstellar cosmic ray flux around 1900. We argue that these unphysical results obtained when using linear relations are due to the oversimplified approach which does not take into account the complex and essentially nonlinear nature of long-term cosmic ray modulation in the heliosphere. We also compare the long-term cosmic ray intensity based on a linear treatment with the reconstruction based on a recent physical model which predicts a considerably lower cosmic ray intensity around 1900.Key words. Interplanetary physics (cosmic rays; heliopause and solar wind termination – Geomagnetism and paleomagnetism (time variations, secular and long-term

  20. High energy cosmic rays

    CERN Document Server

    Stanev, Todor

    2010-01-01

    Offers an accessible text and reference (a cosmic-ray manual) for graduate students entering the field and high-energy astrophysicists will find this an accessible cosmic-ray manual Easy to read for the general astronomer, the first part describes the standard model of cosmic rays based on our understanding of modern particle physics. Presents the acceleration scenario in some detail in supernovae explosions as well as in the passage of cosmic rays through the Galaxy. Compares experimental data in the atmosphere as well as underground are compared with theoretical models

  1. Partial ring currents and cosmic ray magnetic cutoff rigidity variations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arens, M.

    1978-01-01

    A short introduction on cosmic ray modulation and a description of the magnetosphere, and of some physical processes occurring within its boundaries are presented. 20 geomagnetic storms are analysed together with the cosmic ray intensities during these storms as measured by Neutron Monitors. Using a semi-empirical method, the variations in the magnetic cutoff rigidity for the mountain stations Pic du Midi and Jungfraujoch are deduced. These stations are the most sensitive for measuring these variations. The analysis shows that all analyzed storms have an asymmetric development phase. Often the asymmetry even continues during part of the recovery phase. It is shown that variations in magnetic cutoff rigidity occur only during the asymmetric phase of the storm. The largest variations are found when the cosmic ray station is located in the late afternoon-midnight sector. (Auth.)

  2. 11. European cosmic ray symposium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-03-01

    The biannual Symposium includes all aspects of cosmic ray research. The scientific programme was organized under three main headings: Cosmic rays in the heliosphere, Cosmic rays in the interstellar and extragalactic space, Properties of high-energy interactions as studied by cosmic rays. Seven invited talks were indexed seprately for the INIS database. (R.P.)

  3. Pulsars as the sources of high energy cosmic ray positrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hooper, Dan; Blasi, Pasquale; Serpico, Pasquale Dario

    2009-01-01

    Recent results from the PAMELA satellite indicate the presence of a large flux of positrons (relative to electrons) in the cosmic ray spectrum between approximately 10 and 100 GeV. As annihilating dark matter particles in many models are predicted to contribute to the cosmic ray positron spectrum in this energy range, a great deal of interest has resulted from this observation. Here, we consider pulsars (rapidly spinning, magnetized neutron stars) as an alternative source of this signal. After calculating the contribution to the cosmic ray positron and electron spectra from pulsars, we find that the spectrum observed by PAMELA could plausibly originate from such sources. In particular, a significant contribution is expected from the sum of all mature pulsars throughout the Milky Way, as well as from the most nearby mature pulsars (such as Geminga and B0656+14). The signal from nearby pulsars is expected to generate a small but significant dipole anisotropy in the cosmic ray electron spectrum, potentially providing a method by which the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope would be capable of discriminating between the pulsar and dark matter origins of the observed high energy positrons

  4. Measuring planetary neutron albedo fluxes by remote gamma-ray sensing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haines, E.L.; Metzger, A.E.

    1984-01-01

    A remote-sensing γ-ray spectrometer (GRS) is capable of measuring planetary surface composition through the detection of characteristic gamma rays. In addition, the planetary neutron leakage flux may be detected by means of a thin neutron absorber surrounding the γ-ray detector which converts the neutron flux into a γ-ray flux having a unique energy signature. The γ rays representing the neutron flux are observed against interference consisting of cosmic γ rays, planetary continuum and line emission, and a variety of gamma rays arising from cosmic-ray particle interactions with the γ-ray spectrometer and spacecraft (SC). In this paper the amplitudes of planetary and non-planetary neutron fluxes are assessed and their impact on the sensitivity of measurement is calculated for a lunar orbiter mission and a comet nucleus rendezvous mission. For a 100 h observation period from an altitude of 100 km, a GRS on a lunar orbiter can detect a thermal neutron albedo flux as low as 0.002 cm -2 s -1 and measure the expected flux of approx.=0.6 cm -2 s -1 with an uncertainty of 0.001 cm -2 s -1 . A GRS rendezvousing with a comet at a distance equal to the radius of the comet's nucleus, again for a 100 h observation time, should detect a thermal neutron albedo flux at a level of 0.006 cm -2 s -1 and measure the expected flux of approx.=0.4 cm -2 s -1 with an uncertainty of 0.004 cm -2 s -1 . Mapping the planetary neutron flux jointly with the direct detection of H will not only provide a more accurate model for translating observed γ-ray fluxes into concentrations but will also extend the effective sampling depth and should provide a capability for simple stratigraphic modeling of hydrogen. (orig.)

  5. Do coronal holes influence cosmic ray daily harmonics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahluwalia, H.S.

    1977-01-01

    Coronal holes are identified by their low emissivity in either EUV (Munro and Withrobe, 1973) or in X-rays (Krieger et al, 1973). They are seats of unidirectional magnetic fields. Also, high speed solar wind streams originate in them. Also, high speed solar wind streams originate in then (Krieger et al, 1973; Neupert and Pizzo, 1974; Nolte et al, 1976). Coronal holes often extend over a wide range of heliolatitudes (Timothy et al, 1975). Elsewhere in the Proceedings we have presented results on the long term changes observed in the amplitudes and the times of maximum of the diurnal, the semidiurnal and the tridiurnal variations of cosmic rays, at low (neutrons) and at high (underground muons) primary rigidities (Ahluwalia, 1977). We have shown that a dramatic shift to early hours is noticeable in the times of maxima of the harmonics during 1971-72 period. In this paper we examine the nature of the contributions of off-ecliptic cosmic rays of high enough rigidity, streaming under the influence of large scale ordered interplanetary magnetic field set up by the coronal holes, to the cosmic ray daily harmonics. Some models are presented and discussed in a preliminary fashion. (author)

  6. Performance of the SciBar cosmic ray telescope (SciCRT) toward the detection of high-energy solar neutrons in solar cycle 24

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sasai, Yoshinori; Nagai, Yuya; Itow, Yoshitaka; Matsubara, Yutaka; Sako, Takashi; Lopez, Diego; Itow, Tsukasa; Munakata, Kazuoki; Kato, Chihiro; Kozai, Masayoshi; Miyazaki, Takahiro; Shibata, Shoichi; Oshima, Akitoshi; Kojima, Hiroshi; Tsuchiya, Harufumi; Watanabe, Kyoko; Koi, Tatsumi; Valdés-Galicia, Jose Francisco; González, Luis Xavier; Ortiz, Ernesto; Musalem, Octavio; Hurtado, Alejandro; Garcia, Rocio; Anzorena, Marcos

    2014-12-01

    We plan to observe solar neutrons at Mt. Sierra Negra (4,600 m above sea level) in Mexico using the SciBar detector. This project is named the SciBar Cosmic Ray Telescope (SciCRT). The main aims of the SciCRT project are to observe solar neutrons to study the mechanism of ion acceleration on the surface of the sun and to monitor the anisotropy of galactic cosmic-ray muons. The SciBar detector, a fully active tracker, is composed of 14,848 scintillator bars, whose dimension is 300 cm × 2.5 cm × 1.3 cm. The structure of the detector enables us to obtain the particle trajectory and its total deposited energy. This information is useful for the energy reconstruction of primary neutrons and particle identification. The total volume of the detector is 3.0 m × 3.0 m × 1.7 m. Since this volume is much larger than the solar neutron telescope (SNT) in Mexico, the detection efficiency of the SciCRT for neutrons is highly enhanced. We performed the calibration of the SciCRT at Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) located at 2,150 m above sea level in Mexico in 2012. We installed the SciCRT at Mt. Sierra Negra in April 2013 and calibrated this detector in May and August 2013. We started continuous observation in March 2014. In this paper, we report the detector performance as a solar neutron telescope and the current status of the SciCRT.

  7. Variations of interplanetary parameters and cosmic-ray intensities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geranios, A.

    1980-01-01

    Observations of cosmic ray intensity depressions by earth bound neutron monitors and measurements of interplanetary parameter's variations aboard geocentric satellites in the period January 1972-July 1974 are analysed and grouped according to their correlation among them. From this analysis of about 30 cases it came out that the majority of the depressions correlates with the average propagation speed of interplanetary shocks as well as with the amplitude of the interplanetary magnetic field after the eruption of a solar flare. About one fourth of the events correlates with corotating fast solar wind streams. As the recovery time of the shock-related depressions depends strongly on the heliographic longitude of the causitive solar flare, it seems that the cosmic ray modulation region has a corotative-like feature. (Auth.)

  8. Energy spectrum of galactic cosmic ray modulation and dependence of modulation parameters on distance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Erkhov, V.I.; Kolomeets, E.V.; Likhoded, V.A.; Sevast'yanov, V.N.; Stekol'nikov, N.V.

    1981-01-01

    The paper presents the results of numerical calculation of galactic cosmic ray modulation by solar wind. Calculations were carried out on the basis of diffusion model taking into account convection and adiabatic loss of particles in interplanetary space. Both isotropic and anisotropic models were used in calculations. Modulation coefficient was calculated using the data on intensity of neutron component of cosmic rays and primary cosmic rays in the stratosphere for the period 1958-1979. The form of modulation function was determined. Obtained results allow to determine the size of modulation region and dependence of solar wind speed and diffusion coefficient on distance

  9. Cosmic-Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory: a global cosmic ray detection framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sushchov, O.; Homola, P.; Dhital, N.; Bratek, Ł.; Poznański, P.; Wibig, T.; Zamora-Saa, J.; Almeida Cheminant, K.; Alvarez Castillo, D.; Góra, D.; Jagoda, P.; Jałocha, J.; Jarvis, J. F.; Kasztelan, M.; Kopański, K.; Krupiński, M.; Michałek, M.; Nazari, V.; Smelcerz, K.; Smolek, K.; Stasielak, J.; Sułek, M.

    2017-12-01

    The main objective of the Cosmic-Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory (CREDO) is the detection and analysis of extended cosmic ray phenomena, so-called super-preshowers (SPS), using existing as well as new infrastructure (cosmic-ray observatories, educational detectors, single detectors etc.). The search for ensembles of cosmic ray events initiated by SPS is yet an untouched ground, in contrast to the current state-of-the-art analysis, which is focused on the detection of single cosmic ray events. Theoretical explanation of SPS could be given either within classical (e.g., photon-photon interaction) or exotic (e.g., Super Heavy Dark Matter decay or annihilation) scenarios, thus detection of SPS would provide a better understanding of particle physics, high energy astrophysics and cosmology. The ensembles of cosmic rays can be classified based on the spatial and temporal extent of particles constituting the ensemble. Some classes of SPS are predicted to have huge spatial distribution, a unique signature detectable only with a facility of the global size. Since development and commissioning of a completely new facility with such requirements is economically unwarranted and time-consuming, the global analysis goals are achievable when all types of existing detectors are merged into a worldwide network. The idea to use the instruments in operation is based on a novel trigger algorithm: in parallel to looking for neighbour surface detectors receiving the signal simultaneously, one should also look for spatially isolated stations clustered in a small time window. On the other hand, CREDO strategy is also aimed at an active engagement of a large number of participants, who will contribute to the project by using common electronic devices (e.g., smartphones), capable of detecting cosmic rays. It will help not only in expanding the geographical spread of CREDO, but also in managing a large manpower necessary for a more efficient crowd-sourced pattern recognition scheme to

  10. Cosmic rays in space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujitaka, Kazunobu

    2005-01-01

    Cosmos is a mysterious space by which many researchers are fascinated for many years. But, going into space means that we will receive extra exposure due to existence of cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are mainly composed of highly energetic protons. It was born in the last stage of stellar life. Understanding of cosmos will certainly bring right understanding of radiation energy, or energy itself. As no one could see the very early stage of cosmic rays, there is only a speculation. But it is better to speculate something based on certain side evidences, than to give up the whole. Such attitude shall be welcomed in the space researches. Anyway, cosmic rays were born in the last explosion of a star, which is called as Super Nova. After cosmic rays are emitted from the Super Nova, it will reach to the human surroundings. To indicate its intensity, special unit of ''dose rate'' is used. When a man climbs a mountain, cosmic ray intensity surely increases. It doubles as he goes up every 1500m elevation. It was ascertained by our own measurements. Then what happens when the goes up more? At aviation altitude, where airplanes fly, the dose rate will be increased up to 100times the high mountain cases. And what is expected when he goes up further more, up to space orbit altitude? In this case, the dose rate increases up to 10times the airplane cases. Geomagnetism affects the dose rate very much. As primary cosmic ray particles are charged particles, they cannot do well with existence of the magnetic field. In effect, cosmic rays can penetrate into the polar atmosphere along geomagnetic lines of forces which stand almost vertical, but penetration of low energy cosmic rays will be banned when they intend to penetrate crossing the geomagnetic lines of forces in equatorial region. Therefore, exposure due to cosmic rays will become large in polar region, while it remains small in equatorial region. In effect, airplanes which fly over the equator. Only, we have to know that the cosmos

  11. Cosmic ray intensity distribution in the vertical direction to solar equator plane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nosaka, Toru; Mori, Satoru; Sagisaka, Shuji.

    1983-01-01

    The data of the annual variation of cosmic ray intensity measured by neutron detectors were used to study the distribution of cosmic ray intensity vertical to the solar equator plane and its long term variation. The data used were obtained at Deep River, Kiel, Kerguelen Island, McMurdo, Ottawa, and Mt. Washington. All data showed annual variation. The patterns and degree of variation obtained in northern and southern hemisphere were similar. The summation dial representation of the annual variation and semi-annual variation of cosmic ray was obtained. The inversion of annual variation in 1958 - 1959 and 1968 - 1969 corresponded to the inversion of polarity of solar pole magnetic field. The semi-annual variation showed a complex behavior. The helio-latitudial distribution of cosmic ray intensity was obtained. The asymmetric distribution in relation to the solar equator was observed in the annual variation. The northward gradient of density in 1955 - 1958 and southward gradient in 1959 - 1968 were seen. (Kato, T.)

  12. The latitude distribution of cosmic rays at sea level during 1976

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Potgieter, M.S.

    1978-12-01

    During the 1976 period of maximum intensity of cosmic rays a latitude survey was carried out at sea level with two neutron monitors and a neutron moderated detector on board the S.A. Huguenot of Safmarine. The survey lasted for eleven months from December 1975 to November 1976 and a cutoff rigidity range from 1,8 GV (New York) to 17 GV (Singapore) was covered. The second neutron monitor was designed to be more effective and less sensitive than the standard 1NM64 for the roll and pitch of a ship. A theoretical simulation model was used to compare the characteristics of the two neutron monitors and was finally compared with experimental results. The data recorded during visits to various harbours at specific cutoff rigidities were used to determine a attenuation coefficient for both monitors. The data were corrected for variations in the primary cosmic ray spectrum by using a modulations function characteristic of a period of normal modulation. The data were normalised to the relative counting rate of four reference monitor stations during October 1976. A polynomial regression analysis was used to find the best fit to the experimental data for both monitors. The differential response functions were there-upon calculated and compared. Finally the data were corrected for temperature dependence because of the constribution of muons to the counting rate of a neutron monitor. The long term correction coefficients which were used proved to be satisfactory. The difference between the temperature corrected and uncorrected response functions turned out to be less than 0,5% at 1 GV. A comparison of the 1965 and 1976 latitude distributions showed that the 1976 cosmic ray spectrum was softer compared to the previous maximum in 1965 and about the same as in 1954

  13. Cosmic ray: Studying the origin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    1997-01-01

    Investigations of the origin of cosmic rays are presented. Different methods are discussed: studies of cosmic gamma rays of energy from 30 MeV to about 10 15 eV (since photons point to their places of origin), studies of the mass composition of cosmic rays (because it reflects source morphology), and studies of cosmic rays with energy above 1O 19 eV (for these are the highest energies observed in nature). (author)

  14. Intensity variation of cosmic rays near the heliospheric current sheet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badruddin, K.S.; Yadav, R.S.; Yadav, N.R.

    1985-01-01

    Cosmic ray intensity variations near the heliospheric current sheet-both above and below it-have been studied during 1964-76. Superposed epoch analysis of the cosmic ray neutron monitor data with respect to sector boundaries (i.e., heliospheric current sheet crossings) has been performed. In this analysis data from neutron monitors well distributed in latitude over the Earth's surface is used. First, this study has been made during the two solar activity minimum periods 1964-65 and 1975-76, using the data from Thule (cut-off rigidity O GV), Deep River (cut-off rigidity 1.02 GV), Rome (cut-off rigidity 6.32 GV) and Huancayo (cut-off rigidity 13.45 GV) neutron monitors. The data is analyzed from Deep River, Rome and Huancayo neutron monitors, for which data is available for the full period (1964-76), by dividing the periods according to the changes in solar activity, interplanetary magnetic field polarity and coronal holes. All these studies have shown a negative gradient with respect to heliomagnetic latitude (current sheet). These results have been discussed in the light of theoretical and observational evidences. Suggestions have been given to overcome the discrepancy between the observational and theoretical results. Further, possible explanations for these observational results have been suggested. (author)

  15. Analytical applications of neutron capture gamma-rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindstrom, R.M.; Paul, R.L.; Anderson, D.L.; Paul, R.L.

    1997-01-01

    Field and industrial applications of neutron capture gamma-ray spectrometry with isotopic sources or neutron generators are economically important. Geochemical exploration in boreholes is done routinely with neutron probes. Coal and ores are assayed with analyzers adjacent to a conveyor belt in dozens of industrial facilities. The use of capture gamma rays for explosives detection has been described in the literature, both for scanning airline baggage and for characterizing obsolete munitions; a packaged system for the latter is available commercially. Generalizations are drawn from the history of the field, and predictions are made about the future usefulness of capture gamma rays. (author)

  16. Cosmic ray: Studying the origin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szabelski, J. [Cosmic Ray Laboratory, Soltan Institute for Nuclear Studies, Lodz (Poland)

    1997-12-31

    Investigations of the origin of cosmic rays are presented. Different methods are discussed: studies of cosmic gamma rays of energy from 30 MeV to about 10{sup 15} eV (since photons point to their places of origin), studies of the mass composition of cosmic rays (because it reflects source morphology), and studies of cosmic rays with energy above 1O{sup 19} eV (for these are the highest energies observed in nature). (author) 101 refs, 19 figs, 7 tabs

  17. Cosmic Connections:. from Cosmic Rays to Gamma Rays, Cosmic Backgrounds and Magnetic Fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kusenko, Alexander

    2013-12-01

    Combined data from gamma-ray telescopes and cosmic-ray detectors have produced some new surprising insights regarding intergalactic and galactic magnetic fields, as well as extragalactic background light. We review some recent advances, including a theory explaining the hard spectra of distant blazars and the measurements of intergalactic magnetic fields based on the spectra of distant sources. Furthermore, we discuss the possible contribution of transient galactic sources, such as past gamma-ray bursts and hypernova explosions in the Milky Way, to the observed ux of ultrahigh-energy cosmicrays nuclei. The need for a holistic treatment of gamma rays, cosmic rays, and magnetic fields serves as a unifying theme for these seemingly unrelated phenomena.

  18. Sequential measurements of cosmic-ray neutron spectrum and dose rate at sea level in Sendai, Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamura, Takashi; Nunomiya, Tomoya; Abe, Shigeru; Terunuma, Kazutaka; Suzuki, Hiroyuki

    2005-01-01

    The cosmic-ray neutron energy spectrum and dose rate were measured sequentially for two years from April 2001 up to March 2003 by using three neutron detectors, a 3 He-loaded multi-moderator detector (Bonner ball), 12.7 cm diameter by 12.7 cm long NE213 organic liquid scintillator, and high-sensitivity rem (dose equivalent) counter at the Kawauchi campus of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan of geomagnetic latitude, 29degN, and cutoff rigidity, 10.43 GV. The neutron spectrum has three major peaks, thermal energy peak, evaporation peak around 1 MeV and cascade peak around 100 MeV. The ambient neutron dose equivalent rates measured by the rem counter, and the Bonner ball keep almost constant values of 4.0 and 6.5 (nSv/h), respectively, throughout this time period, after atmospheric pressure correction, and it often decreased about 30% after a large Solar Flare, that is called as the Forbush decrease. The total neutron flux was also obtained by the Bonner ball measurements to be 7.5x10 -3 (ncm -2 ·s -1 ) in average. The altitude variation of neutron flux and dose was also investigated by comparing the measured results with other results measured at Mt. Fuji area and aboard an airplane, where the cutoff rigidities are similar. (author)

  19. Latitudinal and longitudinal dependence of the cosmic ray diurnal anisotropy during 2001-2014

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tezari, Anastasia; Mavromichalaki, Helen; Katsinis, Dimitrios; Kanellakopoulos, Anastasios; Kolovi, Sofia; Plainaki, Christina; National and Kapodistrian Univ. of Athens; Andriopoulou, Maria

    2016-01-01

    The diurnal anisotropy of cosmic ray intensity for the time period 2001 to 2014 is studied, covering the maximum and the descending phase of solar cycle 23, the minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24, and the ascending phase and maximum of solar cycle 24. Cosmic ray intensity data from 11 neutron monitor stations located at different places around the Northern Hemisphere obtained from the high-resolution Neutron Monitor Database (NMDB) were used. Special software was developed for the calculations of the amplitude and the phase of the diurnal anisotropy vectors on annual and monthly basis using Fourier analysis and for the creation of the harmonic dial diagrams. The geomagnetic bending for each station was taken into account in our calculations determined from the asymptotic cones of each station via the Tsyganenko96 (Tsyganenko and Stern, 1996) magnetospheric model. From our analysis, it was resulted that there is a different behavior of the diurnal anisotropy vectors during the different phases of the solar cycles depending on the solar magnetic field polarity. The latitudinal and longitudinal distribution of the cosmic ray diurnal anisotropy was also examined by grouping the stations according to their geographic coordinates, and it was shown that diurnal variation is modulated not only by the latitude but also by the longitude of the stations. The diurnal anisotropy during strong events of solar and/or cosmic ray activity is discussed.

  20. Latitudinal and longitudinal dependence of the cosmic ray diurnal anisotropy during 2001-2014

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tezari, Anastasia; Mavromichalaki, Helen; Katsinis, Dimitrios; Kanellakopoulos, Anastasios; Kolovi, Sofia [National and Kapodistrian Univ. of Athens (Greece). Nuclear and Particle Physics Dept.; Plainaki, Christina [INAF-IAPS, Rome (Italy); National and Kapodistrian Univ. of Athens (Greece). Nuclear and Particle Physics Dept.; Andriopoulou, Maria [Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz (Austria). Space Research Inst.

    2016-07-01

    The diurnal anisotropy of cosmic ray intensity for the time period 2001 to 2014 is studied, covering the maximum and the descending phase of solar cycle 23, the minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24, and the ascending phase and maximum of solar cycle 24. Cosmic ray intensity data from 11 neutron monitor stations located at different places around the Northern Hemisphere obtained from the high-resolution Neutron Monitor Database (NMDB) were used. Special software was developed for the calculations of the amplitude and the phase of the diurnal anisotropy vectors on annual and monthly basis using Fourier analysis and for the creation of the harmonic dial diagrams. The geomagnetic bending for each station was taken into account in our calculations determined from the asymptotic cones of each station via the Tsyganenko96 (Tsyganenko and Stern, 1996) magnetospheric model. From our analysis, it was resulted that there is a different behavior of the diurnal anisotropy vectors during the different phases of the solar cycles depending on the solar magnetic field polarity. The latitudinal and longitudinal distribution of the cosmic ray diurnal anisotropy was also examined by grouping the stations according to their geographic coordinates, and it was shown that diurnal variation is modulated not only by the latitude but also by the longitude of the stations. The diurnal anisotropy during strong events of solar and/or cosmic ray activity is discussed.

  1. Three dimensional analysis of cosmic ray intensity variation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasue, Shin-ichi; Mori, Satoru; Nagashima, Kazuo.

    1974-01-01

    Three dimensional analysis of cosmic ray anisotropy and its time variation was performed. This paper describes the analysis of the Forbush decrease in Jan. 1968 to investigate by comparing the direction of the magnetic field in interplanetary space and the direction of the reference axis for cosmic ray anisotropy. New anisotropy becomes dominant at the time of Forbush decrease because the anisotropy of cosmic ray in calm state is wiped out. Such anisotropy produces intensity variation in neutron monitors on the ground. The characteristic parameters of three dimensional anisotropy can be determined from theoretical value and observed intensity. Analyzed data were taken for 6 days from Jan. 25 to Jan. 30, 1968, at Deep River. The decrease of intensity at Deep River was seen for several hours from 11 o'clock (UT), Jan. 26, just before The Forbush decrease. This may be due to the loss cone. The Forbush decrease began at 19 o'clock, Jan. 26, and the main phase continued to 5 o'clock in the next morning. The spectrum of variation was Psup(-0.5). The time variations of the magnetic field in interplanetary space and the reference axis of cosmic ray anisotropy are shown for 15 hours. The average directions of both are almost in coincidence. The spatial distribution of cosmic ray near the earth may be expressed by the superposition of axial symmetrical distribution along a reference axis and its push-out to the direction of 12 o'clock. It is considered that the direction of magnetic force line and the velocity of solar wind correspond to the direction of the reference axis and the magnitude of anisotropy in the direction of 12 o'clock, respectively. (Kato, T.)

  2. Correcting the effects of the matrix using capture gamma-ray spectrometry: Application to measurement by Active Neutron Interrogation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baudry, G.

    2003-11-01

    In the field of the measurement of low masses of fissile material ( 235 U, 239 Pu, 241 Pu) in radioactive waste drums, the Active Neutron Interrogation is a non-destructive method achieving good results. It does however remain reliant upon uncertainties related to the matrix effects on interrogation and fission neutrons. The aim of this thesis is to develop a correction method able to take into account these matrix effects by quantifying the amount of absorbent materials (chlorine and hydrogen) in a 118- liter homogeneous matrix. The main idea is to use the gamma-ray spectrometry of gamma emitted by neutron captures to identify and quantify the composition of the matrix. An indicator from its chlorine content is then deduced in order to choose the calibration coefficient which best represents the real composition of the matrix. This document firstly presents the needs of control and characterization of radioactive objects, and the means used in the field of nuclear measurement. Emphases is put in particular on the Active Neutron Interrogation method. The matrices of interest are those made of light technological waste (density ≤ 0,4 g/cm 3 ) containing hydrogenated and chlorinated materials. The advantages of gamma-rays emitted by neutron captures for the determination of a chlorine content indicator of the matrices and the principles of the correction method are then explained. Measurements have been firstly realized with an existing Neutron Interrogation device (PROMETHEE 6). Such measurements have proven its inadequacy: no signal from the matrix hydrogen was detected, due to an intense signal from the polyethylene contained in some cell elements. Moreover, the matrix chlorine content appeared difficult to be measured. A new and specific device, named REGAIN and dedicated to active gamma-rays spectrometry, was defined with the Monte-Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code. The experiments conducted with this new device made it possible to detect the hydrogen from the

  3. Pair production from nuclear collisions and cosmic ray transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norbury, John W

    2006-01-01

    Modern cosmic ray transport codes, that are capable of use for a variety of applications, need to include all significant atomic, nuclear and particle reactions at a variety of energies. Lepton pair production from nucleus-nucleus collisions has not been included in transport codes to date. Using the methods of Baur, Bertulani and Baron, the present report provides estimates of electron-positron pair production cross sections for nuclei and energies relevant to cosmic ray transport. It is shown that the cross sections are large compared to other typical processes such as single neutron removal due to strong or electromagnetic interactions. Therefore, lepton pair production may need to be included in some transport code applications involving MeV electrons. (brief report)

  4. On the possibility of highest energy cosmic rays bursts and their correlation with gamma rays bursts e.g. March 5th, 1979 event

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drukier, K.

    1982-01-01

    The avalanche production of magnetic monopoles is possible in neutron stars. Big part of the magnetic field energy can be used to accelerate a pulse of 10 30 monopoles to the energy E > approximately 10 17 eV. Thus the neutron stars may be ''point'' sources of bursts of highest energy Cosmic Rays. The emission of brehmsstrahlung photons by these highly relativistic monopoles would be seen as X and gamma bursts. This ''exotic'' model for March 5th, 1979 event, predicts that it has been followed by burst of highest energy Cosmic Rays coming from the direction of LMC supernovae remanent N49

  5. Interplanetary cosmic-ray scintillations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Toptygin, I N; Vasiliev, V N [Kalininskij Sel' skokhozyajstvennyj Inst. (USSR)

    1977-05-01

    The equation for the two-particles cosmic-ray distribution function is derived by means of the Boltzmann kinetic equation averaging. This equation is valid for arbitrary ratio of regular and random parts of the magnetic field. For small energy particles the guiding-center approximation is used. On the basis of the derived equation the dependence between power spectra of cosmic-ray intensity and random magnetic field is obtained. If power spectra are degree functions for high energy particles (approximately 10 GeV nucleon/sup -1/), then the spectral exponent ..gamma.. of magnetic field lies between rho and rho-2, where rho is the spectral exponent of cosmic-ray power spectra. The experimental data concerning moderate energy particles are in accordance with ..gamma..=rho, which demonstrates that the magnetic fluctuations are isotropic or cosmic-ray space gradient is small near the Earth orbit.

  6. ALICE Cosmic Ray Detector

    CERN Multimedia

    Fernandez Tellez, A; Martinez Hernandez, M; Rodriguez Cahuantzi, M

    2013-01-01

    The ALICE underground cavern provides an ideal place for the detection of high energy atmospheric muons coming from cosmic ray showers. ACORDE detects cosmic ray showers by triggering the arrival of muons to the top of the ALICE magnet.

  7. Cosmic rays and the interstellar medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfendale, A.W.

    1986-01-01

    It is inevitable that there is a close connection between cosmic rays and the ISM insofar as the propagation of cosmic rays is conditioned by the magnetic field in the ISM and the cosmic rays interact with the gas (and photon fluxes) in this medium. This paper deals with both topics. Propagation effects manifest themselves as an anisotropy in arrival directions and a review is given of anisotropy measurements and their interpretation. The status of studies of cosmic ray interactions is examined whit particular reference to the information about the ISM itself which comes from observations of the flux of secondary γ-rays produced by cosmic ray interactions with gas, the situation regarding molecular as in the Inner Galaxy being of particular concern

  8. Discriminating cosmic muons and X-rays based on rise time using a GEM detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Hui-Yin; Zhao, Sheng-Ying; Wang, Xiao-Dong; Zhang, Xian-Ming; Qi, Hui-Rong; Zhang, Wei; Wu, Ke-Yan; Hu, Bi-Tao; Zhang, Yi

    2016-08-01

    Gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors have been used in cosmic muon scattering tomography and neutron imaging over the last decade. In this work, a triple GEM device with an effective readout area of 10 cm × 10 cm is developed, and a method of discriminating between cosmic muons and X-rays based on rise time is tested. The energy resolution of the GEM detector is tested by 55Fe ray source to prove the GEM detector has a good performance. Analysis of the complete signal-cycles allows us to get the rise time and pulse heights. The experiment result indicates that cosmic muons and X-rays can be discriminated with an appropriate rise time threshold. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11135002, 11275235, 11405077, 11575073)

  9. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics: Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2001-01-01

    Full text: The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the area of high-energy physics and cosmic ray physics related to: Experimental and phenomenological studies of Extensive Air Showers induced by cosmic ray particles. Studies of ultra-high energy (above 10 19 eV) cosmic rays: determination of energy and primary particle mass composition. Studies of asymptotic properties of hadronic interactions based on the analysis of cosmic ray propagation through the atmosphere. Studies of mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 -10 17 eV. Registration of cosmic ray intensity variation correlated with solar activity. Theoretical and experimental studies of Extensive Air Shower properties are performed mostly based on the results obtained by the Lodz Extensive Air Shower Array. We have noticed unexplainable delayed signals registered about 500-900 microseconds after the main EAS pulse. We prepared hardware for further experimental study of this effect. In September we have started registration of 5 GeV muon flux with the underground muon telescope. We registered 3 decreases of muon intensity correlated with Forbush decreases registered at lower energies. Variations of primary cosmic ray of energies up to about 100 GeV were responsible for our registrations. These set the upper limits for geometrical size of geomagnetic disturbances in interplanetary space. In construction and data interpretation of cosmic ray experiments, the Lodz group collaborates with many foreign institutes and laboratories: Forschungszentrum in Karlsruhe (Germany), College de France, Institute for Nuclear Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Uppsala University (Sweden). We have organised (together with the Physics Department of the University of Lodz) the 17 th European Cosmic Ray Symposium (24-?8 July 2000) in which about 150 physicists participated (about 100 from abroad). (author)

  10. Dosimetry of environmental radiations (cosmic ray)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamasaki, Keizo

    1978-01-01

    Cosmic ray is dominant as environmental radiation, though the experimental determination made on cosmic ray doses is few in Japan. The free air ionization intensity at sea level due to cosmic ray has been estimated in the Bay of Wakasa, Japan, at middle geomagnetic latitude (25 deg. N), in October 1977. The ionization chambers used were two air and one argon types. Where the responses to cosmic and terrestrial gamma rays were equal, the ionization intensity due to cosmic ray was obtained by subtracting the ionization intensity due to terrestrial gamma ray from the total ionization intensity. As the terrestrial gamma ray, (1) U-238 series, Th-232 series, and K-40 in seawater, (2) K-40 in the material of a wooden ship, and (3) Rn-222 and its daughter products in the atmosphere were considered. The result of free air ionization due to cosmic ray with the argon chamber was slightly smaller than those with the other two air chambers; however, both were in good agreement within standard errors. (JPN.)

  11. Impact of Cosmic-Ray Transport on Galactic Winds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farber, R.; Ruszkowski, M.; Yang, H.-Y. K.; Zweibel, E. G.

    2018-04-01

    The role of cosmic rays generated by supernovae and young stars has very recently begun to receive significant attention in studies of galaxy formation and evolution due to the realization that cosmic rays can efficiently accelerate galactic winds. Microscopic cosmic-ray transport processes are fundamental for determining the efficiency of cosmic-ray wind driving. Previous studies modeled cosmic-ray transport either via a constant diffusion coefficient or via streaming proportional to the Alfvén speed. However, in predominantly cold, neutral gas, cosmic rays can propagate faster than in the ionized medium, and the effective transport can be substantially larger; i.e., cosmic rays can decouple from the gas. We perform three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical simulations of patches of galactic disks including the effects of cosmic rays. Our simulations include the decoupling of cosmic rays in the cold, neutral interstellar medium. We find that, compared to the ordinary diffusive cosmic-ray transport case, accounting for the decoupling leads to significantly different wind properties, such as the gas density and temperature, significantly broader spatial distribution of cosmic rays, and higher wind speed. These results have implications for X-ray, γ-ray, and radio emission, and for the magnetization and pollution of the circumgalactic medium by cosmic rays.

  12. Using Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probes to Monitor Landscape Scale Soil Water Content in Mixed Land Use Agricultural Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franz, Trenton E.; Wahbi, Ammar; Weltin, Georg; Heng, Lee; Dercon, Gerd; Vreugdenhi, Mariette; Oismueller, Markus; Strauss, Peter; Desilets, Darin

    2016-01-01

    With an ever-increasing demand for natural resources and the societal need to understand and predict natural disasters such as flood, soil water content (SWC) observations remain a critical variable to monitor in order to optimally allocate resources, establish early warning systems, and improve weather forecasts. However, routine agricultural production practices of soil cultivation, planting, and harvest make the operation and maintenance of direct contact point sensors for long-term monitoring a challenging task. In this work, we used Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe (CRNP) to monitor landscape average SWC in a mixed agricultural land use system in northeast Austria since December 2013.

  13. Cosmic ray physics goes to school

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    With the help of a CERN physicist, German Schools bring the Largest Cosmic Ray Detector in Europe one step closer to reality   Eric Berthier and Robert Porret (CERN, ST/HM), Frej Torp and Christian Antfolk from the Polytechnics Arcada in Finland, and Karsten Eggert, physicist at CERN who initiated this project, during the installation of cosmic ray detectors in the Pays de Gex, at point 4. Niina Patrikainen and Frej Torp, Finnish students from Rovaniemi and Arcada Polytechnics, installing cosmic ray counters at the Fachhochschule in Duesseldorf. The science of cosmic ray detection is growing, literally. Cosmic rays, energetic particles from space, strike our planet all the time. They collide with the air molecules in our upper atmosphere and initiate large showers of elementary particles (mainly electrons, photons, hadrons and muons) which rain down upon the earth. The shower size and the particle density in the showers reflect the initial energy of the cosmic ray particle, a detail which makes d...

  14. Fast neutron spectrometry and dosimetry; Spectrometrie et dosimetrie des neutrons rapides

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blaize, S; Ailloud, J; Mariani, J; Millot, J P [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1958-07-01

    We have studied fast neutron spectrometry and dosimetry through the recoil protons they produce in hydrogenated samples. In spectrometric, we used nuclear emulsions, in dosimetric, we used polyethylene coated with zinc sulphide and placed before a photomultiplier. (author)Fren. [French] Nous avons etudie la spectrometrie et la dosimetrie des neutrons rapides en utilisant les protons de recul qu'ils produisent dans une matiere hydrogenee. En spectrometrie, nous avons employe des emulsions nucleaires, en dosimetrie, du polyethylene recouvert de sulfure de zinc place devant un photomultiplicateur. (auteur)

  15. Cosmic ray variations of solar origin in relation to human physiological state during the December 2006 solar extreme events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papailiou, M.; Mavromichalaki, H.; Vassilaki, A.; Kelesidis, K. M.; Mertzanos, G. A.; Petropoulos, B.

    2009-02-01

    There is an increasing amount of evidence linking biological effects to solar and geomagnetic disturbances. A series of studies is published referring to the changes in human physiological responses at different levels of geomagnetic activity. In this study, the possible relation between the daily variations of cosmic ray intensity, measured by the Neutron Monitor at the Cosmic Ray Station of the University of Athens (http://cosray.phys.uoa.gr) and the average daily and hourly heart rate variations of persons, with no symptoms or hospital admission, monitored by Holter electrocardiogram, is considered. This work refers to a group of persons admitted to the cardiological clinic of the KAT Hospital in Athens during the time period from 4th to 24th December 2006 that is characterized by extreme solar and geomagnetic activity. A series of Forbush decreases started on 6th December and lasted until the end of the month and a great solar proton event causing a Ground Level Enhancement (GLE) of the cosmic ray intensity on 13th December occurred. A sudden decrease of the cosmic ray intensity on 15th December, when a geomagnetic storm was registered, was also recorded in Athens Neutron Monitor station (cut-off rigidity 8.53 GV) with amplitude of 4%. It is noticed that during geomagnetically quiet days the heart rate and the cosmic ray intensity variations are positively correlated. When intense cosmic ray variations, like Forbush decreases and relativistic proton events produced by strong solar phenomena occur, cosmic ray intensity and heart rate get minimum values and their variations, also, coincide. During these events the correlation coefficient of these two parameters changes and follows the behavior of the cosmic ray intensity variations. This is only a small part of an extended investigation, which has begun using data from the year 2002 and is still in progress.

  16. Gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray origin theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ginzburg, V.L.

    1973-01-01

    A theory of the origin of cosmic radiation is discussed in light of the advances made in gamma-ray astronomy. Arguments against metagalactic models for the origin of cosmic rays are emphasized. (U.S.)

  17. Neutron activation analysis of lipsticks using gamma-ray spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirsa, G.; Mittal, V.K.

    2004-01-01

    Neutron activation analysis with gamma-ray spectrometry was used to measure the concentrations of various elements in lipsticks of popular Indian and foreign brands. The aim of the present work was to study the possibility of existence of trace elements in samples of lipsticks (the ingredients of which are mostly organic in nature) and to see whether trace elements could distinguish lipsticks of different Indian and foreign brands from the forensic point of view apart from their inter-se differentiation. In the different samples of lipsticks that were analysed the following elements were detected: Au, Ba, Br, Ca, Cs, Fe, Na, Ru, Sb, Sc, Ta, Yb, Zn, Rb and Se. It was found that inter-se differentiation of lipsticks was possible on the basis of concentrations of trace elements and their profile. Concentration of bromine in samples of lipsticks identified lipsticks of different Indian brands. Samples of lipsticks of Indian and foreign brands could be differentiated on the basis of concentrations of cesium, antimony and scandium which were found to be higher in foreign brands as compared to those in Indian brands. (authors)

  18. The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center Spallation Neutron Sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nowicki, Suzanne F.; Wender, Stephen A.; Mocko, Michael

    2017-01-01

    The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) provides the scientific community with intense sources of neutrons, which can be used to perform experiments supporting civilian and national security research. These measurements include nuclear physics experiments for the defense program, basic science, and the radiation effect programs. This paper focuses on the radiation effects program, which involves mostly accelerated testing of semiconductor parts. When cosmic rays strike the earth's atmosphere, they cause nuclear reactions with elements in the air and produce a wide range of energetic particles. Because neutrons are uncharged, they can reach aircraft altitudes and sea level. These neutrons are thought to be the most important threat to semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. The best way to determine the failure rate due to these neutrons is to measure the failure rate in a neutron source that has the same spectrum as those produced by cosmic rays. Los Alamos has a high-energy and a low-energy neutron source for semiconductor testing. Both are driven by the 800-MeV proton beam from the LANSCE accelerator. The high-energy neutron source at the Weapons Neutron Research (WNR) facility uses a bare target that is designed to produce fast neutrons with energies from 100 keV to almost 800 MeV. The measured neutron energy distribution from WNR is very similar to that of the cosmic-ray-induced neutrons in the atmosphere. However, the flux provided at the WNR facility is typically 5×107 times more intense than the flux of the cosmic-ray-induced neutrons. This intense neutron flux allows testing at greatly accelerated rates. An irradiation test of less than an hour is equivalent to many years of neutron exposure due to cosmic-ray neutrons. The low-energy neutron source is located at the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center. It is based on a moderated source that provides useful neutrons from subthermal energies to ~100 keV. The characteristics of these sources

  19. The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center Spallation Neutron Sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowicki, Suzanne F.; Wender, Stephen A.; Mocko, Michael

    The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) provides the scientific community with intense sources of neutrons, which can be used to perform experiments supporting civilian and national security research. These measurements include nuclear physics experiments for the defense program, basic science, and the radiation effect programs. This paper focuses on the radiation effects program, which involves mostly accelerated testing of semiconductor parts. When cosmic rays strike the earth's atmosphere, they cause nuclear reactions with elements in the air and produce a wide range of energetic particles. Because neutrons are uncharged, they can reach aircraft altitudes and sea level. These neutrons are thought to be the most important threat to semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. The best way to determine the failure rate due to these neutrons is to measure the failure rate in a neutron source that has the same spectrum as those produced by cosmic rays. Los Alamos has a high-energy and a low-energy neutron source for semiconductor testing. Both are driven by the 800-MeV proton beam from the LANSCE accelerator. The high-energy neutron source at the Weapons Neutron Research (WNR) facility uses a bare target that is designed to produce fast neutrons with energies from 100 keV to almost 800 MeV. The measured neutron energy distribution from WNR is very similar to that of the cosmic-ray-induced neutrons in the atmosphere. However, the flux provided at the WNR facility is typically 5×107 times more intense than the flux of the cosmic-ray-induced neutrons. This intense neutron flux allows testing at greatly accelerated rates. An irradiation test of less than an hour is equivalent to many years of neutron exposure due to cosmic-ray neutrons. The low-energy neutron source is located at the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center. It is based on a moderated source that provides useful neutrons from subthermal energies to ∼100 keV. The characteristics of these sources, and

  20. Relative evaluation of neutron activation, X-ray fluorescence and spark source mass spectrometry for multielement analysis of geothermal waters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blommaert, W.; Vandelannoote, R.; Van't Dack, L.; Gijbels, R.; Van Grieken, R.

    1980-01-01

    To sulfide geothermal waters from the French Pyrenees region and bicarbonate and chloride waters from the French Vosges area, all of the following analysis techniques were applied in order to compose a broad inventory of trace elements: (1) for the dissolved metarial: neutron activation analysis after a freeze-drying step using a very short cycle, short cycle or long cycle, neutron activation after co-crystallization on 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) using a short cycle or long cycle, X-ray fluorescence after co-crystallization on PAN and spark source mass spectrometry after evaporation on graphite or preconcentration on PAN, and, (2) for the filtered or suspended material: neutron activation using a very short, short or long cycle and X-ray fluorescence. Altogether, on the average some 30 elements could be determined above the detection limit in solution and 15 in suspension. (author)

  1. Cosmic rays and global warming

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Erlykin, A.D. [P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow (Russian Federation); Sloan, T. [Lancaster University (United Kingdom); Wolfendale, A.W. [Durham University (United Kingdom)

    2010-07-01

    The possible effects of cosmic rays on clouds could contribute to global warming. The argument is that the observed increased solar activity during the last century caused a decrease in the ionization due to cosmic rays since the lower energy cosmic particles are deflected by the magnetic field created by the increasing solar wind. This would lead to a decrease in cloud cover allowing more heating of the earth by the sun. Meteorological data combined to solar activity observations and simulations show that any effect of solar activity on clouds and the climate is likely to be through irradiance rather than cosmic rays. Since solar irradiance transfers 8 orders of magnitude more energy to the atmosphere than cosmic rays it is more plausible that this can produce a real effect. The total contribution of variable solar activity to global warming is shown to be less than 14% of the total temperature rise. (A.C.)

  2. Ecological and hydrological monitoring of the natural environment with help of cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oskomov, V.V.

    2001-01-01

    It is noted that with help cosmic ray it is possible measuring the contaminating element concentration in the atmosphere, near surface water layer, and soil by characteristic radiation of elements generated by cosmic rays. With aim of determination of hydrological and glaciology characteristics of glaciers and snow cover of mountain districts the method for moisture store determination in the substance with help of natural ionizing radiation were used. With help of automate remote system including a set of detectors for muons, neutrons and gamma quanta, and others ones placed near researched medium the ecological and hydrological monitoring is worked out

  3. Primary cosmic ray flux

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor

    2001-05-01

    We discuss the primary cosmic ray flux from the point of view of particle interactions and production of atmospheric neutrinos. The overall normalization of the cosmic ray flux and its time variations and site dependence are major ingredients of the atmospheric neutrino predictions and the basis for the derivation of the neutrino oscillation parameters.

  4. Cosmic Ray Physics with ACORDE at LHC

    CERN Document Server

    Pagliarone, C.

    2008-01-01

    The use of large underground high-energy physics experiments, for comic ray studies, have been used, in the past, at CERN, in order to measure, precisely, the inclusive cosmic ray flux in the energy range from 2x10^10 - 2x10^12 eV. ACORDE, ALICE Cosmic Rays DEtector, will act as Level 0 cosmic ray trigger and, together with other ALICE apparatus, will provide precise information on cosmic rays with primary energies around 10^15 - 10^17 eV. This paper reviews the main detector features, the present status, commissioning and integration with other apparatus. Finally, we discuss the ACORDE-ALICE cosmic ray physics program.

  5. Cosmic ray physics with ACORDE at LHC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pagliarone, C; Fernandez-Tellez, A

    2008-01-01

    The use of large underground high-energy physics experiments, for comic ray studies, have been used, in the past, at CERN, in order to measure, precisely, the inclusive cosmic ray flux in the energy range from 2·10 10 to 2· 10 12 eV. ACORDE, ALICE Cosmic Rays DEtector, will act as Level 0 cosmic ray trigger and, together with other ALICE apparatus, will provide precise information on cosmic rays with primary energies around 10 15 to 10 17 eV. This paper reviews the main detector features, the present status, commissioning and integration with other apparatus. Finally, we discuss the ACORDE-ALICE cosmic ray physics program

  6. Atmospheric electric field effects of cosmic rays detected in Mexico City

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gonzalez, L. X; Valdes-Galicia, J. F [Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico D.F(Mexico)

    2006-10-15

    We studied the possible effects of atmospheric electric fields, generated in thunderstorms, on the cosmic ray intensity detected at the Earth's surface by investigating the variations of the counting rates of the cosmic-ray nucleonic component, obtained from the neutron monitor installed in Mexico City, for thunderstorms during 1996 and 1997. These were years of minimum solar activity. We compare our experimental results with the general theory of cosmic ray meteorological effects by Dorman (1995). The observed intensity variation is about 0.2%. According to Dorman (1995), the effect should be between 0.27% and 0.81% on the counting rate of the neutron monitor when the atmospheric electric field intensities are around 100 to 300 Vcm-1.Our results show that either the electric field in Mexico City had less intensity than assumed by Dorman (1995), or the electric field is not uniform in time and height during the development of the thunderstorm. [Spanish] Estudiamos los posibles efectos de los campos electricos atmosfericos, generados en las tormentas electricas, sobre la intensidad de los rayos cosmicos detectados en la superficie terrestre, analizando las variaciones de las razones de conteo de la componente nucleonica de los rayos cosmicos, obtenidas por el monitor de neutrones instalado en la ciudad de Mexico, durante tormentas electricas ocurridas entre 1996 y 1997, anos del minimo solar. Comparamos nuestros resultados experimentales con la teoria general de los efectos meteorologicos en los rayos cosmicos, desarrollada por Dorman (1995). Se observo una variacion en la intensidad de alrededor de 0.2%. De acuerdo con Dorman (1995), el efecto puede estar entre 0.27 % y 0.81% en las razones de conteo del monitor de neutrones cuando las intensidades del campo electrico atmosferico se encuentran al rededor de 100 a 300 Vcm-1. Nuestros resultados muestran que los campos electricos en la ciudad de Mexico tuvieron menos intensidad que los campos electricos asumidos

  7. Measurement of cosmic-ray muons with the Distributed Electronic Cosmic-ray Observatory, a network of smartphones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vandenbroucke, J.; Bravo, S.; Karn, P.; Meehan, M.; Plewa, M.; Schultz, D.; Tosi, D.; BenZvi, S.; Jensen, K.; Peacock, J.; Ruggles, T.; Santander, M.; Simons, A.L.

    2016-01-01

    Solid-state camera image sensors can be used to detect ionizing radiation in addition to optical photons. We describe the Distributed Electronic Cosmic-ray Observatory (DECO), an app and associated public database that enables a network of consumer devices to detect cosmic rays and other ionizing radiation. In addition to terrestrial background radiation, cosmic-ray muon candidate events are detected as long, straight tracks passing through multiple pixels. The distribution of track lengths can be related to the thickness of the active (depleted) region of the camera image sensor through the known angular distribution of muons at sea level. We use a sample of candidate muon events detected by DECO to measure the thickness of the depletion region of the camera image sensor in a particular consumer smartphone model, the HTC Wildfire S. The track length distribution is fit better by a cosmic-ray muon angular distribution than an isotropic distribution, demonstrating that DECO can detect and identify cosmic-ray muons despite a background of other particle detections. Using the cosmic-ray distribution, we measure the depletion thickness to be 26.3 ± 1.4 μm. With additional data, the same method can be applied to additional models of image sensor. Once measured, the thickness can be used to convert track length to incident polar angle on a per-event basis. Combined with a determination of the incident azimuthal angle directly from the track orientation in the sensor plane, this enables direction reconstruction of individual cosmic-ray events using a single consumer device. The results simultaneously validate the use of cell phone camera image sensors as cosmic-ray muon detectors and provide a measurement of a parameter of camera image sensor performance which is not otherwise publicly available

  8. Cosmic ray physics with ACORDE at LHC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pagliarone, C [Universita degli Studi di Cassino and INFN Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3 - Pisa (Italy); Fernandez-Tellez, A [Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (BUAP), Puebla (Mexico)], E-mail: pagliarone@fnal.gov

    2008-05-15

    The use of large underground high-energy physics experiments, for comic ray studies, have been used, in the past, at CERN, in order to measure, precisely, the inclusive cosmic ray flux in the energy range from 2{center_dot}10{sup 10} to 2{center_dot} 10{sup 12} eV. ACORDE, ALICE Cosmic Rays DEtector, will act as Level 0 cosmic ray trigger and, together with other ALICE apparatus, will provide precise information on cosmic rays with primary energies around 10{sup 15} to 10{sup 17} eV. This paper reviews the main detector features, the present status, commissioning and integration with other apparatus. Finally, we discuss the ACORDE-ALICE cosmic ray physics program.

  9. Second generation ultralow background germanium gamma-ray spectrometer using super clean materials and improved multilayered cosmic ray anticoincidence and passive shielding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reeves, J.H.; Hensley, W.K.; Brodzinski, R.L.

    1984-10-01

    Our current paper describes the development of a low cost shielding system using liquid scintillator for the cosmic ray detector-neutron moderator which accounts for a tenfold reduction in the cosmic continuum. Our primary objective was to develop a low cost anticoincidence shield for laboratory use which would substantially reduce the background from cosmic ray interactions. The minimum thickness of scintillator which would provide the necessary moderation of neutrons as well as furnish detectable quantities of light generated from cosmic ray interactions was determined experimentally. Tanks holding the liquid scintillator were constructed from stainless steel and were partitioned in such a manner that 10, 20, 30, or 40 cm thicknesses could be selected for background measurements. Lucite was used for construction of a tank which would allow the comparison of light output relative to stainless steel for a 10 cm thickness of liquid scintillator. Plastic scintillator was used for the bottom layer in all cases, however, liquid scintillator could be used with proper internal support. A 20 cm x 20 cm x 40 cm plastic scintillator was machined to completely surround the detector and fit inside 15 cm thick walls of lead which in turn, fit inside the stainless steel scintilllator tanks. Background measurements were taken with this inner scintillator both active and inactive. Measurements were also made using copper as well as iron as replacements for the inner scintillator

  10. COSMIC-RAY TRANSPORT AND ANISOTROPIES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biermann, Peter L. [MPI for Radioastronomy, Auf dem Huegel 69, D-53121 Bonn (Germany); Becker Tjus, Julia; Mandelartz, Matthias [Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Fakultaet fuer Physik and Astronomie, Theoretische Physik I, D-44780 Bochum (Germany); Seo, Eun-Suk [Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)

    2013-05-10

    We show that the large-scale cosmic-ray anisotropy at {approx}10 TeV can be explained by a modified Compton-Getting effect in the magnetized flow field of old supernova remnants. Cosmic rays arrive isotropically to the flow field and are then carried along with the flow to produce a large-scale anisotropy in the arrival direction. This approach suggests an optimum energy scale for detecting the anisotropy. Two key assumptions are that propagation is based on turbulence following a Kolmogorov law and that cosmic-ray interactions are dominated by transport via cosmic-ray-excited magnetic irregularities through the stellar wind of an exploding star and its shock shell. A prediction is that the amplitude is smaller at lower energies due to incomplete sampling of the velocity field and also smaller at larger energies due to smearing.

  11. Cosmic ray investigations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zatsepin, Georgii T; Roganova, Tat'yana M

    2009-01-01

    The history of cosmic ray research at the Lebedev Institute beginning with the first work and continuing up to now is reviewed. The milestones and main avenues of research are outlined. Pioneering studies on the nuclear cascade process in extensive air showers, investigations of the Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation, and some work on the origin of cosmic rays are discussed. Recent data on ultrahigh-energy particle detection at the Pierre Auger Observatory and the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) experiments are presented. (conferences and symposia)

  12. Cosmic rays, clouds and climate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Svensmark, Henrik [Danish Space Research Institute, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)

    2007-07-01

    Changes in the intensity of galactic cosmic rays seems alter the Earth's cloudiness. A recent experiment has shown how electrons liberated by cosmic rays assist in making aerosols, the building blocks of cloud condensation nuclei, while anomalous climatic trends in Antarctica confirm the role of clouds in helping to drive climate change. Variations in the cosmic-ray influx due to solar magnetic activity account well for climatic fluctuations on decadal, centennial and millennial timescales. Over longer intervals, the changing galactic environment of the Solar System has had dramatic consequences, including Snowball Earth episodes.

  13. High-energy cosmic-ray acceleration

    CERN Document Server

    Bustamante, M; de Paula, W; Duarte Chavez, J A; Gago, A M; Hakobyan, H; Jez, P; Monroy Montañez, J A; Ortiz Velasquez, A; Padilla Cabal, F; Pino Rozas, M; Rodriguez Patarroyo, D J; Romeo, G L; Saldaña-Salazar , U J; Velasquez, M; von Steinkirch, M

    2010-01-01

    We briefly review the basics of ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray acceleration. The Hillas criterion is introduced as a geometrical criterion that must be fulfilled by potential acceleration sites, and energy losses are taken into account in order to obtain a more realistic scenario. The different available acceleration mechanisms are presented, with special emphasis on Fermi shock acceleration and its prediction of a power-law cosmic-ray energy spectrum. We conclude that first-order Fermi acceleration, though not entirely satisfactory, is the most promising mechanism for explaining the ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray flux.

  14. On the calibration of a single channel cosmic ray particle detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maghrabi, A. H.; Alghamdi, A. S.; Alotaibi, R.; Almutari, M. M.; Garawi, M. S.

    2014-07-01

    Cosmic Ray (CR) variation measurements have been extensively conducted using different type of detectors sensing different components of CR and at different locations around the world. We have constructed and, operated a single channel muon detector in the central part of Saudi Arabia. The main goal of this detector is to record the intensity of cosmic rays on different time scales and investigate their correlations with environment parameters. This detector is expected to fill the gap between neutron monitors and muon telescopes that exist around the world. In this paper, the technical aspects of this detector will be briefly discussed. Calibration procedures conducted to characterize and improve its performance will be detailed. These include the effect of the detector geometry and the internal surface coating.

  15. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics: Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2002-01-01

    Full text:The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the area of high-energy physics and cosmic ray physics related to: * Experimental and phenomenological studies of Extensive Air Showers induced by cosmic ray particles. * Studies of ultra-high energy (above 10 19 eV) cosmic rays: determination of energy spectrum and mass composition of primary particles * Studies of asymptotic properties of hadronic interactions based on the analysis of cosmic ray propagation through the atmosphere. * Studies of mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 -10 17 eV. * Registration of cosmic ray intensity variation correlated with solar activity. Theoretical and experimental studies of Extensive Air Shower properties are performed mostly based on the results obtained by the Lodz Extensive Air Shower Array. We have noticed unexplainable delayed signals registered about 500-900 microseconds after the main EAS pulse. We prepared hardware for further experimental study of this effect. Continuous registrations of 5 GeV muon flux with the underground muon telescope have been carried on during 2001. We detected several changes of muon intensity correlated with Forbush decreases registered at lower energies. We have also started registration of the muon counting rate in on-surface scintillation detectors. These measurements will be included to the analysis of the disturbed energy spectrum of primary cosmic rays and its dependence on interplanetary disturbances related to solar activity. In construction and data interpretation of cosmic ray experiments the Lodz group collaborates with many foreign institutes and laboratories: Forschungszentrum in Karlsruhe (Germany), College de France, Institute for Nuclear Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Uppsala University (Sweden) and DESY (Germany). We have prepared a project of large air shower array for studies of cosmic rays up to 10 20 eV. Detectors would be placed on the roofs of high

  16. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics; Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2004-01-01

    Full text: Cosmic Rays are energetic particles from outside the Solar System. The energy spectrum (power law energy dependence) suggests a non-thermal origin of these particles. Most of the studies of Cosmic Rays address fundamental problems such as: - the nature of the physical and astrophysical processes responsible for the high energies of particles (up to about 10 20 eV/particle), - estimation of the astrophysical conditions at the acceleration sites and/or a search for sources of Cosmic Rays, - properties of high energy particle interactions at very high energies (nuclear interactions at energies exceeding energies available in the laboratories). Some Cosmic Ray studies might have practical (commercial) implications, e.g. - ''cosmic weather'' forecast - predictions of geomagnetic disturbances related to Solar activity changes (due to large Solar Flares / events of Coronal Mass Ejections); these are important for large electricity networks, gas pipes, radio-wave connections, space missions and satellite experiments. The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the high energy Cosmic Ray field. Energetic Cosmic Ray particles produce cascades of particles in the atmosphere, called Extensive Air Showers (EAS). Registering EAS and their properties is the main theme of experimental studies of very high energy Cosmic Rays. In the Lodz Department we run an Extensive Air Shower array where EAS are registered. We concentrate our experimental research on the explanation of particle detection delayed by hundreds of microseconds with respect to the main EAS signals. In the underground (I5 meters) laboratory we continuously register muon (5 GeV energy threshold) flux with the multidirectional telescope. We have observed several disturbances (Forbush Decreases) in muon counting rates. The interpretation of these events for ''cosmic weather'' and for Cosmic Ray transport models in the interplanetary plasma are on going in collaboration with

  17. High energy physics in cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jones, Lawrence W. [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States)

    2013-02-07

    In the first half-century of cosmic ray physics, the primary research focus was on elementary particles; the positron, pi-mesons, mu-mesons, and hyperons were discovered in cosmic rays. Much of this research was carried out at mountain elevations; Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees, Mt. Chacaltaya in Bolivia, and Mt. Evans/Echo Lake in Colorado, among other sites. In the 1960s, claims of the observation of free quarks, and satellite measurements of a significant rise in p-p cross sections, plus the delay in initiating accelerator construction programs for energies above 100 GeV, motivated the Michigan-Wisconsin group to undertake a serious cosmic ray program at Echo Lake. Subsequently, with the succession of higher energy accelerators and colliders at CERN and Fermilab, cosmic ray research has increasingly focused on cosmology and astrophysics, although some groups continue to study cosmic ray particle interactions in emulsion chambers.

  18. Analytical Model for Estimating Terrestrial Cosmic Ray Fluxes Nearly Anytime and Anywhere in the World: Extension of PARMA/EXPACS.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatsuhiko Sato

    Full Text Available By extending our previously established model, here we present a new model called "PHITS-based Analytical Radiation Model in the Atmosphere (PARMA version 3.0," which can instantaneously estimate terrestrial cosmic ray fluxes of neutrons, protons, ions with charge up to 28 (Ni, muons, electrons, positrons, and photons nearly anytime and anywhere in the Earth's atmosphere. The model comprises numerous analytical functions with parameters whose numerical values were fitted to reproduce the results of the extensive air shower (EAS simulation performed by Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS. The accuracy of the EAS simulation was well verified using various experimental data, while that of PARMA3.0 was confirmed by the high R2 values of the fit. The models to be used for estimating radiation doses due to cosmic ray exposure, cosmic ray induced ionization rates, and count rates of neutron monitors were validated by investigating their capability to reproduce those quantities measured under various conditions. PARMA3.0 is available freely and is easy to use, as implemented in an open-access software program EXcel-based Program for Calculating Atmospheric Cosmic ray Spectrum (EXPACS. Because of these features, the new version of PARMA/EXPACS can be an important tool in various research fields such as geosciences, cosmic ray physics, and radiation research.

  19. Study of Primary Cosmic Ray Electrons In Energy Range 10^11 - 10^13 Ev By Pamela Instrument.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voronov, S.; Pamela Collaboration

    The main goal of the magnetic spectrometer PAMELA is the study of antiparticle fluxes with energy up to 300 GeV in cosmic rays on board satellite. A modification of instrument was done by introducing of neutron detector. This device was placed under imaging calorimeter and bottom scintillator counter. It consists of two layers of 36 3He gas counters enveloped by a polyethylene moderator. The neutron detector gives additional possibility to identify the antiprotons going in aperture of spectrome- ter and generating the nuclear cascade in tungsten plates of calorimeter. This shower is followed by big number of neutrons in contrast to electromagnetic one caused by elec- tron or positron. From other side the combination of the imaging calorimeter, bottom scintillator and neutron detector constitute the independent instrument with large field of view which gives the possibility to measure the electron-positron cosmic ray com- ponent in energy range 1011-1013 eV with a rejection factor of order 10-4 regarding to nuclear one.

  20. Non-invasive detection of soil water content at intermediate field scale using natural neutrons from cosmic radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oswald, Sascha; Rivera Villarreyes, Carlos; Baroni, Gabriele [Universitaet Potsdam, Institut fuer Erd und Umweltwissenschaften (Germany)

    2011-07-01

    The amount of water in the subsurface is a key factor influencing soil hydrology, run-off, evapotranspiration and plant development. A new measurement method is the so called cosmic ray method, recently introduced for soil moisture measurements by Zreda and coworkers. Secondary neutron fluxes, product of the interaction of primary cosmic-rays at the land surface, are strongly moderated by the presence of water in or above soil (soil moisture, snow and biomass water). Neutron counts at the ground/air interface represent a valuable observation at intermediate spatial scale which can be used to quantify stored water while distinguishing different water holding compartments at the land surface. We have performed such measurements in an agricultural field, in comparison with classical soil moisture measurement at a number of point locations. We discuss how to extract soil moisture values from the neutron counts, drawbacks of the method, but also that the results show a temporal development supported by the accompanying data.

  1. Proceedings of the 21. European Cosmic Ray Symposium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kiraly, P.; Kudela, K.; Wolfendale, A. W.

    2008-09-01

    Scientific symposium deals with problems of cosmic ray. The Symposium included the following sessions: (1): Relationship of cosmic rays to the environment; (2) Energetic particles and the magnetosphere of the Earth; (3) Energetic particles in the heliosphere; (4) Solar-terrestrial effects on different time scales; (5) Cosmic rays below the knee; (6) Cosmic rays above the knee (7) High energy interactions; (8) GeV and TeV gamma ray astronomy; (9) European projects related to cosmic rays; Future perspectives. Proceedings contains 122 papers dealing with the scope of INIS.

  2. Cosmic ray riddle solved?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1995-01-01

    Full text: Physicists from Japan and the United States have discovered a possible answer to the puzzle of the origin of high energy cosmic rays that bombard Earth from all directions in space. Using data from the Japanese/US X-ray astronomical satellite ASCA, physicists have found strong evidence for the production of cosmic particles in the shock wave of a supernova remnant, the expanding fireball produced by the explosion of a star. Primary cosmic rays, mostly electrons and protons, travel near the speed of light. Each second, approximately 4 such particles cross one square centimetre of space just outside the Earth's atmosphere. Subsequently, collisions of these primary particles with atoms in the upper atmosphere produce slower secondary particles. Ever since the discovery of cosmic rays early this century, scientists have debated the origin of these particles and how they can be accelerated to such high speeds. Supernova remnants have long been thought to provide the high energy component, but the evidence has been lacking until now. The international team of investigators used the satellite to determine that cosmic rays are generated profusely in the remains of the supernova of 1006 AD - which appeared to medieval viewers to be as bright as the Moon - and that they are accelerated to high velocities by an iterative process first suggested by Enrico Fermi in 1949. Using solid-state X-ray cameras, the ASCA satellite records simultaneous images and spectra of X-rays from celestial sources, allowing astronomers to distinguish different types of X-ray emission. The tell-tale clue to the discovery was the detection of two diametrically opposite regions in the rapidly expanding supernova remnant, the debris from the stellar explosion. The two regions glow intensely from the synchrotron radiation produced when fast-moving electrons are bent by a magnetic field. The remainder of the supernova remnant, in contrast, emits ordinary ''thermal'' X-rays

  3. High Energy Cosmic Electrons: Messengers from Nearby Cosmic Ray Sources or Dark Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moiseev, Alexander

    2011-01-01

    This slide presentation reviews the recent discoveries by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board the Fermi Gamma-Ray Telescope in reference to high energy cosmic electrons, and whether their source is cosmic rays or dark matter. Specific interest is devoted to Cosmic Ray electrons anisotropy,

  4. Closing CMS to hunt cosmic rays

    CERN Multimedia

    Claudia Marcelloni

    2006-01-01

    Every second the Earth is bombarded by billions of cosmic rays and occasionally one of these cosmic particles will collide with the Earth's atmosphere generating a shower of particles known as an 'air shower'. This is similiar to the collisions and subsequent particle showers observed in accelerators such as the LHC. Here the CMS detector is closed so that systems can be tested using muon cosmic rays in the 'Cosmic Challenge'.

  5. Exploring Ultra-Heavy Cosmic Rays with the Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Link, Jason; Supertiger Collaboration

    2017-01-01

    Elements heavier than iron are primarily synthesized by neutron capture. These elements can be accelerated as cosmic-rays and measuring their abundances at Earth can yield information about galactic cosmic-rays' sources, the acceleration processes and the composition of the universe beyond the boundaries of our solar system. The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER) and its larger successor SuperTIGER was designed to measure the abundance of these ultra-heavy cosmic rays between Z=10 and Z=60. These detectors utilize scintillators with a wavelength shifter bar and PMT readout system as well as aerogel and acrylic Cherenkov detectors to identify the charge and energy of a particle and utilize a scintillating fiber hodoscope to provide trajectory information. In this talk I will review the results from this highly successful program, give the status for the next SuperTIGER flight planned for a December 2017 launch from Antarctica, and discuss the future direction of the program.

  6. High-altitude cosmic ray neutrons: probable source for the high-energy protons of the earth's radiation belts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hajnal, F.; Wilson, J.

    1992-01-01

    'Full Text:' Several High-altitude cosmic-ray neutron measurements were performed by the NASA Ames Laboratory in the mid-to late-1970s using airplanes flying at about 13km altitude along constant geomagnetic latitudes of 20, 44 and 51 degrees north. Bonner spheres and manganese, gold and aluminium foils were used in the measurements. In addition, large moderated BF-3 counters served as normalizing instruments. Data analyses performed at that time did not provide complete and unambiguous spectral information and field intensities. Recently, using our new unfolding methods and codes, and Bonner-sphere response function extensions for higher energies, 'new' neutron spectral intensities were obtained, which show progressive hardening of neutron spectra as a function of increasing geomagnetic latitude, with substantial increases in the energy region iron, 1 0 MeV to 10 GeV. For example, we found that the total neutron fluences at 20 and 51 degrees magnetic north are in the ratio of 1 to 5.2 and the 10 MeV to 10 GeV fluence ratio is 1 to 18. The magnitude of these ratios is quite remarkable. From the new results, the derived absolute neutron energy distribution is of the correct strength and shape for the albedo neutrons to be the main source of the high-energy protons trapped in the Earth's inner radiation belt. In addition, the results, depending on the extrapolation scheme used, indicate that the neutron dose equivalent rate may be as high as 0.1 mSv/h near the geomagnetic north pole and thus a significant contributor to the radiation exposures of pilots, flight attendants and the general public. (author)

  7. Gamma ray astronomy and the origin of galactic cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gabici, Stefano

    2011-01-01

    Diffusive shock acceleration operating at expanding supernova remnant shells is by far the most popular model for the origin of galactic cosmic rays. Despite the general consensus received by the model, an unambiguous and conclusive proof of the supernova remnant hypothesis is still missing. In this context, the recent developments in gamma ray astronomy provide us with precious insights into the problem of the origin of galactic cosmic rays, since production of gamma rays is expected both during the acceleration of cosmic rays at supernova remnant shocks and during their subsequent propagation in the interstellar medium. In particular, the recent detection of a number of supernova remnants at TeV energies nicely fits with the model, but it still does not constitute a conclusive proof of it, mainly due to the difficulty of disentangling the hadronic and leptonic contributions to the observed gamma ray emission. The main goal of my research is to search for an unambiguous and conclusive observational test for proving (or disproving) the idea that supernova remnants are the sources of galactic cosmic rays with energies up to (at least) the cosmic ray knee. Our present comprehension of the mechanisms of particle acceleration at shocks and of the propagation of cosmic rays in turbulent magnetic fields encourages beliefs that such a conclusive test might come from future observations of supernova remnants and of the Galaxy in the almost unexplored domain of multi-TeV gamma rays. (author)

  8. Irradiated ISM : Discriminating between cosmic rays and X-rays

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijerink, R.; Spaans, M.; Israel, F. P.

    2006-01-01

    The interstellar medium ( ISM) at the centers of active galaxies is exposed to a combination of cosmic-ray, far-ultraviolet (FUV), and X-ray radiation. We apply photodissociation region (PDR) models to this ISM with both "normal" and highly elevated (5 x 10(-15) s(-1)) cosmic- ray (CR) rates and

  9. Evidence from cosmic ray exposure (CRE) dating for the existence of a pre-Minoan caldera on Santorini, Greece

    Science.gov (United States)

    Athanassas, C. D.; Bourlès, D. L.; Braucher, R.; Druitt, T. H.; Nomikou, P.; Léanni, L.

    2016-05-01

    Cosmic ray exposure (CRE) dating was performed on the caldera cliffs of Santorini with the aim of detecting cliff segments predating the Minoan eruption (17th century BCE). The methodology involved the determination of in situ-produced cosmogenic 36Cl concentration in basaltic-to-rhyodacitic whole rocks cropping out in the cliffs. After the samples were processed following the chemical protocol of 36Cl preparation for silicate rocks, 36Cl concentrations were measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Important challenges during the implementation procedure were related to large amounts of radiogenic 36Cl, complex modeling of inherited 36Cl, and dominance of the thermal and epithermal (low-energy) neutron capture production pathway. Nevertheless, quantitative assessments on the basis of the contribution of the low-energy neutron capture pathway percent to the total production rate validated the calculated CRE dates. Current CRE ages demonstrate that an ancient caldera existed on pre-Minoan Santorini, occupying at least the northern half of the modern-day caldera.

  10. Relativistic transport theory for cosmic-rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Webb, G.M.

    1985-01-01

    Various aspects of the transport of cosmic-rays in a relativistically moving magnetized plasma supporting a spectrum of hydromagnetic waves that scatter the cosmic-rays are presented. A local Lorentz frame moving with the waves or turbulence scattering the cosmic-rays is used to specify the individual particle momentum. The comoving frame is in general a noninertial frame in which the observer's volume element is expanding and shearing, geometric energy change terms appear in the cosmic-ray transport equation which consist of the relativistic generalization of the adiabatic deceleration term and a further term involving the acceleration vector of the scatterers. A relativistic version of the pitch angle evolution equation, including the effects of adiabatic focussing, pitch angle scattering, and energy changes is presented

  11. Cosmic Rays in Intermittent Magnetic Fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shukurov, Anvar; Seta, Amit; Bushby, Paul J.; Wood, Toby S.; Snodin, Andrew P.

    2017-01-01

    The propagation of cosmic rays in turbulent magnetic fields is a diffusive process driven by the scattering of the charged particles by random magnetic fluctuations. Such fields are usually highly intermittent, consisting of intense magnetic filaments and ribbons surrounded by weaker, unstructured fluctuations. Studies of cosmic-ray propagation have largely overlooked intermittency, instead adopting Gaussian random magnetic fields. Using test particle simulations, we calculate cosmic-ray diffusivity in intermittent, dynamo-generated magnetic fields. The results are compared with those obtained from non-intermittent magnetic fields having identical power spectra. The presence of magnetic intermittency significantly enhances cosmic-ray diffusion over a wide range of particle energies. We demonstrate that the results can be interpreted in terms of a correlated random walk.

  12. Cosmic Rays in Intermittent Magnetic Fields

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shukurov, Anvar; Seta, Amit; Bushby, Paul J.; Wood, Toby S. [School of Mathematics and Statistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU (United Kingdom); Snodin, Andrew P., E-mail: a.seta1@ncl.ac.uk, E-mail: amitseta90@gmail.com [Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Applied Science, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok 10800 (Thailand)

    2017-04-10

    The propagation of cosmic rays in turbulent magnetic fields is a diffusive process driven by the scattering of the charged particles by random magnetic fluctuations. Such fields are usually highly intermittent, consisting of intense magnetic filaments and ribbons surrounded by weaker, unstructured fluctuations. Studies of cosmic-ray propagation have largely overlooked intermittency, instead adopting Gaussian random magnetic fields. Using test particle simulations, we calculate cosmic-ray diffusivity in intermittent, dynamo-generated magnetic fields. The results are compared with those obtained from non-intermittent magnetic fields having identical power spectra. The presence of magnetic intermittency significantly enhances cosmic-ray diffusion over a wide range of particle energies. We demonstrate that the results can be interpreted in terms of a correlated random walk.

  13. A Shifting Shield Provides Protection Against Cosmic Rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Susanna

    2017-12-01

    The Sun plays an important role in protecting us from cosmic rays, energetic particles that pelt us from outside our solar system. But can we predict when and how it will provide the most protection, and use this to minimize the damage to both pilotedand roboticspace missions?The Challenge of Cosmic RaysSpacecraft outside of Earths atmosphere and magnetic field are at risk of damage from cosmic rays. [ESA]Galactic cosmic rays are high-energy, charged particles that originate from astrophysical processes like supernovae or even distant active galactic nuclei outside of our solar system.One reason to care about the cosmic rays arriving near Earth is because these particles can provide a significant challenge for space missions traveling above Earths protective atmosphere and magnetic field. Since impacts from cosmic rays can damage human DNA, this risk poses a major barrier to plans for interplanetary travel by crewed spacecraft. And roboticmissions arent safe either: cosmic rays can flip bits, wreaking havoc on spacecraft electronics as well.The magnetic field carried by the solar wind provides a protective shield, deflecting galactic cosmic rays from our solar system. [Walt Feimer/NASA GSFCs Conceptual Image Lab]Shielded by the SunConveniently, we do have some broader protection against galactic cosmic rays: a built-in shield provided by the Sun. The interplanetary magnetic field, which is embedded in the solar wind, deflects low-energy cosmic rays from us at the outer reaches of our solar system, decreasing the flux of these cosmic rays that reach us at Earth.This shield, however, isnt stationary; instead, it moves and changes as the strength and direction of the solar wind moves and changes. This results in a much lower cosmic-ray flux at Earth when solar activity is high i.e., at the peak of the 11-year solar cycle than when solar activity is low. This visible change in local cosmic-ray flux with solar activity is known as solar modulation of the cosmic ray flux

  14. DOUBLE-EXPONENTIAL FITTING FUNCTION FOR EVALUATION OF COSMIC-RAY-INDUCED NEUTRON FLUENCE RATE IN ARBITRARY LOCATIONS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Huailiang; Yang, Yigang; Wang, Qibiao; Tuo, Xianguo; Julian Henderson, Mark; Courtois, Jérémie

    2017-12-01

    The fluence rate of cosmic-ray-induced neutrons (CRINs) varies with many environmental factors. While many current simulation and experimental studies have focused mainly on the altitude variation, the specific rule that the CRINs vary with geomagnetic cutoff rigidity (which is related to latitude and longitude) was not well considered. In this article, a double-exponential fitting function F=(A1e-A2CR+A3)eB1Al, is proposed to evaluate the CRINs' fluence rate varying with geomagnetic cutoff rigidity and altitude. The fitting R2 can have a value up to 0.9954, and, moreover, the CRINs' fluence rate in an arbitrary location (latitude, longitude and altitude) can be easily evaluated by the proposed function. The field measurements of the CRINs' fluence rate and H*(10) rate in Mt. Emei and Mt. Bowa were carried out using a FHT-762 and LB 6411 neutron prober, respectively, and the evaluation results show that the fitting function agrees well with the measurement results. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. Propagation of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor [Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)], E-mail: stanev@bartol.udel.edu

    2009-06-15

    We briefly describe the energy loss processes of ultrahigh-energy protons, heavier nuclei and {gamma}-rays in interactions with the universal photon fields of the Universe. We then discuss the modification of the accelerated cosmic-ray energy spectrum in propagation by the energy loss processes and the charged cosmic-ray scattering in the extragalactic magnetic fields. The energy lost by the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays goes into {gamma}-rays and neutrinos that carry additional information about the sources of highest energy particles. The new experimental results of the HiRes and the Auger collaborations are discussed in view of the predictions from propagation calculations.

  16. Cosmic-ray anisotropy studies with IceCube

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNally, Frank

    2014-03-01

    The IceCube neutrino observatory detects tens of billions of energetic muons per year produced by cosmic-ray interactions with the atmosphere. The size of this sample has allowed IceCube to observe a significant anisotropy in arrival direction for cosmic rays with median energies between 20 and 400 TeV. This anisotropy is characterized by a large scale structure of per-mille amplitude accompanied by structures with smaller amplitudes and with typical angular sizes between 10° and 20°. IceTop, the surface component of IceCube, has observed a similar anisotropy in the arrival direction distribution of cosmic rays, extending the study to PeV energies. The better energy resolution of IceTop allows for additional studies of the anisotropy, for example a comparison of the energy spectrum in regions of a cosmic-ray excess or deficit to the rest of the sky. We present an update on the cosmic-ray anisotropy observed with IceCube and IceTop and the results of first studies of the energy spectrum at locations of cosmic-ray excess or deficit.

  17. Empirical model for the Earth's cosmic ray shadow at 400 KM: prohibited cosmic ray access

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Humble, J.E.; Smart, D.F.; Shea, M.A.

    1985-01-01

    The possibility of constructing a unit sphere of access that describes the cosmic radiation allowed to an Earth-orbiting spacecraft is discussed. It is found that it is possible to model the occluded portion of the cosmic ray sphere of access as a circular projection with a diameter bounded by the satellite-Earth horizon. Maintaining tangency at the eastern edge of the spacecraft-Earth horizon, this optically occluded area is projected downward by an angle beta which is a function of the magnetic field inclination and cosmic ray arrival direction. This projected plane, corresponding to the forbidden area of cosmic ray access, is bounded by the spacecraft-Earth horizon in easterly directions, and is rotated around the vertical axis by an angle alpha from the eastern direction, where the angle alpha is a function of the offset dipole latitude of the spacecraft

  18. Cosmic Ray Daily Variation And SOLAR Activity On Anomalous Days

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mishra, Rajesh Kumar; Mishra, Rekha Agarwal

    2008-01-01

    A study is carried out on the long-term changes in the diurnal anisotropy of cosmic rays using the ground based Deep River neutron monitor data during significantly low amplitude anisotropic wave train events in cosmic ray intensity for the period 1981-94. It has been observed that the phase of the diurnal anisotropy for majority of the low amplitude anisotropic wave train events significantly shifts towards earlier hours as compared to the co-rotational direction. The long-term behaviour of the amplitude of the diurnal anisotropy can be explained in terms of the occurrence of low amplitude anisotropic wave train events. The occurrence of these events is dominant during solar activity minimum years. The amplitude of the diurnal anisotropy is well correlated with the solar cycle but the direction of the anisotropy is not correlated with the solar cycle and shows a systematic shift to earlier hours. (authors)

  19. Low-energy cosmic rays in the Orion region

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pohl, M.

    1998-01-01

    The recently observed nuclear gamma-ray line emission from the Orion complex implies a high flux of low-energy cosmic rays (LECR) with unusual abundance. This cosmic ray component would dominate the energy density, pressure, and ionising power of cosmic rays, and thus would have a strong impact...

  20. A two-zone cosmic ray propagation model and its implication of the surviving fraction of radioactive cosmic ray isotopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simon, M.; Scherzer, R.; Enge, W.

    1977-01-01

    In cosmic ray propagation calculations one can usually assume a homogeneous distribution of interstellar matter. The crucial astrophysical parameters in these models are: The path length distribution, the age of the cosmic ray particles and the interstellar matter density. These values are interrelated. The surviving fraction of radioactive cosmic ray isotopes is often used to determine a mean matter density of that region, where the cosmic ray particles may mainly reside. Using a Monte Carlo Propagation Program we calculated the change in the surviving fraction quantitatively assuming a region around the sources with higher matter density. (author)

  1. Scaling in situ cosmogenic nuclide production rates using analytical approximations to atmospheric cosmic-ray fluxes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lifton, Nathaniel; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Dunai, Tibor J.

    2014-01-01

    Several models have been proposed for scaling in situ cosmogenic nuclide production rates from the relatively few sites where they have been measured to other sites of interest. Two main types of models are recognized: (1) those based on data from nuclear disintegrations in photographic emulsions combined with various neutron detectors, and (2) those based largely on neutron monitor data. However, stubborn discrepancies between these model types have led to frequent confusion when calculating surface exposure ages from production rates derived from the models. To help resolve these discrepancies and identify the sources of potential biases in each model, we have developed a new scaling model based on analytical approximations to modeled fluxes of the main atmospheric cosmic-ray particles responsible for in situ cosmogenic nuclide production. Both the analytical formulations and the Monte Carlo model fluxes on which they are based agree well with measured atmospheric fluxes of neutrons, protons, and muons, indicating they can serve as a robust estimate of the atmospheric cosmic-ray flux based on first principles. We are also using updated records for quantifying temporal and spatial variability in geomagnetic and solar modulation effects on the fluxes. A key advantage of this new model (herein termed LSD) over previous Monte Carlo models of cosmogenic nuclide production is that it allows for faster estimation of scaling factors based on time-varying geomagnetic and solar inputs. Comparing scaling predictions derived from the LSD model with those of previously published models suggest potential sources of bias in the latter can be largely attributed to two factors: different energy responses of the secondary neutron detectors used in developing the models, and different geomagnetic parameterizations. Given that the LSD model generates flux spectra for each cosmic-ray particle of interest, it is also relatively straightforward to generate nuclide-specific scaling

  2. Cosmic Rays and Climate

    CERN Document Server

    Kirkby, Jasper

    2007-01-01

    Among the most puzzling questions in climate change is that of solar-climate variability, which has attracted the attention of scientists for more than two centuries. Until recently, even the existence of solar-climate variability has been controversial—perhaps because the observations had largely involved correlations between climate and the sunspot cycle that had persisted for only a few decades. Over the last few years, however, diverse reconstructions of past climate change have revealed clear associations with cosmic ray variations recorded in cosmogenic isotope archives, providing persuasive evidence for solar or cosmic ray forcing of the climate. However, despite the increasing evidence of its importance, solar-climate variability is likely to remain controversial until a physical mechanism is established. Although this remains a mystery, observations suggest that cloud cover may be influenced by cosmic rays, which are modulated by the solar wind and, on longer time scales, by the geomagnetic fiel...

  3. High-energy cosmic rays

    CERN Document Server

    Cronin, James Watson

    1996-01-01

    Recently two cosmic rays with energy in excess of 2 1020 eV have been recorded. These are some 108 times more energetic than the protons produced by accelerators on earth. There is no credible understanding of the mechanism of acceleration by known a Because of the short mean free path in the cosmic background radiation they must come from nearby distances on a cosmological scale (< 50 Mpc). Their magnetic rigidity suggests that they should point to their source. Lectures will cover the present available data on the highest energy cosmic rays, their detection, possible acceleration mechanisms, their propagation in the galaxy and in extra galactic space and design of new detectors where simulations of air show ers play an important role.

  4. Monitoring Landscape Scale Soil Water Content with Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensors: Validation and Calibration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wahbi, Ammar; Avery, William A.; Dercon, Gerd; Heng, Lee; Weltin, Georg; Franz, Trenton E.; Strauss, Peter; Oismueller, Markus; Desilets, Darin

    2017-01-01

    Increasing populations growth combined with climate change are putting pressure on water resources and agricultural systems around the world. The need for effective water management strategies designed to maximize water use efficiency has made access to soil water content (SWC) information crucial to the global community. This work builds upon ongoing research that began in December 2013 in which a stationary Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensor (CRNS) was used to monitor SWC within an agricultural system located in north central Austria. Past work at this study site at Petzenkirchen, Austria (100 km west of Vienna) has focused on the calibration and validation of the CRNS technology, and has shown the CRNS to reliably estimate SWC on a large scale (circle with radius of cca. 250 m) when compared to other methods of estimating SWC. This was determined via comparisons of insitu soil sampling, time domain reflectometry (TDR), and time domain transmissivity (TDT) of SWC with estimates of SWC determined from the CRNS. However, questions remain regarding the effective use of the CRNS technology.

  5. Improving calibration and validation of cosmic-ray neutron sensors in the light of spatial sensitivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Schrön

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In the last few years the method of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS has gained popularity among hydrologists, physicists, and land-surface modelers. The sensor provides continuous soil moisture data, averaged over several hectares and tens of decimeters in depth. However, the signal still may contain unidentified features of hydrological processes, and many calibration datasets are often required in order to find reliable relations between neutron intensity and water dynamics. Recent insights into environmental neutrons accurately described the spatial sensitivity of the sensor and thus allowed one to quantify the contribution of individual sample locations to the CRNS signal. Consequently, data points of calibration and validation datasets are suggested to be averaged using a more physically based weighting approach. In this work, a revised sensitivity function is used to calculate weighted averages of point data. The function is different from the simple exponential convention by the extraordinary sensitivity to the first few meters around the probe, and by dependencies on air pressure, air humidity, soil moisture, and vegetation. The approach is extensively tested at six distinct monitoring sites: two sites with multiple calibration datasets and four sites with continuous time series datasets. In all cases, the revised averaging method improved the performance of the CRNS products. The revised approach further helped to reveal hidden hydrological processes which otherwise remained unexplained in the data or were lost in the process of overcalibration. The presented weighting approach increases the overall accuracy of CRNS products and will have an impact on all their applications in agriculture, hydrology, and modeling.

  6. Improving calibration and validation of cosmic-ray neutron sensors in the light of spatial sensitivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrön, Martin; Köhli, Markus; Scheiffele, Lena; Iwema, Joost; Bogena, Heye R.; Lv, Ling; Martini, Edoardo; Baroni, Gabriele; Rosolem, Rafael; Weimar, Jannis; Mai, Juliane; Cuntz, Matthias; Rebmann, Corinna; Oswald, Sascha E.; Dietrich, Peter; Schmidt, Ulrich; Zacharias, Steffen

    2017-10-01

    In the last few years the method of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) has gained popularity among hydrologists, physicists, and land-surface modelers. The sensor provides continuous soil moisture data, averaged over several hectares and tens of decimeters in depth. However, the signal still may contain unidentified features of hydrological processes, and many calibration datasets are often required in order to find reliable relations between neutron intensity and water dynamics. Recent insights into environmental neutrons accurately described the spatial sensitivity of the sensor and thus allowed one to quantify the contribution of individual sample locations to the CRNS signal. Consequently, data points of calibration and validation datasets are suggested to be averaged using a more physically based weighting approach. In this work, a revised sensitivity function is used to calculate weighted averages of point data. The function is different from the simple exponential convention by the extraordinary sensitivity to the first few meters around the probe, and by dependencies on air pressure, air humidity, soil moisture, and vegetation. The approach is extensively tested at six distinct monitoring sites: two sites with multiple calibration datasets and four sites with continuous time series datasets. In all cases, the revised averaging method improved the performance of the CRNS products. The revised approach further helped to reveal hidden hydrological processes which otherwise remained unexplained in the data or were lost in the process of overcalibration. The presented weighting approach increases the overall accuracy of CRNS products and will have an impact on all their applications in agriculture, hydrology, and modeling.

  7. Cosmic gamma-ray background radiation. Current understandings and problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inoue, Yoshiyuki

    2015-01-01

    The cosmic gamma-ray background radiation is one of the most fundamental observables in the gamma-ray band. Although the origin of the cosmic gamma-ray background radiation has been a mystery for a long time, the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope has recently measured it at 0.1-820 GeV and revealed that the cosmic GeV gamma-ray background is composed of blazars, radio galaxies, and star-forming galaxies. However, Fermi still leaves the following questions. Those are dark matter contribution, origins of the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background, and the connection to the IceCube TeV-PeV neutrino events. In this proceeding, I will review the current understandings of the cosmic gamma-ray background and discuss future prospects of cosmic gamma-ray background radiation studies. (author)

  8. Advances in continuous gamma-ray spectrometry and applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gold, R.; McNeece, J.P.; Kaiser, B.J.

    1984-07-01

    Recent advances and applications in continuous Compton recoil gamma-ray spectrometry are described. Applications of continuous gamma-ray spectrometry are presented for: (1) Characterization of light water reactor (LWR) pressures vessel (PV) environments. (2) Assessment of fuel distributions for Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor recovery. (3) Measurement of LWR-PV-neutron exposure. The latest improvements attained with the Janus probe, a special in-situ configuration of Si(Li) detectors, are presented. The status of current efforts to extend the domain of applicability of this method beyond 3 MeV is discussed with emphasis on recent work carried out with Si(Li) detectors of much larger volume

  9. Neural network and wavelets in prediction of cosmic ray variability: The North Africa as study case

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarrouk, Neïla; Bennaceur, Raouf

    2010-04-01

    Since the Earth is permanently bombarded with energetic cosmic rays particles, cosmic ray flux has been monitored by ground based neutron monitors for decades. In this work an attempt is made to investigate the decomposition and reconstructions provided by Morlet wavelet technique, using data series of cosmic rays variabilities, then to constitute from this wavelet analysis an input data base for the neural network system with which we can then predict decomposition coefficients and all related parameters for other points. Thus the latter are used for the recomposition step in which the plots and curves describing the relative cosmic rays intensities are obtained in any points on the earth in which we do not have any information about cosmic rays intensities. Although neural network associated with wavelets are not frequently used for cosmic rays time series, they seems very suitable and are a good choice to obtain these results. In fact we have succeeded to derive a very useful tool to obtain the decomposition coefficients, the main periods for each point on the Earth and on another hand we have now a kind of virtual NM for these locations like North Africa countries, Maroc, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Cairo. We have found the aspect of very known 11-years cycle: T1, we have also revealed the variation type of T2 and especially T3 cycles which seem to be induced by particular Earth's phenomena.

  10. A Tale of cosmic rays narrated in γ rays by Fermi

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tibaldo, Luigi

    2014-01-01

    Because cosmic rays are charged particles scrambled by magnetic fields, combining direct measurements with other observations is crucial to understanding their origin and propagation. As energetic particles traverse matter and electromagnetic fields, they leave marks in the form of neutral interaction products. Among those, γ rays trace interactions of nuclei that inelastically collide with interstellar gas, as well as of leptons that undergo Bremsstrahlung and inverse-Compton scattering. Data collected by the Fermi large area telescope (LAT) are therefore telling the story of cosmic rays along their journey from sources through their home galaxies. Supernova remnants emerge as a notable γ -ray source population, and older remnants interacting with interstellar matter finally show strong evidence of the presence of accelerated nuclei. Yet the maximum energy attained by shock accelerators is poorly constrained by observations. Cygnus X, a massive star-forming region established by the LAT as housing cosmic-ray sources, provides a test case to study the impact of wind-driven turbulence on the early propagation. Interstellar emission resulting from the large-scale propagation of cosmic rays in the Milky Way is revealed in unprecedented detail that challenges some of the simple assumptions used for the modeling. Moreover, the cosmic-ray induced γ -ray luminosities of galaxies-scale quasi-linearly with their massive-star formation rates: the overall normalization of that relation below the calorimetric limit suggests that for most systems, a substantial fraction of energy in cosmic rays escapes into the intergalactic medium. The nuclear production models and the distribution of target gas and radiation fields, not determined precisely enough yet, are key to exploiting the full potential of γ - ray data. Nevertheless, data being collected by Fermi and complementary multiwavelength/multi messenger observations are bringing ever closer to solving the cosmic-ray mystery

  11. A Tale of cosmic rays narrated in γ rays by Fermi

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tibaldo, Luigi, E-mail: ltibaldo@slac.stanford.edu [Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park (United States)

    2014-07-01

    Because cosmic rays are charged particles scrambled by magnetic fields, combining direct measurements with other observations is crucial to understanding their origin and propagation. As energetic particles traverse matter and electromagnetic fields, they leave marks in the form of neutral interaction products. Among those, γ rays trace interactions of nuclei that inelastically collide with interstellar gas, as well as of leptons that undergo Bremsstrahlung and inverse-Compton scattering. Data collected by the Fermi large area telescope (LAT) are therefore telling the story of cosmic rays along their journey from sources through their home galaxies. Supernova remnants emerge as a notable γ -ray source population, and older remnants interacting with interstellar matter finally show strong evidence of the presence of accelerated nuclei. Yet the maximum energy attained by shock accelerators is poorly constrained by observations. Cygnus X, a massive star-forming region established by the LAT as housing cosmic-ray sources, provides a test case to study the impact of wind-driven turbulence on the early propagation. Interstellar emission resulting from the large-scale propagation of cosmic rays in the Milky Way is revealed in unprecedented detail that challenges some of the simple assumptions used for the modeling. Moreover, the cosmic-ray induced γ -ray luminosities of galaxies-scale quasi-linearly with their massive-star formation rates: the overall normalization of that relation below the calorimetric limit suggests that for most systems, a substantial fraction of energy in cosmic rays escapes into the intergalactic medium. The nuclear production models and the distribution of target gas and radiation fields, not determined precisely enough yet, are key to exploiting the full potential of γ - ray data. Nevertheless, data being collected by Fermi and complementary multiwavelength/multi messenger observations are bringing ever closer to solving the cosmic-ray mystery

  12. Progress in high-energy cosmic ray physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mollerach, S.; Roulet, E.

    2018-01-01

    We review some of the recent progress in our knowledge about high-energy cosmic rays, with an emphasis on the interpretation of the different observational results. We discuss the effects that are relevant to shape the cosmic ray spectrum and the explanations proposed to account for its features and for the observed changes in composition. The physics of air-showers is summarized and we also present the results obtained on the proton-air cross section and on the muon content of the showers. We discuss the cosmic ray propagation through magnetic fields, the effects of diffusion and of magnetic lensing, the cosmic ray interactions with background radiation fields and the production of secondary neutrinos and photons. We also consider the cosmic ray anisotropies, both at large and small angular scales, presenting the results obtained from the TeV up to the highest energies and discuss the models proposed to explain their origin.

  13. LHCf sheds new light on cosmic rays

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2011-01-01

    The energy spectrum of the single photon obtained using data from the LHCf experiment has turned out to be very different from that predicted by the theoretical models used until now to describe the interactions between very high-energy cosmic rays and the earth's atmosphere. The consequences of this discrepancy for cosmic ray studies could be significant.   Artistic impression of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere. (Credit: Asimmetrie/Infn). It took physicists by surprise when analysis of the data collected by the two LHCf calorimeters in 2010 showed that high-energy cosmic rays don't interact with the atmosphere in the manner predicted by theory. The LHCf detectors, set up 140 metres either side of the ATLAS interaction point, are dedicated to the study of the secondary particles emitted at very small angles during proton-proton collisions in the LHC, with energies comparable to cosmic rays entering the earth's atmosphere at 2.5x1016 eV. The aim of the experiment is to r...

  14. Cosmic rays and tests of fundamental principles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez-Mestres, Luis

    2011-03-01

    It is now widely acknowledged that cosmic rays experiments can test possible new physics directly generated at the Planck scale or at some other fundamental scale. By studying particle properties at energies far beyond the reach of any man-made accelerator, they can yield unique checks of basic principles. A well-known example is provided by possible tests of special relativity at the highest cosmic-ray energies. But other essential ingredients of standard theories can in principle be tested: quantum mechanics, uncertainty principle, energy and momentum conservation, effective space-time dimensions, hamiltonian and lagrangian formalisms, postulates of cosmology, vacuum dynamics and particle propagation, quark and gluon confinement, elementariness of particles…Standard particle physics or string-like patterns may have a composite origin able to manifest itself through specific cosmic-ray signatures. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays, but also cosmic rays at lower energies, are probes of both "conventional" and new Physics. Status, prospects, new ideas, and open questions in the field are discussed.

  15. Cosmic rays and tests of fundamental principles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez-Mestres, Luis

    2011-01-01

    It is now widely acknowledged that cosmic rays experiments can test possible new physics directly generated at the Planck scale or at some other fundamental scale. By studying particle properties at energies far beyond the reach of any man-made accelerator, they can yield unique checks of basic principles. A well-known example is provided by possible tests of special relativity at the highest cosmic-ray energies. But other essential ingredients of standard theories can in principle be tested: quantum mechanics, uncertainty principle, energy and momentum conservation, effective space-time dimensions, hamiltonian and lagrangian formalisms, postulates of cosmology, vacuum dynamics and particle propagation, quark and gluon confinement, elementariness of particles... Standard particle physics or string-like patterns may have a composite origin able to manifest itself through specific cosmic-ray signatures. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays, but also cosmic rays at lower energies, are probes of both 'conventional' and new Physics. Status, prospects, new ideas, and open questions in the field are discussed.

  16. Application of neutron activation techniques and x-ray energy dispersion spectrometry, in analysis of metallic traces adsorbed by chelex-100 resin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernandes, Jair C.; Amaral, Angela M.; Magalhaes, Jesus C.; Pereira, Jose S.J.; Silva, Juliana B. da; Auler, Lucia M.L.A.

    2000-01-01

    In this work, the authors have investigated optimal conditions of adsorption for several ion metallic groups (cations of heavy metals and transition metals, oxyanions metallics and metalloids and cations of rare earths), as traces (ppb), withdrawn and in mixture of groups, by chelex-100 resin. The experiments have been developed by bath techniques in ammonium acetate tamponade solution 40 mM pH 5,52 content 0,5 g of chelex-100 resin. After magnetic agitation for two hours, resins were dried and submitted to X-ray energy dispersion spectrometry, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry and neutron activation analysis. The results have demonstrated that chelex-100 resin adsorb quantitatively transition element groups and rare earth groups in two cases (withdrawn and simultaneously adsorption)

  17. A constraint on prompt supernova cosmic ray production from γ-ray observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morfill, G.E.; Drury, L.O'C.

    1981-01-01

    The consequences of prompt cosmic ray production intrinsic to supernovae are examined for supernova explosions occurring in dense molecular clouds. For reasonable parameters it is shown that prompt cosmic ray production cannot exceed 10 48 erg per supernova. This suggests that cosmic ray production takes place mainly in the intercloud medium. (author)

  18. Cosmic rays and Earth's climate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svensmark, Henrik

    2000-01-01

    During the last solar cycle the Earth's cloud cover underwent a modulation in phase with the cosmic ray flux. Assuming that there is a causal relationship between the two, it is expected and found that the Earth's temperature follows more closely decade variations in cosmic ray flux than other...... solar activity parameters. If the relationship is real the state of the Heliosphere affects the Earth's climate....

  19. Measurements of the Cosmic Rays Dose at Different Altitudes of Iran

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faghihi, R.; Mehdizadeh, S.; Jafarizadeh, M.; Sina, S.; Zehtabian, M.; Taheri, M.

    2012-01-01

    The amount of cosmic rays varies widely with the altitude, latitude and longitude in each region. In this study, the radiation doses due to the cosmic rays were estimated in two steps: in the first step, the neutron and gamma components of the radiation dose were measured for a roundtrip flight on 3 flight routes (Shiraz-Asaluye, Asaluye-Rasht and Shiraz-Mashhad) using a gamma-tracer photon detector and a Thyac 190 N, neutron detector. The minimum values of the measured gamma and neutron doses of 0.15 and 0.04μSv were measured on the Asaluyeh-Shiraz route at the lowest altitude of 19000 ft, while for Rasht-Asaluyeh route at an altitude of 35000 ft those values were found to be 2.52 and 1.09 mSv, respectively. In the second step, a number of air crew members were equipped with thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLD cards) for evaluating the gamma dose and polycarbonate dosimeters (SSNTD) for assessing the neutron dose for one year. The measured value of the annual effective dose received by the crew ranged between 0.5 mSv/y and 1.16 mSv/y, with an average of 0.9 mSv/y for the gamma component and between 0.37 mSv/y and 0.77 mSv/y with an average of 0.61 mSv/y for the neutron component. The results of this investigation are comparable with the investigations that have been conducted in other countries. For instance in UK, the reported annual effective dose of air crew is about 2 mSv, and in Canada, it is estimated to be between 1 to 5 mSv, depending on the flight situations (such as the latitude and longitude of the cities, the flight altitude, etc).

  20. High-energy X-ray production in a boundary layer of an accreting neutron star

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanawa, Tomoyuki

    1991-01-01

    It is shown by Monte Carlo simulation that high-energy X-rays are produced through Compton scattering in a boundary layer of an accreting neutron star. The following is the mechanism for the high-energy X-ray production. An accreting neutron star has a boundary layer rotating rapidly on the surface. X-rays radiated from the star's surface are scattered in part in the boundary layer. Since the boundary layer rotates at a semirelativistic speed, the scattered X-ray energy is changed by the Compton effect. Some X-rays are scattered repeatedly between the neutron star and the boundary layer and become high-energy X-rays. This mechanism is a photon analog of the second-order Fermi acceleration of cosmic rays. When the boundary layer is semitransparent, high-energy X-rays are produced efficiently. 17 refs

  1. Intercomparison of cosmic-ray neutron sensors and water balance monitoring in an urban environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrön, Martin; Zacharias, Steffen; Womack, Gary; Köhli, Markus; Desilets, Darin; Oswald, Sascha E.; Bumberger, Jan; Mollenhauer, Hannes; Kögler, Simon; Remmler, Paul; Kasner, Mandy; Denk, Astrid; Dietrich, Peter

    2018-03-01

    Sensor-to-sensor variability is a source of error common to all geoscientific instruments that needs to be assessed before comparative and applied research can be performed with multiple sensors. Consistency among sensor systems is especially critical when subtle features of the surrounding terrain are to be identified. Cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNSs) are a recent technology used to monitor hectometre-scale environmental water storages, for which a rigorous comparison study of numerous co-located sensors has not yet been performed. In this work, nine stationary CRNS probes of type CRS1000 were installed in relative proximity on a grass patch surrounded by trees, buildings, and sealed areas. While the dynamics of the neutron count rates were found to be similar, offsets of a few percent from the absolute average neutron count rates were found. Technical adjustments of the individual detection parameters brought all instruments into good agreement. Furthermore, we found a critical integration time of 6 h above which all sensors showed consistent dynamics in the data and their RMSE fell below 1 % of gravimetric water content. The residual differences between the nine signals indicated local effects of the complex urban terrain on the scale of several metres. Mobile CRNS measurements and spatial simulations with the URANOS neutron transport code in the surrounding area (25 ha) have revealed substantial sub-footprint heterogeneity to which CRNS detectors are sensitive despite their large averaging volume. The sealed and constantly dry structures in the footprint furthermore damped the dynamics of the CRNS-derived soil moisture. We developed strategies to correct for the sealed-area effect based on theoretical insights about the spatial sensitivity of the sensor. This procedure not only led to reliable soil moisture estimation during dry-out periods, it further revealed a strong signal of intercepted water that emerged over the sealed surfaces during rain events. The

  2. Lightning Discharges, Cosmic Rays and Climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Sanjay; Siingh, Devendraa; Singh, R. P.; Singh, A. K.; Kamra, A. K.

    2018-03-01

    The entirety of the Earth's climate system is continuously bombarded by cosmic rays and exhibits about 2000 thunderstorms active at any time of the day all over the globe. Any linkage among these vast systems should have global consequences. Numerous studies done in the past deal with partial links between some selected aspects of this grand linkage. Results of these studies vary from weakly to strongly significant and are not yet complete enough to justify the physical mechanism proposed to explain such links. This review is aimed at presenting the current understanding, based on the past studies on the link between cosmic ray, lightning and climate. The deficiencies in some proposed links are pointed out. Impacts of cosmic rays on engineering systems and the possible effects of cosmic rays on human health are also briefly discussed. Also enumerated are some problems for future work which may help in developing the grand linkage among these three vast systems.

  3. Large vessel imaging using cosmic-ray muons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jenneson, P.M.

    2004-01-01

    Cosmic-ray muons are assessed for their practical use in the tomographic imaging of the internal composition of large vessels over 2 m in diameter. The technique is based on the attenuation and scattering of cosmic-ray muons passing through a vessel and has advantages over photon-based methods of tomography that it is extendable to object containing high-density materials over many tens of metres. The main disadvantage is the length of time required to produce images of sufficient resolution and hence cosmic ray muon tomography will be most suited to the imaging of large structures whose internal composition is effectively static for the duration of the imaging period. Simulation and theoretical results are presented here which demonstrate the feasibility of cosmic ray muon tomography

  4. Cosmic ray antimatter and baryon symmetric cosmology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stecker, F. W.; Protheroe, R. J.; Kazanas, D.

    1982-01-01

    The relative merits and difficulties of the primary and secondary origin hypotheses for the observed cosmic-ray antiprotons, including the new low-energy measurement of Buffington, et al. We conclude that the cosmic-ray antiproton data may be evidence for antimatter galaxies and baryon symmetric cosmology. The present bar P data are consistent with a primary extragalactic component having /p=/equiv 1+/- 3.2/0.7x10 = to the -4 independent of energy. We propose that the primary extragalactic cosmic ray antiprotons are most likely from active galaxies and that expected disintegration of bar alpha/alpha ban alpha/alpha. We further predict a value for ban alpha/alpha =/equiv 10 to the -5, within range of future cosmic ray detectors.

  5. Solar flares and the cosmic ray intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hatton, C.J.

    1980-01-01

    The relationship between the cosmic ray intensity and solar activity during solar cycle 20 is discussed. A model is developed whereby it is possible to simulate the observed cosmic ray intensity from the observed number of solar flares of importance >= 1. This model leads to a radius for the modulation region of 60-70 AU. It is suggested that high speed solar streams also made a small contribution to the modulation of cosmic rays during solar cycle 20. (orig.)

  6. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays and prompt TeV gamma rays from ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    physics pp. 789-792. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays and prompt. TeV gamma rays from gamma ray bursts ... The origin of the observed ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) events with ... are proton and electron rest mass, respectively.

  7. Virtual Gamma Ray Radiation Sources through Neutron Radiative Capture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scott Wilde, Raymond Keegan

    2008-07-01

    The countrate response of a gamma spectrometry system from a neutron radiation source behind a plane of moderating material doped with a nuclide of a large radiative neutron capture cross-section exhibits a countrate response analogous to a gamma radiation source at the same position from the detector. Using a planar, surface area of the neutron moderating material exposed to the neutron radiation produces a larger area under the prompt gamma ray peak in the detector than a smaller area of dimensions relative to the active volume of the gamma detection system.

  8. Feasibility study on a cosmic-ray level gauge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuda, H.; Fukaya, M.; Minato, S.

    1989-01-01

    Cosmic-ray intensities were measured at the stairs in a subway station in Nagoya City, inside a tall concrete building and under a cylindrical water tank, to examine the feasibility of a cosmic-ray level gauge. The measured results agreed quite well with the theoretical calculations. These results show that a cosmic-ray level gauge is feasible. (author)

  9. The History of Cosmic Ray Studies after Hess

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grupen, Claus, E-mail: grupen@physik.uni-siegen.de

    2013-06-15

    The discovery of cosmic rays by Victor Hess was confirmed with balloon flights at higher altitudes by Kolhörster. Soon the interest turned into questions about the nature of cosmic rays: gamma rays or particles? Subsequent investigations have established cosmic rays as the birthplace of elementary particle physics. The 1936 Nobel prize was shared between Victor Hess and Carl Anderson. Anderson discovered the positron in a cloud chamber. The positron was predicted by Dirac several years earlier. Many new results came now from studies with cloud chambers and nuclear emulsions. Anderson and Neddermeyer saw the muon, which for some time was considered to be a candidate for the Yukawa particle responsible for nuclear binding. Lattes, Powell, Occhialini and Muirhead clarified the situation by the discovery of the charged pions in cosmic rays. Rochester and Butler found V's, which turned out to be short-lived neutral kaons decaying into a pair of charged pions. Λ's, Σ's and Ξ's were found in cosmic rays using nuclear emulsions. After that period, accelerators and storage rings took over. The unexpected renaissance of cosmic rays started with the search for solar neutrinos and the observation of the supernova 1987A and other accelerators in the sky. With the observation of neutrino oscillations one began to look beyond the standard model of elementary particles. After 100 years of cosmic ray research we are again at the beginning of a new era, and cosmic rays may contribute to solve the many open questions, like dark matter and dark energy, by providing energies well beyond those of earth-bound accelerators.

  10. Aerosols Produced by Cosmic Rays

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enghoff, Martin Andreas Bødker

    an experiment in order to investigate the underlying microphysical processes. The results of this experiment will help to understand whether ionization from cosmic rays, and by implication the related processes in the universe, has a direct influence on Earth’s atmosphere and climate. Since any physical...... mechanism linking cosmic rays to clouds and climate is currently speculative, there have been various suggestions of the role atmospheric ions may play; these involve any one of a number of processes from the nucleation of aerosols up to the collection processes of cloud droplets. We have chosen to start......Satellite observations have shown that the Earth’s cloud cover is strongly correlated with the galactic cosmic ray flux. While this correlation is indicative of a possible physical connection, there is currently no confirmation that a physical mechanism exists. We are therefore setting up...

  11. Cosmic rays, clouds, and climate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marsh, N.; Svensmark, Henrik

    2000-01-01

    cloud radiative properties. Thus, a moderate influence on atmospheric aerosol distributions from cosmic ray ionisation would have a strong influence on the Earth's radiation budget. Historical evidence over the past 1000 years indicates that changes in climate have occurred in accord with variability......A correlation between a global average of low cloud cover and the flux of cosmic rays incident in the atmosphere has been observed during the last solar cycle. The ionising potential of Earth bound cosmic rays are modulated by the state of the heliosphere, while clouds play an important role...... in the Earth's radiation budget through trapping outgoing radiation and reflecting incoming radiation. If a physical link between these two features can be established, it would provide a mechanism linking solar activity and Earth's climate. Recent satellite observations have further revealed a correlation...

  12. Neutron-induced gamma-ray spectroscopy: simulations for chemical mapping of planetary surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brueckner, J.; Waenke, H.; Reedy, R.C.

    1986-01-01

    Cosmic rays interact with the surface of a planetary body and produce a cascade of secondary particles, such as neutrons. Neutron-induced scattering and capture reactions play an important role in the production of discrete gamma-ray lines that can be measured by a gamma-ray spectrometer on board of an orbiting spacecraft. These data can be used to determine the concentration of many elements in the surface of a planetary body, which provides clues to its bulk composition and in turn to its origin and evolution. To investigate the gamma rays made by neutron interactions, thin targets were irradiated with neutrons having energies from 14 MeV to 0.025 eV. By means of foil activation technique the ratio of epithermal to thermal neutrons was determined to be similar to that in the Moon. Gamma rays emitted by the targets and the surrounding material were detected by a high-resolution germanium detector in the energy range of 0.1 to 8 MeV. Most of the gamma-ray lines that are expected to be used for planetary gamma-ray spectroscopy were found in the recorded spectra and the principal lines in these spectra are presented. 58 refs., 7 figs., 9 tabs

  13. Cosmic-ray-modified stellar winds. III. A numerical iterative approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ko, C.M.; Jokipii, J.R.; Webb, G.M.

    1988-01-01

    A numerical iterative method is used to determine the modification of a stellar wind flow with a termination shock by the galactic cosmic rays. A two-fluid model consisting of cosmic rays and thermal stellar wind gas is used in which the cosmic rays are coupled to the background flow via scattering with magnetohydrodynamic waves or irregularities. A polytropic model is used to describe the thermal stellar wind gas, and the cosmic-rays are modeled as a hot, low-density gas with negligible mass flux. The positive galactic cosmic-ray pressure gradient serves to brake the outflowing stellar wind gas, and the cosmic rays modify the location of the critical point of the wind, the location of the shock, the wind fluid velocity profile, and the thermal gas entropy constants on both sides of the shock. The transfer of energy to the cosmic rays results in an outward radial flux of cosmic-ray energy. 21 references

  14. High-energy cosmic-ray acceleration

    OpenAIRE

    Bustamante, M; Carrillo Montoya, G; de Paula, W; Duarte Chavez, J A; Gago, A M; Hakobyan, H; Jez, P; Monroy Montañez, J A; Ortiz Velasquez, A; Padilla Cabal, F; Pino Rozas, M; Rodriguez Patarroyo, D J; Romeo, G L; Saldaña-Salazar , U J; Velasquez, M

    2010-01-01

    We briefly review the basics of ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray acceleration. The Hillas criterion is introduced as a geometrical criterion that must be fulfilled by potential acceleration sites, and energy losses are taken into account in order to obtain a more realistic scenario. The different available acceleration mechanisms are presented, with special emphasis on Fermi shock acceleration and its prediction of a power-law cosmic-ray energy spectrum. We conclude that first-order Fermi accelera...

  15. Educational Cosmic Ray Arrays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soluk, R. A.

    2006-01-01

    In the last decade a great deal of interest has arisen in using sparse arrays of cosmic ray detectors located at schools as a means of doing both outreach and physics research. This approach has the unique advantage of involving grade school students in an actual ongoing experiment, rather then a simple teaching exercise, while at the same time providing researchers with the basic infrastructure for installation of cosmic ray detectors. A survey is made of projects in North America and Europe and in particular the ALTA experiment at the University of Alberta which was the first experiment operating under this paradigm

  16. Cosmic Rays and Extensive Air Showers

    CERN Document Server

    Stanev, Todor

    2010-01-01

    We begin with a brief introduction of the cosmic ray energy spectrum and its main features. At energies higher than 105 GeV cosmic rays are detected by the showers they initiate in the atmosphere. We continues with a brief description of the energy spectrum and composition derived from air shower data.

  17. Efficiency curves of NIRR-1 gamma-ray spectrometry system at near ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The full-energy peak efficiency curves of the gamma-ray spectrometry for use with the Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) have been determined by both theoretical and experimental at two source-detector positions for routine neutron activation analysis. Standard gamma ray sources were used to determine the efficiency ...

  18. Cosmic rays at ultra high energies (Neutrinos.)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahlers, M.; Ringwald, A.; Tu, H.

    2005-06-01

    Resonant photopion production with the cosmic microwave background predicts a suppression of extragalactic protons above the famous Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff at about E GZK ∼ 5 x 10 10 GeV. Current cosmic ray data measured by the AGASA and HiRes Collaborations do not unambiguously confirm the GZK cutoff and leave a window for speculations about the origin and chemical composition of the highest energy cosmic rays. In this work we analyze the possibility of strongly interacting neutrino primaries and derive model-independent quantitative requirements on the neutrino-nucleon inelastic cross section for a viable explanation of the cosmic ray data. Search results on weakly interacting cosmic particles from the AGASA and RICE experiments are taken into account simultaneously. Using a flexible parameterization of the inelastic neutrino-nucleon cross section we find that a combined fit of the data does not favor the Standard Model neutrino-nucleon inelastic cross section, but requires, at 90% confidence level, a steep increase within one energy decade around E GZK by four orders of magnitude. We illustrate such an enhancement within some extensions of the Standard Model. The impact of new cosmic ray data or cosmic neutrino search results on this scenario, notably from the Pierre Auger Observatory soon, can be immediately evaluated within our approach. (orig.)

  19. One century of cosmic rays – A particle physicist's view

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sutton Christine

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Experiments on cosmic rays and the elementary particles share a common history that dates back to the 19th century. Following the discovery of radioactivity in the 1890s, the paths of the two fields intertwined, especially during the decades after the discovery of cosmic rays. Experiments demonstrated that the primary cosmic rays are positively charged particles, while other studies of cosmic rays revealed various new sub-atomic particles, including the first antiparticle. Techniques developed in common led to the birth of neutrino astronomy in 1987 and the first observation of a cosmic γ-ray source by a ground-based cosmic-ray telescope in 1989.

  20. Cosmic rays: an in-flight hazard?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Sullivan, Denis

    2000-01-01

    International airlines are collaborating with physicists to assess whether aircrew are at risk from cosmic radiation as routine monitoring will soon become mandatory. Recently, an international team of physicists has joined forces with NASA and several European airlines to study in detail how the radiation field varies inside the atmosphere depending on the altitude, latitude and solar activity. Astronauts are subjected to the full intensity of high-energy cosmic rays and solar particles (together with the secondary particles produced in the spacecraft walls), and the biological risks in space are the subject of ongoing investigations. A typical return mission to Mars, for example, could result in a total ''dose equivalent'' of up to 0.5 sievert. The dose equivalent takes into account the harm caused by a particular type of radiation. Current estimates suggest that a person who receives a 1 sievert dose of ionizing radiation incurs a few per cent increase in the risk of contracting fatal cancer in his or her lifetime, although the risk level depends on sex and age. The radiation we observe at aircraft altitudes of typically 10-12 km is due to very high-energy particles mainly protons and helium nuclei, together with a small amount of heavy nuclei penetrating the atmosphere and colliding with air atoms. These collisions give rise to the production of more particles, such as protons, neutrons and various mesons. A cascade of particles is then produced by successive interactions as they penetrate deeper into the atmosphere. As a result, the flux of particles increases in the upper atmosphere and reaches a maximum at about 20 km above sea level. Below this point, the number of particles decreases due to energy losses and various particle interactions. Happily, at the Earth's surface we are protected by the air above us, which provides the same degree of shielding as a layer of water 10 m thick. The small amount of radiation that eventually reaches us in the form of

  1. Transient phenomena in cosmic ray intensity during extreme events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal, Rekha; Mishra, Rajesh K.

    2008-04-01

    In the present work an analysis has been made of the extreme events occurring during July 2005. Specifically, a rather intense Forbush decrease was observed at different neutron monitors all over the world during 16 July 2005. An effort has been made to study the effect of this unusual event on cosmic ray intensity as well as various solar and interplanetary plasma parameters. It is noteworthy that during 11 to 18 July 2005 the solar activity ranged from low to very active. Especially low levels occurred on 11, 15, and 17 July whereas high levels took place on 14 and 16 July 2005. The Sun is observed to be active during 11 to 18 July 2005, the interplanetary magnetic field intensity lies within 15 nT, and solar wind velocity was limited to ˜500 kms-1. The geomagnetic activity during this period remains very quiet, the Kp index did not exceed 5, the disturbance storm time Dst index remains ˜-70 nT and no sudden storm commencement has been detected during this period. It is noted that for the majority of the hours, the north/south component of the interplanetary magnetic field, Bz, remains negative, and the cosmic ray intensity increases and shows good/high correlation with Bz, as the polarity of Bz tends to shift from negative to positive values, the intensity decreases and shows good/high anti-correlation with Bz. The cosmic ray intensity tends to decrease with increase of interplanetary magnetic field strength (B) and shows anti-correlation for the majority of the days.

  2. Cosmic rays and radiations from the cosmos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parizot, E.

    2005-12-01

    This document gathers a lot of recent information concerning cosmic radiations, it is divided into 4 parts. Part I: energy, mass and angular spectra of cosmic rays. Part II: general phenomenology of cosmic rays, this part deals with the standard model, the maximal energy of protons inside supernova remnants, nucleosynthesis of light elements, and super-bubbles. Part III: radiations from the cosmos, this part deals with high energy gamma rays, non-thermal radiation of super-bubbles, positron transport, and the Compton trail of gamma-ray bursts. Part IV: the Pierre Auger observatory (OPA), this part deals with the detection of gamma ray bursts at OPA, the measurement of anisotropy, and top-down models. (A.C.)

  3. Structure formation cosmic rays: Identifying observational constraints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prodanović T.

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Shocks that arise from baryonic in-fall and merger events during the structure formation are believed to be a source of cosmic rays. These "structure formation cosmic rays" (SFCRs would essentially be primordial in composition, namely, mostly made of protons and alpha particles. However, very little is known about this population of cosmic rays. One way to test the level of its presence is to look at the products of hadronic reactions between SFCRs and the ISM. A perfect probe of these reactions would be Li. The rare isotope Li is produced only by cosmic rays, dominantly in αα → 6Li fusion reactions with the ISM helium. Consequently, this nuclide provides a unique diagnostic of the history of cosmic rays. Exactly because of this unique property is Li affected most by the presence of an additional cosmic ray population. In turn, this could have profound consequences for the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis: cosmic rays created during cosmic structure formation would lead to pre-Galactic Li production, which would act as a "contaminant" to the primordial 7Li content of metalpoor halo stars. Given the already existing problem of establishing the concordance between Li observed in halo stars and primordial 7Li as predicted by the WMAP, it is crucial to set limits to the level of this "contamination". However, the history of SFCRs is not very well known. Thus we propose a few model-independent ways of testing the SFCR species and their history, as well as the existing lithium problem: 1 we establish the connection between gamma-ray and Li production, which enables us to place constraints on the SFCR-made lithium by using the observed Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background (EGRB; 2 we propose a new site for testing the primordial and SFCR-made lithium, namely, low-metalicity High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs, which retain the pre-Galactic composition without any significant depletion. Although using one method alone may not give us strong constraints, using them in

  4. The Cosmic Ray Tracking (CRT) detector system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernloehr, K.; Gamp, S.; Hermann, G.; Hofmann, W.; Kihm, T.; Knoeppler, J.; Leffers, G.; Matheis, V.; Panter, M.; Trunk, U.; Ulrich, M.; Wolf, T.; Zink, R.; Heintze, J.

    1996-01-01

    The Cosmic Ray Tracking (CRT) project represents a study on the use of tracking detectors of the time projection chamber type to detect secondary cosmic ray particles in extensive air showers. In reconstructing the arrival direction of the primary cosmic ray particles, the CRT detectors take advantage of the angular correlation of secondary particles with the cosmic rays leading to these air showers. In this paper, the detector hardware including the custom-designed electronics system is described in detail. A CRT detector module provides an active area of 2.5 m 2 and allows to measure track directions with a precision of 0.4 circle . It consists of two circular drift chambers of 1.8 m diameter with six sense wires each, and a 10 cm thick iron plate between the two chambers. Each detector has a local electronics box with a readout, trigger, and monitoring system. The detectors can distinguish penetrating muons from other types of charged secondaries. A large detector array could be used to search for γ-ray point sources at energies above several TeV and for studies of the cosmic-ray composition. Ten detectors are in operation at the site of the HEGRA air shower array. (orig.)

  5. Cosmic rays on earth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allkofer, O.C.; Grieder, P.K.F.

    1984-01-01

    A data collection is presented that covers cosmic rays on earth. Included are all relevant data on flux and intensity measurements, energy spectra, and related data of all primary and secondary components of the cosmic radiation at all levels in the atmosphere, at sea level and underground. In those cases where no useful experimental data have been available, theoretical predictions were substituted. (GSCH)

  6. Validation of SMAP Root Zone Soil Moisture Estimates with Improved Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babaeian, E.; Tuller, M.; Sadeghi, M.; Franz, T.; Jones, S. B.

    2017-12-01

    Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) soil moisture products are commonly validated based on point-scale reference measurements, despite the exorbitant spatial scale disparity. The difference between the measurement depth of point-scale sensors and the penetration depth of SMAP further complicates evaluation efforts. Cosmic-ray neutron probes (CRNP) with an approximately 500-m radius footprint provide an appealing alternative for SMAP validation. This study is focused on the validation of SMAP level-4 root zone soil moisture products with 9-km spatial resolution based on CRNP observations at twenty U.S. reference sites with climatic conditions ranging from semiarid to humid. The CRNP measurements are often biased by additional hydrogen sources such as surface water, atmospheric vapor, or mineral lattice water, which sometimes yield unrealistic moisture values in excess of the soil water storage capacity. These effects were removed during CRNP data analysis. Comparison of SMAP data with corrected CRNP observations revealed a very high correlation for most of the investigated sites, which opens new avenues for validation of current and future satellite soil moisture products.

  7. Long-term and transient time variation of cosmic ray fluxes detected in Argentina by CARPET cosmic ray detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Mendonça, R. R. S.; Raulin, J.-P.; Bertoni, F. C. P.; Echer, E.; Makhmutov, V. S.; Fernandez, G.

    2011-07-01

    We present results obtained at El Leoncito (CASLEO, San Juan, Argentina) with the CARPET charged particles detector installed in April 2006. The observed modulation of the cosmic ray flux is discussed as a function of its time variability and it is related to longer solar activity variations and to shorter variations during solar and geomagnetic transient activity. Short period (few minutes, few hours) cosmic ray modulation events are observed during rain time (precipitation) and significant variations of the atmospheric electric field. Complementary observations of the atmospheric electric field indicate that its time variations play an important role in the detected cosmic ray event.

  8. Interpreting the cosmic ray composition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O' C Drury, L.; Ellisson, D.C; Meyer, J.-P

    2000-01-31

    The detailed pattern of elemental abundances in the Galactic Cosmic Rays is well determined at energies of a few GeV per nucleon. After correction for propagation effects the inferred source composition shows significant deviations from the standard pattern of Galactic elemental abundances. These deviations, surprisingly overabundances of the heavy elements relative to Hydrogen, are clearly a significant clue to the origin of the cosmic rays, but one which has proven very difficult to interpret. We have recently shown that the 'standard' model for the origin of the bulk of the Galactic cosmic rays, namely acceleration by the diffusive shock acceleration process at the strong shocks associated with supernova remnants, can quantitatively explain all features of the source composition if the acceleration occurs from a dusty interstellar medium. This success must be regarded as one of the stronger pieces of evidence in favour of the standard model.

  9. Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass

    CERN Multimedia

    Baylon cardiel, J L; Wallace, K C; Anderson, T B; Copley, M

    The cosmic-ray energetics and mass (CREAM) investigation is designed to measure cosmic-ray composition to the supernova energy scale of 10$^{15}$ eV in a series of ultra long duration balloon (ULDB) flights. The first flight is planned to be launched from Antarctica in December 2004. The goal is to observe cosmic-ray spectral features and/or abundance changes that might signify a limit to supernova acceleration. The particle ($\\{Z}$) measurements will be made with a timing-based charge detector and a pixelated silicon charge detector to minimize the effect of backscatter from the calorimeter. The particle energy measurements will be made with a transition radiation detector (TRD) for $\\{Z}$ > 3 and a sampling tungsten/scintillator calorimeter for $\\{Z}$ $\\geq$1 particles, allowing inflight cross calibration of the two detectors. The status of the payload construction and flight preparation are reported in this paper.

  10. Interpreting the cosmic ray composition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'C Drury, L.; Ellisson, D.C; Meyer, J.-P.

    2000-01-01

    The detailed pattern of elemental abundances in the Galactic Cosmic Rays is well determined at energies of a few GeV per nucleon. After correction for propagation effects the inferred source composition shows significant deviations from the standard pattern of Galactic elemental abundances. These deviations, surprisingly overabundances of the heavy elements relative to Hydrogen, are clearly a significant clue to the origin of the cosmic rays, but one which has proven very difficult to interpret. We have recently shown that the 'standard' model for the origin of the bulk of the Galactic cosmic rays, namely acceleration by the diffusive shock acceleration process at the strong shocks associated with supernova remnants, can quantitatively explain all features of the source composition if the acceleration occurs from a dusty interstellar medium. This success must be regarded as one of the stronger pieces of evidence in favour of the standard model

  11. Ultra high-energy cosmic ray composition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longley, N.P.

    1993-01-01

    The Soudan 2 surface-underground cosmic ray experiment can simultaneously measure surface shower size, underground muon multiplicity, and underground muon separation for ultra high energy cosmic ray showers. These measurements are sensitive to the primary composition. Analysis for energies from 10 1 to 10 4 TeV favors a light flux consisting of predominantly H and He nuclei

  12. The ALTA cosmic ray experiment electronics system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brouwer, W.; Burris, W.J.; Caron, B.; Hewlett, J.; Holm, L.; Hamilton, A.; McDonald, W.J.; Pinfold, J.L.; Price, P.; Schaapman, J.R.; Sibley, L.; Soluk, R.A.; Wampler, L.J.

    2005-01-01

    Understanding the origin and propagation of high-energy cosmic rays is a fundamental area of astroparticle physics with major unanswered questions. The study of cosmic rays with energy more than 10 14 eV, probed only by ground-based experiments, has been restricted by the low particle flux. The Alberta Large-area Time-coincidence Array (ALTA) uses a sparse array of cosmic ray detection stations located in high schools across a large geographical area to search for non-random high-energy cosmic ray phenomena. Custom-built ALTA electronics is based on a modular board design. Its function is to control the detectors at each ALTA site allowing precise measurements of event timing and energy in the local detectors as well as time synchronization of all of the sites in the array using the global positioning system

  13. Cosmic-ray contribution in measurement of environmental gamma-ray dose

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagaoka, Kazunori; Honda, Kouichirou; Miyano, Keiji

    1996-01-01

    Nowadays several kinds of dosimeters are being used for environmental gamma-ray monitoring. However the results measured by those instruments are not always in good agreement. It may be caused from the different characteristics of dosimeters. In particular the different responses of the instruments to cosmic-rays give significant influence on the results. Environmental radiation measurements at various altitudes on Mt. Fuji were carried out using a scintillation spectrometer with 3''φ spherical NaI(Tl), a pressurized ionization chamber (PIC), an air-equivalent ionization chamber (IC), thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLD), radiophotoluminescence glass dosimeters (RPLD) and NaI(Tl) scintillation survey meters so that the response characteristics of these instruments to cosmic-rays could be clarified. Cosmic-ray contributions for all instruments were correlated with counting rate over 3 MeV by the spectrometer. Each contribution can be estimated by measurement of the counting rate. Conversion factors (nGy/h/cpm) for IC, PIC, TLD, RPLD and NaI survey meters (TCS166 and TCS121C) were 0.33, 0.32, 0.25, 0.24, 0.06 and -0.01, respectively. Self-doses of these instruments were estimated by measurements at Nokogiriyama facilities of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo. Self-doses for TLD and RPLD were approximately 6 nGy/h. The self dose effect should be taken into consideration in environmental dose measurements. These data are expected to be useful in estimating the cosmic-ray contribution and self-dose in the measurement of environmental gamma-ray dose. (author)

  14. Muon Production in Relativistic Cosmic-Ray Interactions

    OpenAIRE

    Klein, Spencer

    2009-01-01

    Cosmic-rays with energies up to $3\\times10^{20}$ eV have been observed. The nuclear composition of these cosmic rays is unknown but if the incident nuclei are protons then the corresponding center of mass energy is $\\sqrt{s_{nn}} = 700$ TeV. High energy muons can be used to probe the composition of these incident nuclei. The energy spectra of high-energy ($>$ 1 TeV) cosmic ray induced muons have been measured with deep underground or under-ice detectors. These muons come from pion and kaon de...

  15. High energy cosmic rays: sources and fluxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor; Gaisser, Thomas K.; Tilav, Serap

    2014-04-01

    We discuss the production of a unique energy spectrum of the high energy cosmic rays detected with air showers by shifting the energy estimates of different detectors. After such a spectrum is generated we fit the spectrum with three or four populations of cosmic rays that might be accelerated at different cosmic ray sources. We also present the chemical composition that the fits of the spectrum generates and discuss some new data sets presented this summer at the ICRC in Rio de Janeiro that may require new global fits.

  16. Elpasolite Planetary Ice and Composition Spectrometer (EPICS): A Low-Resource Combined Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer for Planetary Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stonehill, L. C.; Coupland, D. D. S.; Dallmann, N. A.; Feldman, W. C.; Mesick, K.; Nowicki, S.; Storms, S.

    2017-12-01

    The Elpasolite Planetary Ice and Composition Spectrometer (EPICS) is an innovative, low-resource gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer for planetary science missions, enabled by new scintillator and photodetector technologies. Neutrons and gamma rays are produced by cosmic ray interactions with planetary bodies and their subsequent interactions with the near-surface materials produce distinctive energy spectra. Measuring these spectra reveals details of the planetary near-surface composition that are not accessible through any other phenomenology. EPICS will be the first planetary science instrument to fully integrate the neutron and gamma-ray spectrometers. This integration is enabled by the elpasolite family of scintillators that offer gamma-ray spectroscopy energy resolutions as good as 3% FWHM at 662 keV, thermal neutron sensitivity, and the ability to distinguish gamma-ray and neutron signals via pulse shape differences. This new detection technology will significantly reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP) while providing similar neutron performance and improved gamma energy resolution compared to previous scintillator instruments, and the ability to monitor the cosmic-ray source term. EPICS will detect scintillation light with silicon photomultipliers rather than traditional photomultiplier tubes, offering dramatic additional SWaP reduction. EPICS is under development with Los Alamos National Laboratory internal research and development funding. Here we report on the EPICS design, provide an update on the current status of the EPICS development, and discuss the expected sensitivity and performance of EPICS in several potential missions to airless bodies.

  17. Cosmic Ray Physics with the IceCube Observatory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolanoski, H

    2013-01-01

    The IceCube Neutrino Observatory with its 1-km 3 in-ice detector and the 1-km 2 surface detector (IceTop) constitutes a three-dimensional cosmic ray detector well suited for general cosmic ray physics. Various measurements of cosmic ray properties, such as energy spectra, mass composition and anisotropies, have been obtained from analyses of air showers at the surface and/or atmospheric muons in the ice.

  18. Isotopic Evidence for Multi-stage Cosmic-ray Exposure Histories of Lunar Meteorites: Long Residence on the Moon and Short Transition to the Earth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hidaka, Hiroshi; Sakuma, Keisuke; Nishiizumi, Kunihiko; Yoneda, Shigekazu

    2017-01-01

    It is known that most lunar meteorites have complicated cosmic-ray exposure experiences on the Moon and in space. In this study, cosmic-ray irradiation histories of six lunar meteorites, Dhofar 489, Northwest Africa 032 (NWA 032), NWA 479, NWA 482, NWA 2995, and NWA 5000, were characterized from neutron-captured isotopic shifts of Sm and Gd, and from the abundances of long-lived cosmogenic radionuclides like 10 Be, 26 Al, 36 Cl, and 41 Ca. Sm and Gd isotopic data of all of six meteorites show significant isotopic shifts of 149 Sm– 150 Sm and 157 Gd– 158 Gd caused by accumulation of neutron capture reactions due to cosmic-ray irradiation, corresponding to the neutron fluences of (1.3–9.6) × 10 16 n cm −2 . In particular, very large Sm and Gd isotopic shifts of NWA 482 are over those of a lunar regolith 70002, having the largest isotopic shifts among the Apollo regolith samples, corresponding to cosmic-ray exposure duration over 800 million years in the lunar surface (2 π irradiation). Meanwhile, the concentrations of cosmogenic radionuclides for individual six meteorites show the short irradiation time less than one million years as their bodies in space (4 π irradiation). Our data also support the results of previous studies, revealing that most of lunar meteorites have long exposure ages at shallow depths on the Moon and short transit times from the Moon to the Earth.

  19. The intergalactic propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic ray nuclei

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hooper, Dan; /Fermilab; Sarkar, Subir; /Oxford U., Theor. Phys.; Taylor, Andrew M.; /Oxford U.

    2006-08-01

    We investigate the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic ray nuclei (A = 1-56) from cosmologically distant sources through the cosmic radiation backgrounds. Various models for the injected composition and spectrum and of the cosmic infrared background are studied using updated photodisintegration cross-sections. The observational data on the spectrum and the composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays are jointly consistent with a model where all of the injected primary cosmic rays are iron nuclei (or a mixture of heavy and light nuclei).

  20. Cosmic ray propagation with CRPropa 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batista, R Alves; Evoli, C; Sigl, G; Van Vliet, A; Erdmann, M; Kuempel, D; Mueller, G; Walz, D; Kampert, K-H; Winchen, T

    2015-01-01

    Solving the question of the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) requires the development of detailed simulation tools in order to interpret the experimental data and draw conclusions on the UHECR universe. CRPropa is a public Monte Carlo code for the galactic and extragalactic propagation of cosmic ray nuclei above ∼ 10 17 eV, as well as their photon and neutrino secondaries. In this contribution the new algorithms and features of CRPropa 3, the next major release, are presented. CRPropa 3 introduces time-dependent scenarios to include cosmic evolution in the presence of cosmic ray deflections in magnetic fields. The usage of high resolution magnetic fields is facilitated by shared memory parallelism, modulated fields and fields with heterogeneous resolution. Galactic propagation is enabled through the implementation of galactic magnetic field models, as well as an efficient forward propagation technique through transformation matrices. To make use of the large Python ecosystem in astrophysics CRPropa 3 can be steered and extended in Python. (paper)

  1. Activation measurements for fast neutrons. Part D. Evaluation of cosmic-ray-induced 63Ni background in copper

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruehm, Werner; Rugel, Georg; Faestermann, Thomas

    2005-01-01

    As a result of a joint collaboration between the University of Utah, LLNL, the Technical University Munich and the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, it became possible to determine A-bomb induced 63 Ni in pure copper samples from Hiroshima beyond a ground range of 1,000 m (see Chapter 9, Part B). The low 63 Ni activities induced in copper samples due to neutrons from the A-bomb explosion at large distance require, however, a careful discussion of the fraction of 63 Ni produced in these samples due to cosmic radiation. In this section, an analysis of the production of 63 Ni in copper samples due to cosmic radiation is performed. Production due to neutrons, protons, stopped muons, and photonuclear reactions is discussed. It is obvious from Figure 1 (Pfennig et al. 1995) that a variety of reactions induced by neutrons, protons, muons and photons can contribute to the production of 63 Ni in copper. The most important of these processes will be discussed here. Since the cross-sections for the production of 63 Ni in copper samples due to fast and stopped muons were not known, they were determined experimentally. (J.P.N.)

  2. Europe's space camera unmasks a cosmic gamma-ray machine

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-11-01

    brighter flashes when the electrons hit a phosphor screen. Since Hubble's launch in 1990, the Faint Object Camera has examined many different kinds of cosmic objects, from the moons of Jupiter to remote galaxies and quasars. When the space telescope's optics were corrected at the end of 1993 the Faint Object Camera immediately celebrated the event with the discovery of primeval helium in intergalactic gas. In their search for Pulsar 1055-52, the astronomers chose a near-ultraviolet filter to sharpen the Faint Object Camera's vision and reduce the adjacent star's huge advantage in intensity. In May 1996, the Hubble Space Telescope operators aimed at the spot which radio astronomers had indicated, as the source of the radio pulsations of Pulsar 1055-52. The neutron star appeared precisely in the centre of the field of view, and it was clearly separated from the glare of the adjacent star. At magnitude 24.9, Pulsar 1055-52 was comfortably within the power of the Faint Object Camera, which can see stars 20 times fainter still. "The Faint Object Camera is the instrument of choice for looking for neutron stars," says Giovanni Bignami, speaking on behalf of the Italian team. "Whenever it points to a judiciously selected neutron star it detects the corresponding visible or ultraviolet light. The Faint Object Camera has now identified three neutron stars in that way, including Pulsar 1055-52, and it has examined a few that were first detected by other instruments." Mysteries of the neutron stars The importance of the new result can be gauged by the tally of only eight neutron stars seen so far at optical wavelengths, compared with about 760 known from their radio pulsations, and about 21 seen emitting X-rays. Since the first pulsar was detected by radio astronomers in Cambridge, England, nearly 30 years ago, theorists have come to recognize neutron stars as fantastic objects. They are veritable cosmic laboratories in which Nature reveals the behaviour of matter under extreme stress

  3. Cosmic Ray-Air Shower Measurement from Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Yoshiyuki

    1997-01-01

    A feasibility study has been initiated to observe from space the highest energy cosmic rays above 1021 eV. A satellite observatory concept, the Maximum-energy Auger (Air)-Shower Satellite (MASS), is recently renamed as the Orbital Wide-angle Collector (OWL) by taking its unique feature of using a very wide field-of-view (FOV) optics. A huge array of imaging devices (about 10(exp 6) pixels) is required to detect and record fluorescent light profiles of cosmic ray cascades in the atmosphere. The FOV of MASS could extend to as large as about 60 in. diameter, which views (500 - 1000 km) of earth's surface and more than 300 - 1000 cosmic ray events per year could be observed above 1020 eV. From far above the atmosphere, the MASS/OWL satellite should be capable of observing events at all angles including near horizontal tracks, and would have considerable aperture for high energy photon and neutrino observation. With a large aperture and the spatial and temporal resolution, MASS could determine the energy spectrum, the mass composition, and arrival anisotropy of cosmic rays from 1020 eV to 1022 eV; a region hitherto not explored by ground-based detectors such as the Fly's Eye and air-shower arrays. MASS/OWL's ability to identify cosmic neutrinos and gamma rays may help providing evidence for the theory which attributes the above cut-off cosmic ray flux to the decay of topological defects. Very wide FOV optics system of MASS/OWL with a large array of imaging devices is applicable to observe other atmospheric phenomena including upper atmospheric lightning. The wide FOV MASS optics being developed can also improve ground-based gamma-ray observatories by allowing simultaneous observation of many gamma ray sources located at different constellations.

  4. Assessment of soil moisture dynamics on an irrigated maize field using cosmic ray neutron sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheiffele, Lena Maria; Baroni, Gabriele; Oswald, Sascha E.

    2015-04-01

    In recent years cosmic ray neutron sensing (CRS) developed as a valuable, indirect and non-invasive method to estimate soil moisture at a scale of tens of hectares, covering the gap between point scale measurements and large scale remote sensing techniques. The method is particularly promising in cropped and irrigated fields where invasive installation of belowground measurement devices could conflict with the agricultural management. However, CRS is affected by all hydrogen pools in the measurement footprint and a fast growing biomass provides some challenges for the interpretation of the signal and application of the method for detecting soil moisture. For this aim, in this study a cosmic ray probe was installed on a field near Braunschweig (Germany) during one maize growing season (2014). The field was irrigated in stripes of 50 m width using sprinkler devices for a total of seven events. Three soil sampling campaigns were conducted throughout the growing season to assess the effect of different hydrogen pools on calibration results. Additionally, leaf area index and biomass measurements were collected to provide the relative contribution of the biomass on the CRS signal. Calibration results obtained with the different soil sampling campaigns showed some discrepancy well correlated with the biomass growth. However, after the calibration function was adjusted to account also for lattice water and soil organic carbon, thus representing an equivalent water content of the soil, the differences decreased. Soil moisture estimated with CRS responded well to precipitation and irrigation events, confirming also the effective footprint of the method (i.e., radius 300 m) and showing occurring water stress for the crop. Thus, the dynamics are in agreement with the soil moisture determined with point scale measurements but they are less affected by the heterogeneous moisture conditions within the field. For this reason, by applying a detailed calibration, CRS proves to be a

  5. Isotopic composition of uranium in U3O8 by neutron induced reactions utilizing thermal neutrons from critical facility and high resolution gamma-ray spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Acharya, R.; Pujari, P.K.; Goel, Lokesh

    2015-01-01

    Uranium in oxide and metal forms is used as fuel material in nuclear power reactors. For chemical quality control, it is necessary to know the isotopic composition (IC) of uranium i.e., 235 U to 238 U atom ratio as well as 235 U atom % in addition to its total concentration. Uranium samples can be directly assayed by passive gamma ray spectrometry for obtaining IC by utilizing 185 keV (γ-ray abundance 57.2%) of 235 U and 1001 keV (γ-ray abundance 0.837%) of 234m Pa (decay product of 238 U). However, due to low abundance of 1001 keV, often it is not practiced to obtain IC by this method as it gives higher uncertainty even if higher mass of sample and counting time are used. IC of uranium can be determined using activity ratio of neutron induced fission product of 235 U to activation product of 238 U ( 239 Np). In the present work, authors have demonstrated methodologies for determination of IC of U as well as 235 U atom% in natural ( 235 U 0.715%) and low enriched uranium (LEU, 3-20 atom % of 235 U) samples of uranium oxide (U 3 O 8 ) by utilizing ratio of counts at 185 keV γ-ray or γ-rays of fission products with respect to 277 keV of 239 Np. Natural and enriched samples (about 25 mg) were neutron irradiated for 4 hours in graphite reflector position of AHWR Critical Facility (CF) using highly thermalized (>99.9% thermal component) neutron flux (∼10 7 cm -2 s -1 )

  6. Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray nuclei from extragalactic pulsars and the effect of their Galactic counterparts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fang, Ke; Olinto, Angela V.; Kotera, Kumiko

    2013-01-01

    The acceleration of ultrahigh energy nuclei in fast spinning newborn pulsars can explain the observed spectrum of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and the trend towards heavier nuclei for energies above 10 19 eV as reported by the Auger Observatory. Pulsar acceleration implies a hard injection spectrum ( ∼ E −1 ) due to pulsar spin down and a maximum energy E max ∼ Z 10 19 eV due to the limit on the spin rate of neutron stars. We have previously shown that the escape through the young supernova remnant softens the spectrum, decreases slightly the maximum energy, and generates secondary nuclei. Here we show that the distribution of pulsar birth periods and the effect of propagation in the interstellar and intergalactic media modifies the combined spectrum of all pulsars. By assuming a normal distribution of pulsar birth periods centered at 300 ms, we show that the contribution of extragalactic pulsar births to the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray spectrum naturally gives rise to a contribution to very high energy cosmic rays (VHECRs, between 10 16 and 10 18 eV) by Galactic pulsar births. The required injected composition to fit the observed spectrum depends on the absolute energy scale, which is uncertain, differing between Auger Observatory and Telescope Array. The contribution of Galactic pulsar births can also bridge the gap between predictions for cosmic ray acceleration in supernova remnants and the observed spectrum just below the ankle, depending on the composition of the cosmic rays that escape the supernova remnant and the diffusion behavior of VHECRs in the Galaxy

  7. Application of the alanine detector to gamma-ray, X-ray and fast neutron dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waligorski, M.P.R.; Hansen, J.W.; Byrski, E.

    1987-01-01

    A dosimeter based on alanine has been developed at the INP in Krakow and at Risoe National Laboratory. Due to its near tissue-equivalence and stability of signal, measured using ESR spectrometry at room temperature, this free-radical amino-acid dosimetric system is particularly suitable for measuring X-ray, gamma-ray and fast neutron doses in the range 10-10 5 Gy. The relative effectiveness (with respect to 60 Co γ-rays) of the alanine dosimeter to 250 kVp X-rays and to cyclotron-produced fast neutrons (mean neutron energy 5.6 MeV) is measured to be 0.76± 0.06 and 0.60±0.05, respectively. The suitability of the alanine dosimeter for intercomparison gamma-ray dosimetry is also shown. The estimated absolute difference between 60 Co dosimetry at Risoe National Laboratory and at the Centre of Oncology in Krakow is about 5%, somewhat more than the experimental uncertainty. These results are based on ESR measurements performed in Krakow on about 25% of the exposed detectors. 28 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs. (author)

  8. Determination of U, Th and K in bricks by gamma-ray spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence analysis and neutron activation analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bártová, H.; Kučera, J.; Musílek, L.; Trojek, T.; Gregorová, E.

    2017-11-01

    Knowledge of the content of natural radionuclides in bricks can be important in some cases in dosimetry and application of ionizing radiation. Dosimetry of naturally occurring radionuclides in matter (NORM) in general is one of them, the other one, related to radiation protection, is radon exposure evaluation, and finally, it is needed for the thermoluminescence (TL) dating method. The internal dose rate inside bricks is caused mostly by contributions of the natural radionuclides 238U, 232Th, radionuclides of their decay chains, and 40K. The decay chain of 235U is usually much less important. The concentrations of 238U, 232Th and 40K were measured by various methods, namely by gamma-ray spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), and neutron activation analysis (NAA) which was used as a reference method. These methods were compared from the point of view of accuracy, limit of detection (LOD), amount of sample needed and sample handling, time demands, and instrument availability.

  9. Cosmic-ray antimatter - A primary origin hypothesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stecker, F. W.; Protheroe, R. J.; Kazanas, D.

    1983-01-01

    The present investigation is concerned with the possibility that the observed cosmic-ray protons are of primary extragalactic origin, taking into account the significance of the current antiproton data. Attention is given to questions regarding primary antiprotons, antihelium fluxes, and the propagation of extragalactic cosmic rays. It is concluded that the primary origin hypothesis should be considered as a serious alternative explanation for the cosmic-ray antiproton fluxes. Such extragalactic primary origin can be considered in the context of a baryon symmetric domain cosmology. The fluxes and propagation characteristics suggested are found to be in rough agreement with the present antiproton data.

  10. Search for antimatter in 1012 eV cosmic rays using Artemis method and interpretation of the cosmic rays spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pomarede, D.

    1999-04-01

    This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is a review of the present knowledge of the antimatter and of the cosmic rays. Theoretical and experimental aspects are presented. It is demonstrated that a measurement of the antimatter abundance in TeV cosmic rays is of fundamental interest, and would establish the symmetric or asymmetric nature of the Universe. The second part is dedicated to the method of antimatter research through the Earth Moon ion spectrometer (ARTEMIS). The account is given of the winter 1996-97 41-nights observation campaign undertaken at the Whipple Observatory in Arizona (USA). A 109 photomultiplier camera is operated on the 40 meter telescope to detect by Cherenkov imaging the cosmic ray initiated showers. We describe the performance of an optical filter used to reduce the noise. The development and the utilization of a simulation program are described. The main work is the analysis of the data: data characterization, understanding of the apparatus, understanding of the noise and its influence, calibration, search for signals by different methods. Subtle systematic effects are uncovered. The simulations establish that the amount of data is insufficient to reveal a shadow effect in the cosmic ray flux. The conclusion of this work is that the experimental setup was not suitable, and we propose important improvements of the method based on a bigger focal plane that would allow to reach a one percent sensitivity on the antimatter content of the cosmic rays. In the third part of the thesis, an interpretation of the total cosmic ray spectrum is proposed and discussed. (author)

  11. Comparison of laser fluorimetry, high resolution gamma-ray spectrometry and neutron activation analysis techniques for determination of uranium content in soil samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghods, A.; Asgharizadeh, F.; Salimi, B.; Abbasi, A.

    2004-01-01

    Much more concern is given nowadays for exposure of the world population to natural radiation especially to uranium since 57% of that exposure is due to radon-222, which is a member of uranium decay series. Most of the methods used for uranium determination is low concentration require either tedious separation and preconcentration or the accessibility to special instrumentation for detection of uranium at this low level. this study compares three techniques and methods for uranium analysis among different soil sample with variable uranium contents. Two of these techniques, neutron activation analysis and high resolution gamma-ray spectrometry , are non-destructive while the other, laser fluorimetry is done via chemical extraction of uranium. Analysis of standard materials is done also to control the quality and accuracy of the work. In spite of having quite variable ranges of detection limit, results obtained by high resolution gamma-ray spectrometry based on the assumption of having secular equilibrium between uranium and its daughters, which causes deviation whenever this condition was missed. For samples with reasonable uranium content, neutron activation analysis would be a rapid and reliable technique, while for low uranium content laser fluorimetry would be the most appropriate and accurate technique

  12. Cosmic Rays in Thunderstorms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buitink, Stijn; Scholten, Olaf; van den Berg, Ad; Ebert, Ute

    2013-04-01

    Cosmic Rays in Thunderstorms Cosmic rays are protons and heavier nuclei that constantly bombard the Earth's atmosphere with energies spanning a vast range from 109 to 1021 eV. At typical altitudes up to 10-20 km they initiate large particle cascades, called extensive air showers, that contain millions to billions of secondary particles depending on their initial energy. These particles include electrons, positrons, hadrons and muons, and are concentrated in a compact particle front that propagates at relativistic speed. In addition, the shower leaves behind a trail of lower energy electrons from ionization of air molecules. Under thunderstorm conditions these electrons contribute to the electrical and ionization processes in the cloud. When the local electric field is strong enough the secondary electrons can create relativistic electron run-away avalanches [1] or even non-relativistic avalanches. Cosmic rays could even trigger lightning inception. Conversely, strong electric fields also influence the development of the air shower [2]. Extensive air showers emit a short (tens of nanoseconds) radio pulse due to deflection of the shower particles in the Earth's magnetic field [3]. Antenna arrays, such as AERA, LOFAR and LOPES detect these pulses in a frequency window of roughly 10-100 MHz. These systems are also sensitive to the radiation from discharges associated to thunderstorms, and provide a means to study the interaction of cosmic ray air showers and the electrical processes in thunderstorms [4]. In this presentation we discuss the involved radiation mechanisms and present analyses of thunderstorm data from air shower arrays [1] A. Gurevich et al., Phys. Lett. A 165, 463 (1992) [2] S. Buitink et al., Astropart. Phys. 33, 1 (2010) [3] H. Falcke et al., Nature 435, 313 (2005) [4] S. Buitink et al., Astron. & Astrophys. 467, 385 (2007)

  13. Decadal trends in the diurnal variation of galactic cosmic rays observed using neutron monitor data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thomas, Simon [Reading Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Meteorology; Univ. College London, Dorking (United Kingdom). Mullard Space Science Lab.; Owens, Mathew; Lockwood, Mike [Reading Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Meteorology; Owen, Chris [Univ. College London, Dorking (United Kingdom). Mullard Space Science Lab.

    2017-10-01

    The diurnal variation (DV) in galactic cosmic ray (GCR) flux is a widely observed phenomenon in neutron monitor data. The background variation considered primarily in this study is due to the balance between the convection of energetic particles away from the Sun and the inward diffusion of energetic particles along magnetic field lines. However, there are also times of enhanced DV following geomagnetic disturbances caused by coronal mass ejections or corotating interaction regions. In this study we investigate changes in the DV over four solar cycles using ground-based neutron monitors at different magnetic latitudes and longitudes at Earth. We divide all of the hourly neutron monitor data into magnetic polarity cycles to investigate cycle-to-cycle variations in the phase and amplitude of the DV. The results show, in general, a similarity between each of the A<0 cycles and A>0 cycles, but with a phase change between the two. To investigate this further, we split the neutron monitor data by solar magnetic polarity between times when the dominant polarity was either directed outward (positive) or inward (negative) at the northern solar pole. We find that the maxima and minima of the DV changes by, typically, 1-2 h between the two polarity states for all non-polar neutron monitors. This difference between cycles becomes even larger in amplitude and phase with the removal of periods with enhanced DV caused by solar wind transients. The time difference between polarity cycles is found to vary in a 22-year cycle for both the maximum and minimum times of the DV. The times of the maximum and minimum in the DV do not always vary in the same manner between A>0 and A<0 polarity cycles, suggesting a slight change in the anisotropy vector of GCRs arriving at Earth between polarity cycles. Polar neutron monitors show differences in phase between polarity cycles which have asymptotic directions at mid-to-high latitudes. All neutron monitors show changes in the amplitude of the

  14. Interstellar propagation of low energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cesarsky, C.J.

    1975-01-01

    Wave particles interactions prevent low energy cosmic rays from propagating at velocities much faster than the Alfven velocity, reducing their range by a factor of order 50. Therefore, supernovae remnants cannot fill the neutral portions of the interstellar medium with 2 MeV cosmic rays [fr

  15. Th/U/Pu/Cm dating of galactic cosmic rays with the extremely heavy cosmic ray composition observer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westphal, Andrew J.; Weaver, Benjamin A.; Tarlé, Gregory

    The principal goal of ECCO, the Extremely-heavy Cosmic-ray Composition Observer, is the measurement of the age of heavy galactic cosmic-ray nuclei using the extremely rare actinides (Th, U, Pu, Cm) as clocks. ECCO is one of two cosmic-ray instruments comprising the Heavy Nuclei Explorer (HNX), which was recently selected as one of several missions for Phase A study under NASA's Small class Explorer (SMEX) program. ECCO is based on the flight heritage of Trek, an array of barium-phosphate glass tracketch detectors deployed on the Russian space station Mir from 1991-1995. Using Trek, we measured the abundances of elements with Z > 70 in the galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). Trek consisted of a 1 m 2 array of stacks of individually polished thin BP-1 glass detectors. ECCO will be a much larger instrument, but will achieve both excellent resolution and low cost through use of a novel detector configuration. Here we report the results of recent accelerator tests of the ECCO detectors that verify detector performance. We also show the expected charge and energy resolution of ECCO as a function of energy.

  16. Anomalous isotopic composition of cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woosley, S.E.; Weaver, T.A.

    1980-01-01

    Recent measurements of nonsolar isotopic patterns for the elements neon and (perhaps) magnesium in cosmic rays are interpreted within current models of stellar nucleosynthesis. One possible explanation is that the stars currently responsible for cosmic-ray synthesis in the Galaxy are typically super-metal-rich by a factor of two to three. Other possibilities include the selective acceleration of certain zones or masses of supernovas or the enhancement of 22 Ne in the interstellar medium by mass loss from red giant stars and planetary nebulas. Measurements of critical isotopic ratios are suggested to aid in distinguishing among the various possibilities. Some of these explanations place significant constraints on the fraction of cosmic ray nuclei that must be fresh supernova debris and the masses of the supernovas involved. 1 figure, 3 tables

  17. The propagation of galactic cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hall, A.N.

    1981-01-01

    Large scale (approximately 15 pc) turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) causes the firehose and mirror instabilities to occur. These produce small scale (approximately 10 -7 pc) magnetic irregularities, which scatter cosmic rays. We use pulsar scintillation data, and a model of the origin of these scintillations, to construct a slab model of the turbulent ISM. Then we find the amplitudes and wavelengths of the magnetic irregularities that arise, and we calculate the coefficients for the diffusion of cosmic rays along the interstellar magnetic fields. We incorporate this diffusion into our model of the turbulent ISM, and show that it can account naturally for both the lifetime of low energy cosmic rays, and the variation of their mean pathlength with energy. Our model has no galactic halo, and contains no scattering by Alfven waves. (author)

  18. Standard Cosmic Ray Energetics and Light Element Production

    CERN Document Server

    Fields, B D; Cassé, M; Vangioni-Flam, E; Fields, Brian D.; Olive, Keith A.; Casse, Michel; Vangioni-Flam, Elisabeth

    2001-01-01

    The recent observations of Be and B in metal poor stars has led to a reassessment of the origin of the light elements in the early Galaxy. At low it is metallicity ([O/H] < -1.75), it is necessary to introduce a production mechanism which is independent of the interstellar metallicity (primary). At higher metallicities, existing data might indicate that secondary production is dominant. In this paper, we focus on the secondary process, related to the standard Galactic cosmic rays, and we examine the cosmic ray energy requirements for both present and past epochs. We find the power input to maintain the present-day Galactic cosmic ray flux is about 1.5e41 erg/s = 5e50 erg/century. This implies that, if supernovae are the sites of cosmic ray acceleration, the fraction of explosion energy going to accelerated particles is about 30%, a value which we obtain consistently both from considering the present cosmic ray flux and confinement and from the present 9Be and 6Li abundances. Using the abundances of 9Be (an...

  19. Relative distribution of cosmic rays and magnetic fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seta, Amit; Shukurov, Anvar; Wood, Toby S.; Bushby, Paul J.; Snodin, Andrew P.

    2018-02-01

    Synchrotron radiation from cosmic rays is a key observational probe of the galactic magnetic field. Interpreting synchrotron emission data requires knowledge of the cosmic ray number density, which is often assumed to be in energy equipartition (or otherwise tightly correlated) with the magnetic field energy. However, there is no compelling observational or theoretical reason to expect such a tight correlation to hold across all scales. We use test particle simulations, tracing the propagation of charged particles (protons) through a random magnetic field, to study the cosmic ray distribution at scales comparable to the correlation scale of the turbulent flow in the interstellar medium (≃100 pc in spiral galaxies). In these simulations, we find that there is no spatial correlation between the cosmic ray number density and the magnetic field energy density. In fact, their distributions are approximately statistically independent. We find that low-energy cosmic rays can become trapped between magnetic mirrors, whose location depends more on the structure of the field lines than on the field strength.

  20. The Pierre Auger Observatory scaler mode for the study of solar activity modulation of galactic cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abreu, P.; /Lisbon, LIFEP /Lisbon, IST; Aglietta, M.; /Turin Observ. /Turin U. /INFN, Turin; Ahn, E.J.; /Fermilab; Allard, D.; /APC, Paris; Allekotte, I.; /Centro Atomico Bariloche /Balseiro Inst., San Carlos de Bariloche; Allen, J.; /New York U.; Alvarez Castillo, J.; /Mexico U.; Alvarez-Muniz, J.; /Santiago de Compostela U.; Ambrosio, M.; /Naples U. /INFN, Naples; Aminaei, A.; /Nijmegen U., IMAPP; Anchordoqui, L.; /Wisconsin U., Milwaukee /Lisbon, LIFEP /Lisbon, IST

    2011-01-01

    Since data-taking began in January 2004, the Pierre Auger Observatory has been recording the count rates of low energy secondary cosmic ray particles for the self-calibration of the ground detectors of its surface detector array. After correcting for atmospheric effects, modulations of galactic cosmic rays due to solar activity and transient events are observed. Temporal variations related with the activity of the heliosphere can be determined with high accuracy due to the high total count rates. In this study, the available data are presented together with an analysis focused on the observation of Forbush decreases, where a strong correlation with neutron monitor data is found.

  1. Bubbles, superbubbles and their impact on cosmic ray transport

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weinreuter, Matthias; Gebauer, Iris; Boer, Wim de; Neumann, Alexander [KIT, Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    The Fermi-LAT data on diffuse gamma rays show variations in the gamma ray intensity, which are linked to either variations in the gas density or variations in the cosmic ray density. Such small scale variations are not modeled in current state-of-the-art models for galactic cosmic ray propagation. Inhomogeneities in the interstellar material can be formed by cavities like the so-called Local Bubble, an underdense region surrounding our Sun, which was created by several supernova explosions in the past. We show that the Local Bubble can have a strong impact on the cosmic ray energy spectra and density. In particular, it enhances cosmic ray scattering in the surrounding molecular cloud complexes and can significantly distort the cosmic ray arrival directions. We briefly discuss the consequences for pulsar searches in energetic positrons and electrons. By making simple assumptions on the level of inhomogeneity in the interstellar medium we investigate if the observed variations in the diffuse gamma ray emission can indeed be explained by cavities similar to the Local Bubble.

  2. Cosmic-ray modulation: an ab initio approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Engelbrecht, N.E.; Burger, R.A., E-mail: 12580996@nwu.ac.za [Center for Space Research, North-West University, Potchefstroom (South Africa)

    2014-07-01

    A better understanding of cosmic-ray modulation in the heliosphere can only be gained through a proper understanding of the effects of turbulence on the diffusion and drift of cosmic rays. We present an ab initio model for cosmic-ray modulation, incorporating for the first time the results yielded by a two-component turbulence transport model. This model is solved for periods of minimum solar activity, utilizing boundary values chosen so that model results are in fair to good agreement with spacecraft observations of turbulence quantities, not only in the solar ecliptic plane but also along the out-of-ecliptic trajectory of the Ulysses spacecraft. These results are employed as inputs for modelled slab and 2D turbulence energy spectra. The latter spectrum is chosen based on physical considerations, with a drop-off at the very lowest wavenumbers commencing at the 2D outerscale. There currently exist no models or observations for this quantity, and it is the only free parameter in this study. The modelled turbulence spectra are used as inputs for parallel mean free path expressions based on those derived from quasi-linear theory and perpendicular mean free paths from extended nonlinear guiding center theory. Furthermore, the effects of turbulence on cosmic-ray drifts are modelled in a self-consistent way, employing a recently developed model for drift along the wavy current sheet. The resulting diffusion coefficients and drift expressions are applied to the study of galactic cosmic-ray protons and antiprotons using a three dimensional, steady-state cosmic-ray modulation code, and sample solutions in fair agreement with multiple spacecraft observations are presented. (author)

  3. Cosmic-ray modulation: an ab initio approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engelbrecht, N.E.; Burger, R.A.

    2014-01-01

    A better understanding of cosmic-ray modulation in the heliosphere can only be gained through a proper understanding of the effects of turbulence on the diffusion and drift of cosmic rays. We present an ab initio model for cosmic-ray modulation, incorporating for the first time the results yielded by a two-component turbulence transport model. This model is solved for periods of minimum solar activity, utilizing boundary values chosen so that model results are in fair to good agreement with spacecraft observations of turbulence quantities, not only in the solar ecliptic plane but also along the out-of-ecliptic trajectory of the Ulysses spacecraft. These results are employed as inputs for modelled slab and 2D turbulence energy spectra. The latter spectrum is chosen based on physical considerations, with a drop-off at the very lowest wavenumbers commencing at the 2D outerscale. There currently exist no models or observations for this quantity, and it is the only free parameter in this study. The modelled turbulence spectra are used as inputs for parallel mean free path expressions based on those derived from quasi-linear theory and perpendicular mean free paths from extended nonlinear guiding center theory. Furthermore, the effects of turbulence on cosmic-ray drifts are modelled in a self-consistent way, employing a recently developed model for drift along the wavy current sheet. The resulting diffusion coefficients and drift expressions are applied to the study of galactic cosmic-ray protons and antiprotons using a three dimensional, steady-state cosmic-ray modulation code, and sample solutions in fair agreement with multiple spacecraft observations are presented. (author)

  4. Muon and neutron observations in connection with the corotating interaction regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva, M. R.; Dal Lago, A.; Echer, E.; de Lucas, A.; Gonzalez, W. D.; Schuch, N. J.; Munakata, K.; Vieira, L. E. A.; Guarnieri, F. L.

    Ground cosmic ray observations are used for studying several kinds of interplanetary structures. The cosmic ray data has different responses to each kind of interplanetary structure. This article has as objective to study cosmic ray muon and neutron signatures due to the passage of corotating interaction region (CIR) in the interplanetary medium, and identify the signatures in the cosmic ray data due to these events. The cosmic ray muon data used in this work are recorded by the multidirectional muon detector installed at INPE’s Observatório Espacial do Sul OES/CRSPE/INPE-MCT, in São Martinho da Serra, RS (Brazil) and the neutron data was recorded by the neutron monitor installed in Newark (USA). The CIR events were selected in the period from 2001 to 2004. CIRs clearly affect cosmic ray density in the interplanetary medium in the Earth’s vicinity, where the magnetic field plays an important role.

  5. Radar detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Isaac J.

    TARA (Telescope Array Radar) is a cosmic ray radar detection experiment co-located with Telescope Array, the conventional surface scintillation detector (SD) and fluorescence telescope detector (FD) near Delta, UT. The TARA detector combines a 40 kW transmitter and high gain transmitting antenna which broadcasts the radar carrier over the SD array and in the FD field of view to a 250 MS/s DAQ receiver. Data collection began in August, 2013. TARA stands apart from other cosmic ray radar experiments in that radar data is directly compared with conventional cosmic ray detector events. The transmitter is also directly controlled by TARA researchers. Waveforms from the FD-triggered data stream are time-matched with TA events and searched for signal using a novel signal search technique in which the expected (simulated) radar echo of a particular air shower is used as a matched filter template and compared to radio waveforms. This technique is used to calculate the radar cross-section (RCS) upper-limit on all triggers that correspond to well-reconstructed TA FD monocular events. Our lowest cosmic ray RCS upper-limit is 42 cm2 for an 11 EeV event. An introduction to cosmic rays is presented with the evolution of detection and the necessity of new detection techniques, of which radar detection is a candidate. The software simulation of radar scattering from cosmic rays follows. The TARA detector, including transmitter and receiver systems, are discussed in detail. Our search algorithm and methodology for calculating RCS is presented for the purpose of being repeatable. Search results are explained in context of the usefulness and future of cosmic ray radar detection.

  6. Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays: Facts, Myths, and Legends

    CERN Document Server

    Anchordoqui, Luis Alfredo

    2013-06-27

    This is a written version of a series of lectures aimed at graduate students in astrophysics/particle theory/particle experiment. In the first part, we explain the important progress made in recent years towards understanding the experimental data on cosmic rays with energies > 10^8 GeV. We begin with a brief survey of the available data, including a description of the energy spectrum, mass composition, and arrival directions. At this point we also give a short overview of experimental techniques. After that, we introduce the fundamentals of acceleration and propagation in order to discuss the conjectured nearby cosmic ray sources, and emphasize some of the prospects for a new (multi-particle) astronomy. Next, we survey the state of the art regarding the ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos which should be produced in association with the observed cosmic rays. In the second part, we summarize the phenomenology of cosmic ray air showers. We explain the hadronic interaction models used to extrapolate results from ...

  7. Radiation Backgrounds at Cosmic Dawn: X-Rays from Compact Binaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madau, Piero; Fragos, Tassos

    2017-05-01

    We compute the expected X-ray diffuse background and radiative feedback on the intergalactic medium (IGM) from X-ray binaries prior to and during the epoch of reionization. The cosmic evolution of compact binaries is followed using a population synthesis technique that treats separately neutron stars and black hole binaries in different spectral states and is calibrated to reproduce the observed X-ray properties of galaxies at z ≲ 4. Together with an updated empirical determination of the cosmic history of star formation, recent modeling of the stellar mass-metallicity relation, and a scheme for absorption by the IGM that accounts for the presence of ionized H II bubbles during the epoch of reionization, our detailed calculations provide refined predictions of the X-ray volume emissivity and filtered radiation background from “normal” galaxies at z ≳ 6. Radiative transfer effects modulate the background spectrum, which shows a characteristic peak between 1 and 2 keV. Because of the energy dependence of photoabsorption, soft X-ray photons are produced by local sources, while more energetic radiation arrives unattenuated from larger cosmological volumes. While the filtering of X-ray radiation through the IGM slightly increases the mean excess energy per photoionization, it also weakens the radiation intensity below 1 keV, lowering the mean photoionization and heating rates. Numerical integration of the rate and energy equations shows that the contribution of X-ray binaries to the ionization of the bulk IGM is negligible, with the electron fraction never exceeding 1%. Direct He I photoionizations are the main source of IGM heating, and the temperature of the largely neutral medium in between H II cavities increases above the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) only at z ≲ 10, when the volume filling factor of H II bubbles is already ≳0.1. Therefore, in this scenario, it is only at relatively late epochs that neutral intergalactic hydrogen

  8. Radiation Backgrounds at Cosmic Dawn: X-Rays from Compact Binaries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Madau, Piero [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Fragos, Tassos [Geneva Observatory, University of Geneva, Chemin des Maillettes 51, 1290 Sauverny (Switzerland)

    2017-05-01

    We compute the expected X-ray diffuse background and radiative feedback on the intergalactic medium (IGM) from X-ray binaries prior to and during the epoch of reionization. The cosmic evolution of compact binaries is followed using a population synthesis technique that treats separately neutron stars and black hole binaries in different spectral states and is calibrated to reproduce the observed X-ray properties of galaxies at z ≲ 4. Together with an updated empirical determination of the cosmic history of star formation, recent modeling of the stellar mass–metallicity relation, and a scheme for absorption by the IGM that accounts for the presence of ionized H ii bubbles during the epoch of reionization, our detailed calculations provide refined predictions of the X-ray volume emissivity and filtered radiation background from “normal” galaxies at z ≳ 6. Radiative transfer effects modulate the background spectrum, which shows a characteristic peak between 1 and 2 keV. Because of the energy dependence of photoabsorption, soft X-ray photons are produced by local sources, while more energetic radiation arrives unattenuated from larger cosmological volumes. While the filtering of X-ray radiation through the IGM slightly increases the mean excess energy per photoionization, it also weakens the radiation intensity below 1 keV, lowering the mean photoionization and heating rates. Numerical integration of the rate and energy equations shows that the contribution of X-ray binaries to the ionization of the bulk IGM is negligible, with the electron fraction never exceeding 1%. Direct He i photoionizations are the main source of IGM heating, and the temperature of the largely neutral medium in between H ii cavities increases above the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) only at z ≲ 10, when the volume filling factor of H ii bubbles is already ≳0.1. Therefore, in this scenario, it is only at relatively late epochs that neutral intergalactic

  9. Cosmic Rays Astrophysics: The Discipline, Its Scope, and Its Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barghouty, A. F.

    2009-01-01

    This slide presentation gives an overview of the discipline surrounding cosmic ray astrophysics. It includes information on recent assertions surrounding cosmic rays, exposure levels, and a short history with specific information on the origin, acceleration, transport, and modulation of cosmic rays.

  10. Cosmic ray acceleration by large scale galactic shocks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cesarsky, C.J.; Lagage, P.O.

    1987-01-01

    The mechanism of diffusive shock acceleration may account for the existence of galactic cosmic rays detailed application to stellar wind shocks and especially to supernova shocks have been developed. Existing models can usually deal with the energetics or the spectral slope, but the observed energy range of cosmic rays is not explained. Therefore it seems worthwhile to examine the effect that large scale, long-lived galactic shocks may have on galactic cosmic rays, in the frame of the diffusive shock acceleration mechanism. Large scale fast shocks can only be expected to exist in the galactic halo. We consider three situations where they may arise: expansion of a supernova shock in the halo, galactic wind, galactic infall; and discuss the possible existence of these shocks and their role in accelerating cosmic rays

  11. Spectrometry of degraded neutrons with SSNTDs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gopalani, Deepak; Kumar, S.; Jodha, A.S.; Reddy, A.R.

    1993-01-01

    Considerable interest has grown during the last decade in the use of solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) for routine neutron monitoring and dosimetry work. In addition, using these detectors neutron spectrometry has also been undertaken by some investigators. In spectrometry the energy of neutrons was determined either from minor axis of proton tracks observed on the surface of detector or from the use of polyethylene radiators of selected thickness with varying etching time. Using this latter method in the present work fast neutron spectrometry is made. The method involves the measurement of etch induction time, thickness of removed critical layer for constant radiator thickness with varying etching time. Besides a computer programme has been developed for the calculation of neutron sensitivity at different critical removal layers. The degraded neutron spectra of 252 Cf with shield materials of different thickness but of same composition and shield materials of same thickness but of different compositions have been obtained. The study shows that SSNTD films can be used for recording the transmitted neutron spectra from different shield materials. This spectrometric capability added to the technique advantages of SSNTDs such as integrating nature and small size make them important for nuclear engineering applications. (author). 7 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  12. The basis for cosmic ray feedback: Written on the wind

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zweibel, Ellen G.

    2017-05-01

    Star formation and supermassive black hole growth in galaxies appear to be self-limiting. The mechanisms for self-regulation are known as feedback. Cosmic rays, the relativistic particle component of interstellar and intergalactic plasma, are among the agents of feedback. Because cosmic rays are virtually collisionless in the plasma environments of interest, their interaction with the ambient medium is primarily mediated by large scale magnetic fields and kinetic scale plasma waves. Because kinetic scales are much smaller than global scales, this interaction is most conveniently described by fluid models. In this paper, I discuss the kinetic theory and the classical theory of cosmic ray hydrodynamics (CCRH) which follows from assuming cosmic rays interact only with self-excited waves. I generalize CCRH to generalized cosmic ray hydrodynamics, which accommodates interactions with extrinsic turbulence, present examples of cosmic ray feedback, and assess where progress is needed.

  13. Isotopic Evidence for Multi-stage Cosmic-ray Exposure Histories of Lunar Meteorites: Long Residence on the Moon and Short Transition to the Earth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hidaka, Hiroshi; Sakuma, Keisuke [Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Nagoya University Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Nishiizumi, Kunihiko [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States); Yoneda, Shigekazu, E-mail: hidaka@eps.nagoya-u.ac.jp [Department of Science and Engineering, National Museum of Nature and Science Tsukuba 305-0005 (Japan)

    2017-06-01

    It is known that most lunar meteorites have complicated cosmic-ray exposure experiences on the Moon and in space. In this study, cosmic-ray irradiation histories of six lunar meteorites, Dhofar 489, Northwest Africa 032 (NWA 032), NWA 479, NWA 482, NWA 2995, and NWA 5000, were characterized from neutron-captured isotopic shifts of Sm and Gd, and from the abundances of long-lived cosmogenic radionuclides like {sup 10}Be, {sup 26}Al, {sup 36}Cl, and {sup 41}Ca. Sm and Gd isotopic data of all of six meteorites show significant isotopic shifts of {sup 149}Sm–{sup 150}Sm and {sup 157}Gd–{sup 158}Gd caused by accumulation of neutron capture reactions due to cosmic-ray irradiation, corresponding to the neutron fluences of (1.3–9.6) × 10{sup 16} n cm{sup −2}. In particular, very large Sm and Gd isotopic shifts of NWA 482 are over those of a lunar regolith 70002, having the largest isotopic shifts among the Apollo regolith samples, corresponding to cosmic-ray exposure duration over 800 million years in the lunar surface (2 π irradiation). Meanwhile, the concentrations of cosmogenic radionuclides for individual six meteorites show the short irradiation time less than one million years as their bodies in space (4 π irradiation). Our data also support the results of previous studies, revealing that most of lunar meteorites have long exposure ages at shallow depths on the Moon and short transit times from the Moon to the Earth.

  14. Maximum entropy analysis of cosmic ray composition

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Nosek, D.; Ebr, Jan; Vícha, Jakub; Trávníček, Petr; Nosková, J.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 76, Mar (2016), s. 9-18 ISSN 0927-6505 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : ultra-high energy cosmic rays * extensive air showers * cosmic ray composition Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 3.257, year: 2016

  15. Early history of cosmic rays at Chicago

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yodh, Gaurang B.

    2013-02-01

    Cosmic ray studies at the University of Chicago were started by Arthur Compton during the late 1920s. The high points of cosmic ray studies at Chicago under Compton and Marcel Schein are the focus of this report, which summarizes the research done at Chicago up to the end of World War II.

  16. The role of cosmic rays in the atmospheric processes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stozhkov, Y I [Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Leninsky Prospect, 53, Moscow (Russian Federation)

    2003-05-01

    The energy flux of galactic cosmic rays falling on the earth's atmosphere is small in comparison with solar electromagnetic irradiation (by 10{sup 8} times). But at altitudes of h {approx} 3 to 35 km in the atmosphere, cosmic rays are the only ionization source (from the ground level up to h {approx} 3 km, natural radioactivity is an additional source of ionization). Solar activity modulates cosmic ray flux. The cosmic rays produce atmospheric ions that define the electrical properties of the atmosphere. The electric charges play a very important role in the processes of cloud and thundercloud formation in the operation of the global electric circuit. The changes in electric properties of the atmosphere influence weather and climate. Thus, we have the following chain of the solar terrestrial relationship: solar activity - cosmic ray modulation - changes in the global electric properties of the atmosphere - changes in weather and climate. The following questions are discussed in this paper: light ion production in the atmosphere, role of electric charges in the formation of clouds and thunderclouds, experimental evidences of the relationships between cosmic ray flux and atmospheric current and lightning.

  17. The role of cosmic rays in the atmospheric processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stozhkov, Y I

    2003-01-01

    The energy flux of galactic cosmic rays falling on the earth's atmosphere is small in comparison with solar electromagnetic irradiation (by 10 8 times). But at altitudes of h ∼ 3 to 35 km in the atmosphere, cosmic rays are the only ionization source (from the ground level up to h ∼ 3 km, natural radioactivity is an additional source of ionization). Solar activity modulates cosmic ray flux. The cosmic rays produce atmospheric ions that define the electrical properties of the atmosphere. The electric charges play a very important role in the processes of cloud and thundercloud formation in the operation of the global electric circuit. The changes in electric properties of the atmosphere influence weather and climate. Thus, we have the following chain of the solar terrestrial relationship: solar activity - cosmic ray modulation - changes in the global electric properties of the atmosphere - changes in weather and climate. The following questions are discussed in this paper: light ion production in the atmosphere, role of electric charges in the formation of clouds and thunderclouds, experimental evidences of the relationships between cosmic ray flux and atmospheric current and lightning

  18. Cl36 and the age of the cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casse, M.; Goret, P.; Regnier, S.

    1975-01-01

    The radioactive isotope 36 Cl (tau=γx3.10 5 y) is used as a time reference for the propagation of cosmic rays. New measurements of the production cross section of 36 Cl in Ti and Fe at 24GeV will be presented. A critical analysis of the cross sections leads to an estimate of the ratio 36 Cl/Cl=0.030+0.007 in the arriving cosmic rays. The comparison between the expected abundance of Cl in the arriving cosmic rays and the observations tend to support the decay of 36 Cl. The inferred cosmic ray confinement time is about 10 6 y [fr

  19. Ship Effect Neutron Measurements And Impacts On Low-Background Experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aguayo Navarrete, Estanislao [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Kouzes, Richard T. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Siciliano, Edward R. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2013-10-01

    The primary particles entering the upper atmosphere as cosmic rays create showers in the atmosphere that include a broad spectrum of secondary neutrons, muons and protons. These cosmic-ray secondaries interact with materials at the surface of the Earth, yielding prompt backgrounds in radiation detection systems, as well as inducing long-lived activities through spallation events, dominated by the higher-energy neutron secondaries. For historical reasons, the multiple neutrons produced in spallation cascade events are referred to as “ship effect” neutrons. Quantifying the background from cosmic ray induced activities is important to low-background experiments, such as neutrino-less double beta decay. Since direct measurements of the effects of shielding on the cosmic-ray neutron spectrum are not available, Monte Carlo modeling is used to compute such effects. However, there are large uncertainties (orders of magnitude) in the possible cross-section libraries and the cosmic-ray neutron spectrum for the energy range needed in such calculations. The measurements reported here were initiated to validate results from Monte Carlo models through experimental measurements in order to provide some confidence in the model results. The results indicate that the models provide the correct trends of neutron production with increasing density, but there is substantial disagreement between the model and experimental results for the lower-density materials of Al, Fe and Cu.

  20. Cosmic radiation dose in aircraft - a neutron track etch detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vukovic, B.; Radolic, V.; Miklavcic, I.; Poje, M.; Varga, M. [Department of Physics, University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, P.O. Box 125, Gajev trg 6 (Croatia); Planinic, J. [Department of Physics, University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, P.O. Box 125, Gajev trg 6 (Croatia)], E-mail: planinic@ffos.hr

    2007-12-15

    Cosmic radiation bombards us at high altitude by ionizing particles. The radiation environment is a complex mixture of charged particles of solar and galactic origin, as well as of secondary particles produced in interaction of the galactic cosmic particles with the nuclei of atmosphere of the Earth. The radiation field at aircraft altitude consists of different types of particles, mainly photons, electrons, positrons and neutrons, with a large energy range. The non-neutron component of cosmic radiation dose aboard ATR 42 and A 320 aircrafts (flight level of 8 and 11 km, respectively) was measured with TLD-100 (LiF:Mg,Ti) detectors and the Mini 6100 semiconductor dosimeter. The estimated occupational effective dose for the aircraft crew (A 320) working 500 h per year was 1.64 mSv. Other experiments, or dose rate measurements with the neutron dosimeter, consisting of LR-115 track detector and boron foil BN-1 or 10B converter, were performed on five intercontinental flights. Comparison of the dose rates of the non-neutron component (low LET) and the neutron one (high LET) of the radiation field at the aircraft flight level showed that the neutron component carried about 50% of the total dose. The dose rate measurements on the flights from the Middle Europe to the South and Middle America, then to Korea and Japan, showed that the flights over or near the equator region carried less dose rate; this was in accordance with the known geomagnetic latitude effect.

  1. Cosmic radiation dose in aircraft - a neutron track etch detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vukovic, B.; Radolic, V.; Miklavcic, I.; Poje, M.; Varga, M.; Planinic, J.

    2007-01-01

    Cosmic radiation bombards us at high altitude by ionizing particles. The radiation environment is a complex mixture of charged particles of solar and galactic origin, as well as of secondary particles produced in interaction of the galactic cosmic particles with the nuclei of atmosphere of the Earth. The radiation field at aircraft altitude consists of different types of particles, mainly photons, electrons, positrons and neutrons, with a large energy range. The non-neutron component of cosmic radiation dose aboard ATR 42 and A 320 aircrafts (flight level of 8 and 11 km, respectively) was measured with TLD-100 (LiF:Mg,Ti) detectors and the Mini 6100 semiconductor dosimeter. The estimated occupational effective dose for the aircraft crew (A 320) working 500 h per year was 1.64 mSv. Other experiments, or dose rate measurements with the neutron dosimeter, consisting of LR-115 track detector and boron foil BN-1 or 10B converter, were performed on five intercontinental flights. Comparison of the dose rates of the non-neutron component (low LET) and the neutron one (high LET) of the radiation field at the aircraft flight level showed that the neutron component carried about 50% of the total dose. The dose rate measurements on the flights from the Middle Europe to the South and Middle America, then to Korea and Japan, showed that the flights over or near the equator region carried less dose rate; this was in accordance with the known geomagnetic latitude effect

  2. Does electromagnetic radiation accelerate galactic cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eichler, D.

    1977-01-01

    The 'reactor' theories of Tsytovich and collaborators (1973) of cosmic-ray acceleration by electromagnetic radiation are examined in the context of galactic cosmic rays. It is shown that any isotropic synchrotron or Compton reactors with reasonable astrophysical parameters can yield particles with a maximum relativistic factor of only about 10,000. If they are to produce particles with higher relativistic factors, the losses due to inverse Compton scattering of the electromagnetic radiation in them outweigh the acceleration, and this violates the assumptions of the theory. This is a critical restriction in the context of galactic cosmic rays, which have a power-law spectrum extending up to a relativistic factor of 1 million.

  3. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, Exploding Stars, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, David J.

    2010-01-01

    Since August, 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has been scanning the sky, producing a full-sky image every three hours. These cosmic gamma-rays come from extreme astrophysical phenomena, many related to exploding stars (supernovae) or what these explosions leave behind: supernova remnants, neutron stars, and black holes. This talk uses sample Fermi results, plus simple demonstrations, to illustrate the exotic properties of these endpoints of stellar evolution.

  4. The end of the galactic cosmic ray spectrum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor [Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)

    2007-03-15

    We discuss the region of transition between galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays. The exact shapes and compositions of these two components contains information about important parameters of powerful astrophysical sources and the conditions in extragalactic space as well as for the cosmological evolution of the sources of high energy cosmic rays. Several types of experimental data, including the exact shape of the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, their chemical composition and their anisotropy, and the fluxes of cosmogenic neutrinos have to be included in the solution of this problem.

  5. The Need for Direct High-Energy Cosmic-Ray Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Frank C.; Streitmatter, Robert

    2004-01-01

    Measuring the chemical composition of the cosmic rays in the energy region of greater than or equal to 10(exp 12)eV would be highly useful in settling several nagging questions concerning the propagation of cosmic rays in the galaxy. In particular an accurate measurement of secondary to primary ratios such as Boron to Carbon would gibe clear evidence as to whether the propagation of cosmic rays is determined by a diffusion coefficient that varies with the particle's energy as E(sup 0.5) or E(sup 0.3). This would go a long ways in helping us to understand the anistropy (or lack thereof) of the highest energy cosmic rays and the power requirements for producing those particles at approximately equal to 10(exp 18) eV which are believed to be highest energy particles produced in the Galaxy. This would be only one of the benefits of a mission such as ACCESS to perform direct particle measurements on very high energy cosmic rays.

  6. Pulsar Wind Nebulae and Cosmic Rays: A Bedtime Story

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weinstein, A.

    2014-11-15

    The role pulsar wind nebulae play in producing our locally observed cosmic ray spectrum remains murky, yet intriguing. Pulsar wind nebulae are born and evolve in conjunction with SNRs, which are favored sites of Galactic cosmic ray acceleration. As a result they frequently complicate interpretation of the gamma-ray emission seen from SNRs. However, pulsar wind nebulae may also contribute directly to the local cosmic ray spectrum, particularly the leptonic component. This paper reviews the current thinking on pulsar wind nebulae and their connection to cosmic ray production from an observational perspective. It also considers how both future technologies and new ways of analyzing existing data can help us to better address the relevant theoretical questions. A number of key points will be illustrated with recent results from the VHE (E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray observatory VERITAS.

  7. On neutron activation analysis with γγ coincidence spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeisler, Rolf; Danyal Turkoglu; Ibere Souza Ribeiro Junior; Shetty, M.G.

    2017-01-01

    A new γγ coincidence system has been set up at NIST. It is operated with a digital data finder supported by new software developed at NIST. The system is used to explore possible enhancements in instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and study applicability to neutron capture prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA). The performance of the system is tested with certified reference materials for efficiency calibration and quantitative performance. Comparisons of INAA results based on conventional gamma-ray spectrometry data with INAA results based on coincidence data obtained from the same samples show improvements in the counting uncertainties and demonstrates the quantitative accuracy of the new system. (author)

  8. Cosmic Ray Studies with IceCube

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Javier

    In this contribution we will give an overview of the cosmic ray studies conducted within the IceCube collaboration. The IceCube detector in the geographical south pole can be used to measure various characteristics of the extensive air showers induced by high energy cosmic rays. With IceTop, the surface component of the detector, we detect the electromagnetic and muon components of the air showers, while with the deep detector we detect the high energy muons. We have measured the energy spectrum of cosmic ray primaries in the range between 1.58PeV and 1.26 EeV. A combined analysis of the high energy muon bundles in the ice and the air shower footprint in IceTop provides a measure of primary composition. We will also discuss how the sensitivity to low energy muons in the air showers has the potential to produce additional measures of primary composition.

  9. Observation of superheavy primary cosmic ray nuclei with solid state track detectors and x-ray films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doke, Tadayoshi; Hayashi, Takayoshi; Ito, Kensai; Yanagimachi, Tomoki; Kobayashi, Shigeru.

    1977-01-01

    The measurements of energy spectra and the nuclear charge distribution of superheavy nuclei heavier than iron in primary cosmic ray can provide information on the origin, propagation and life time of the cosmic ray. Since incident particles are in the region of relativistic velocity (the low energy cosmic ray below the cutoff energy is forbidden from entering), the charges of cosmic ray nuclei can be determined without knowing the energy of particles. The balloon-borne solid state track detector and plastic and X-ray films were employed for the detection of superheavy cosmic ray, and the five events were detected with the cellulose nitrate film. The flux of superheavy nuclei is predicted from the present analysis. (Yoshimori, M.)

  10. Measurement of cosmic-ray reconstruction efficiencies in the MicroBooNE LArTPC using a small external cosmic-ray counter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; An, R.; Anthony, J.; Asaadi, J.; Auger, M.; Bagby, L.; Balasubramanian, S.; Baller, B.; Barnes, C.; Barr, G.; Bass, M.; Bay, F.; Bishai, M.; Blake, A.; Bolton, T.; Camilleri, L.; Caratelli, D.; Carls, B.; Castillo Fernandez, R.; Cavanna, F.; Chen, H.; Church, E.; Cianci, D.; Cohen, E.; Collin, G. H.; Conrad, J. M.; Convery, M.; Crespo-Anadón, J. I.; Del Tutto, M.; Devitt, D.; Dytman, S.; Eberly, B.; Ereditato, A.; Escudero Sanchez, L.; Esquivel, J.; Fadeeva, A. A.; Fleming, B. T.; Foreman, W.; Furmanski, A. P.; Garcia-Gamez, D.; Garvey, G. T.; Genty, V.; Goeldi, D.; Gollapinni, S.; Graf, N.; Gramellini, E.; Greenlee, H.; Grosso, R.; Guenette, R.; Hackenburg, A.; Hamilton, P.; Hen, O.; Hewes, J.; Hill, C.; Ho, J.; Horton-Smith, G.; Hourlier, A.; Huang, E.-C.; James, C.; de Vries, J. Jan; Jen, C.-M.; Jiang, L.; Johnson, R. A.; Joshi, J.; Jostlein, H.; Kaleko, D.; Kalousis, L. N.; Karagiorgi, G.; Ketchum, W.; Kirby, B.; Kirby, M.; Kobilarcik, T.; Kreslo, I.; Lange, G.; Laube, A.; Li, Y.; Lister, A.; Littlejohn, B. R.; Lockwitz, S.; Lorca, D.; Louis, W. C.; Luethi, M.; Lundberg, B.; Luo, X.; Marchionni, A.; Mariani, C.; Marshall, J.; Martinez Caicedo, D. A.; Meddage, V.; Miceli, T.; Mills, G. B.; Moon, J.; Mooney, M.; Moore, C. D.; Mousseau, J.; Murrells, R.; Naples, D.; Nienaber, P.; Nowak, J.; Palamara, O.; Paolone, V.; Papavassiliou, V.; Pate, S. F.; Pavlovic, Z.; Pelkey, R.; Piasetzky, E.; Porzio, D.; Pulliam, G.; Qian, X.; Raaf, J. L.; Rafique, A.; Rochester, L.; von Rohr, C. Rudolf; Russell, B.; Schmitz, D. W.; Schukraft, A.; Seligman, W.; Shaevitz, M. H.; Sinclair, J.; Smith, A.; Snider, E. L.; Soderberg, M.; Söldner-Rembold, S.; Soleti, S. R.; Spentzouris, P.; Spitz, J.; John, J. St.; Strauss, T.; Szelc, A. M.; Tagg, N.; Terao, K.; Thomson, M.; Toups, M.; Tsai, Y.-T.; Tufanli, S.; Usher, T.; Van De Pontseele, W.; Van de Water, R. G.; Viren, B.; Weber, M.; Wickremasinghe, D. A.; Wolbers, S.; Wongjirad, T.; Woodruff, K.; Yang, T.; Yates, L.; Zeller, G. P.; Zennamo, J.; Zhang, C.

    2017-12-01

    The MicroBooNE detector is a liquid argon time projection chamber at Fermilab designed to study short-baseline neutrino oscillations and neutrino-argon interaction cross-section. Due to its location near the surface, a good understanding of cosmic muons as a source of backgrounds is of fundamental importance for the experiment. We present a method of using an external 0.5 m (L) × 0.5 m (W) muon counter stack, installed above the main detector, to determine the cosmic-ray reconstruction efficiency in MicroBooNE. Data are acquired with this external muon counter stack placed in three different positions, corresponding to cosmic rays intersecting different parts of the detector. The data reconstruction efficiency of tracks in the detector is found to be epsilondata=(97.1±0.1 (stat) ± 1.4 (sys))%, in good agreement with the Monte Carlo reconstruction efficiency epsilonMC = (97.4±0.1)%. This analysis represents a small-scale demonstration of the method that can be used with future data coming from a recently installed cosmic-ray tagger system, which will be able to tag ≈80% of the cosmic rays passing through the MicroBooNE detector.

  11. CAN ULTRAHIGH-ENERGY COSMIC RAYS COME FROM GAMMA-RAY BURSTS? COSMIC RAYS BELOW THE ANKLE AND GALACTIC GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eichler, David; Pohl, Martin

    2011-01-01

    The maximum cosmic-ray energy achievable by acceleration by a relativistic blast wave is derived. It is shown that forward shocks from long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the interstellar medium accelerate protons to large enough energies, and have a sufficient energy budget, to produce the Galactic cosmic-ray component just below the ankle at 4 x 10 18 eV, as per an earlier suggestion. It is further argued that, were extragalactic long GRBs responsible for the component above the ankle as well, the occasional Galactic GRB within the solar circle would contribute more than the observational limits on the outward flux from the solar circle, unless an avoidance scenario, such as intermittency and/or beaming, allows the present-day local flux to be less than 10 -3 of the average. Difficulties with these avoidance scenarios are noted.

  12. Balloon test project: Cosmic Ray Antimatter Calorimeter (CRAC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christy, J. C.; Dhenain, G.; Goret, P.; Jorand, J.; Masse, P.; Mestreau, P.; Petrou, N.; Robin, A.

    1984-01-01

    Cosmic ray observations from balloon flights are discussed. The cosmic ray antimatter calorimeter (CRAC) experiment attempts to measure the flux of antimatter in the 200-600 Mev/m energy range and the isotopes of light elements between 600 and 1,000 Mev/m.

  13. Cosmic ray acceleration mechanisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cesarsky, C.J.

    1982-09-01

    We present a brief summary of some of the most popular theories of cosmic ray acceleration: Fermi acceleration, its application to acceleration by shocks in a scattering medium, and impulsive acceleration by relativistic shocks

  14. Propagation of cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Putze, Antje

    2006-06-01

    Cosmic rays are composed of charged particles, which arrive after a long travel through the Galaxy on Earth. Supernova explosions are considered to be galactic sources, which accelerate these particles up to energies around 10 18 eV. Beyond this energy, one supposes that the extragalactic sources, like active galaxy nuclei (AGN), gamma ray bursts or pulsars, are the origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays. The spectral index of the elemental energy distributions of cosmic rays reflects the dynamic of its propagation, particularly the conjugation of the effects connected to the cosmic ray source spectrum and those connected to its propagation (acceleration, absorption and escape). The evolution of the spectral index with the cosmic-ray particle energy constitutes a sensitive test of the components, which determine this evolution. The precise index measurement of individual elemental spectra of the cosmic rays by AMS up to TeV and by the experiment CREAM beyond it, from TeV to PeV, will permit to proceed in this problematic. One of the difficulties on this measurement is to take well into account the systematic errors. During the data analysis we have to take into account in particular the interaction (diffusion and fragmentation) of the ions while their travel through the Earth's atmosphere. The study of the interaction and the fragmentation of these ions in the atmosphere is hence indispensable and described in this work. The study is based on a matrix calculation, which had been successfully implemented and tested and which has permitted to analyse the effects, caused by the experimental uncertainties on the cross sections, on the spectral index measurement. (author)

  15. Study of Ne and Kr production in Mg, Al, Rb, Sr and Y targets by 0-180 MeV neutrons. Cosmochemical application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertin, P.

    1989-07-01

    High sensitivity mass spectrometry technique has been used to measure production of noble gases Ne and Kr induced by 0-180 MeV neutrons in Mg, Al, Rb, Sr and Y targets. This experiment allowed us an evaluation of the implied excitation functions, in an energy range where no experimental data were available. These results have exhibited the importance of secondary neutrons induced in the interaction of cosmic rays with meteorites and moon surface [fr

  16. Temperature Effect in Secondary Cosmic Rays (MUONS) Observed at the Ground: Analysis of the Global MUON Detector Network Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Mendonça, R. R. S.; Braga, C. R.; Echer, E.; Dal Lago, A.; Munakata, K.; Kuwabara, T.; Kozai, M.; Kato, C.; Rockenbach, M.; Schuch, N. J.; Jassar, H. K. Al; Sharma, M. M.; Tokumaru, M.; Duldig, M. L.; Humble, J. E.; Evenson, P.; Sabbah, I.

    2016-10-01

    The analysis of cosmic ray intensity variation seen by muon detectors at Earth's surface can help us to understand astrophysical, solar, interplanetary and geomagnetic phenomena. However, before comparing cosmic ray intensity variations with extraterrestrial phenomena, it is necessary to take into account atmospheric effects such as the temperature effect. In this work, we analyzed this effect on the Global Muon Detector Network (GMDN), which is composed of four ground-based detectors, two in the northern hemisphere and two in the southern hemisphere. In general, we found a higher temperature influence on detectors located in the northern hemisphere. Besides that, we noticed that the seasonal temperature variation observed at the ground and at the altitude of maximum muon production are in antiphase for all GMDN locations (low-latitude regions). In this way, contrary to what is expected in high-latitude regions, the ground muon intensity decrease occurring during summertime would be related to both parts of the temperature effect (the negative and the positive). We analyzed several methods to describe the temperature effect on cosmic ray intensity. We found that the mass weighted method is the one that best reproduces the seasonal cosmic ray variation observed by the GMDN detectors and allows the highest correlation with long-term variation of the cosmic ray intensity seen by neutron monitors.

  17. Development of cosmic-ray radiography with nuclear emulsion and its applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morishima, Kunihiro

    2017-01-01

    We are developing cosmic-ray radiography with nuclear emulsion. Cosmic-ray radiography is non-destructive inspection technology to take image of inner structure of gigantic objects (nuclear reactor, pyramids, volcanoes and so on). We conducted cosmic-ray radiography of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant from 2014 to 2015 and are conducting cosmic-ray radiography of Pyramids at Egypt from 2015. In this paper, technical details and latest results are presented. (author)

  18. The Energetic Trans-Iron Cosmic-ray Experiment (ENTICE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Binns, W. R.; Adams. J. H.; Barghouty, A. F.; Christian, E. R.; Cummings, A. C.; Hams, T.; Israel, M. H.; Labrador, A. W.; Leske, R. A.; Link, J. T.; hide

    2009-01-01

    The ENTICE experiment is one of two instruments that comprise the "Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer in Space (OASIS)", which is presently undergoing a NASA "Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Study". ENTICE is designed to make high precision measurements of the abundances of individual elements from neon through the actinides and, in addition, will search for possible superheavy nuclei in the galactic cosmic rays. The ENTICE instrument utilizes silicon detectors, aerogel and acrylic Cherenkov counters, and a scintillating optical fiber hodoscope to measure the charge and energy of these ultra-heavy nuclei for energies greater than 0.5 GeV/nucleon. It is a large instrument consisting of four modules with a total effective geometrical factor of approx.20 sq m sr. Measurements made in space for a period of three years with ENTICE will enable us to determine if cosmic rays include a component of recently synthesized transuranic elements (Pu-94 and Cm-96), to measure the age of that component, and to test the model of the OB association origin of galactic cosmic rays. Additionally, these observations will enable us to study how diffusive shock acceleration of cosmic rays operates differently on interstellar grains and gas. Keywords: cosmic rays Galaxy:abundances

  19. Ultra high energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watson, A.A.

    1986-01-01

    Cosmic radiation was discovered 70 years ago but its origin remains an open question. The background to this problem is outlined and attempts to discover the origin of the most energetic and rarest group above 10 15 eV are described. Measurements of the energy spectrum and arrival direction pattern of the very highest energy particles, mean energy about 6 x 10 19 eV, are used to argue that these particles originate outside our galaxy. Recent evidence from the new field of ultra high energy γ-ray astronomy are discussed in the context of a galactic origin hypothesis for lower energy cosmic rays. (author)

  20. Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays: facts, myths and legends

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anchordoqui, L.A.

    2011-01-01

    This is a written version of a series of lectures aimed at graduate students in astrophysics and theoretical/experimental particle physics. In the first part, we explain the important progress made in recent years towards understanding the experimental data on cosmic rays with energies > or approx. 10 8 GeV. We begin with a brief survey of the available data, including a description of the energy spectrum, mass composition and arrival directions. At this point we also give a short overview of experimental techniques. After that, we introduce the fundamentals of acceleration and propagation in order to discuss the conjectured nearby cosmic-ray sources, and emphasize some of the prospects for a new (multiparticle) astronomy. Next, we survey the state of the art regarding the ultrahigh-energy cosmic neutrinos that should be produced in association with the observed cosmic rays. In the second part, we summarize the phenomenology of cosmic-ray air showers. We explain the hadronic interaction models used to extrapolate results from collider data to ultrahigh energies, and describe the prospects for insights into forward physics at the Large Hadron Collider. We also explain the main electromagnetic processes that govern the longitudinal shower evolution. Armed with these two principal shower ingredients and motivation from the underlying physics, we describe the different methods proposed to distinguish primary species. In the last part, we outline how ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray interactions can be used to probe new physics beyond the electroweak scale. (author)

  1. Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays from nearby starburst galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attallah, Reda; Bouchachi, Dallel

    2018-04-01

    Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are the most energetic of any subatomic particles ever observed in nature. The quest for their mysterious origin is currently a major scientific challenge. Here we explore the possibility that these particles originate from nearby starburst galaxies, a scenario that matches the recent observation by the Telescope Array experiment of a cosmic-ray hotspot above 57 EeV not far from the direction of the starburst galaxy M82. Specifically, we study the stochastic propagation in space of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays through the state-of-the-art simulation framework CRPropa 3, taking into account all relevant particle interactions as well as deflections by the intervening magnetic fields. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of this model, we consider the energy spectrum, the cosmogenic neutrinos and gamma rays, and the distribution of arrival directions. The starburst galaxy scenario reproduces well observations from both the Telescope Array and Pierre Auger Observatories, making it very attractive for explaining the origin of cosmic rays at the highest energies.

  2. Interaction of clouds with the hot interstellar medium (HIM) and cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voelk, H.J.

    1983-01-01

    The modification, by cosmic rays, of the interaction of interstellar clouds with the ambient HIM is considered. Small clouds should still evaporate and thereby exclude cosmic rays if they do so without cosmic rays. The possible mass accretion of massice clouds is reduced by the pressure of the compressed cosmic rays. The consequences for diffuse galactic #betta#-ray emisison are discussed. (orig.)

  3. Modulation of Cosmic Ray Precipitation Related to Climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feynman, J.; Ruzmaikin, A.

    1998-01-01

    High energy cosmic rays may influence the formation of clouds, and thus can have an impact on weather and climate. Cosmic rays in the solar wind are incident on the magnetosphere boundary and are then transmitted through the magnetosphere and atmosphere to reach the upper troposphere.

  4. Cosmic Ray Results from the CosmoALEPH Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Grupen, C; Jost, B; Maciuc, F; Luitz, S; Mailov, A; Müller, A S; Putzer, A; Rensch, B; Sander, H G; Schmeling, S; Schmelling, M; Tcaciuc, R; Wachsmuth, H; Ziegler, T; Zuber, K

    2008-01-01

    CosmoALEPH is an experiment operated in conjunction with the ALEPH detector. The ALEPH experiment took data from 1989 until the year 2000 at the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP) at CERN. It provides, among others, high resolution tracking and calorimetry. CosmoALEPH used this e+e− detector for cosmic ray studies. In addition, six scintillator telescopes were installed in the ALEPH pit and the LEP tunnel. The whole experiment operated underground at a vertical depth of 320 meter water equivalent. Data from ALEPH and the scintillator telescopes provide informaton on the lateral distribution of energetic cosmic ray muons in extensive air showers. The decoherence curve of these remnant air shower muons is sensitive to the chemical composition of primary cosmic rays and to the interaction characteristics of energetic hadrons in the atmosphere. An attempt is made to extract the various interdependencies in describing the propagation of primary and secondary cosmic rays through the atmosphere and the rock ov...

  5. Solar tri-diurnal variation of cosmic rays in a wide range of rigidity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mori, S.; Ueno, H.; Fujii, Z.; Morishita, I.; Nagashima, K.

    1985-01-01

    Solar tri-diurnal variations of cosmic rays have been analyzed in a wide range of rigidity, using data from neutron monitors, and the surface and underground muon telescopes for the period 1978-1983. The rigidity spectrum of the anisotropy in space is assumed to be of power-exponential type as (P/gamma P sub o) to the gamma exp (gamma-P/P sub o). By means of the best-fit method between the observed and the expected variations, it is obtained that the spectrum has a peak at P (=gamma P sub o) approx = 90 GV, where gamma=approx 3.0 and P sub o approx. 30 GV. The phase in space of the tri-diurnal variation is also obtained as 7.0 hr (15 hr and 23 hr LT), which is quite different from that of approx. 1 hr. arising from the axisymmetric distribution of cosmic rays with respect to the IMF.

  6. Measurements of the isotopic composition of galactic cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herrstroem, N.Y.

    1985-01-01

    The galactic cosmic-ray boron and carbon isotopic composition has been measured. The boron measurement is the first ever made in nuclear emulsion. The carbon measurement has substantially improved the statistical assuracy in the determination of the 13 C abundance as compared to an earlier measurement using the same technique. Mass-spectra of cosmic-ray carbon and oxygen in different zenith angle intervals have been compared with calculated spectra. The method makes it possible to study experimentally the atmospheric influence on the primary cosmic-ray isotopic composition. Photometric measurements on fragments from oxygen-induced interactions in nuclear emulsion have been made. Accurate charge assignments have been made on all heavy fragments which has made it possible to study the interaction exclusively event-by-event. Measurements on the isotopic composition of primary cosmic-ray neom have been made. The data are from the Danish-French instrument on the HEAO-3 satellite. The rigidity dependent filtering of the cosmic rays by the Earth's magnetic field has been used. The energy dependence of the 22 Ne/ 20 Ne-ratio and its astrophysical implications are discussed. (Author)

  7. Cosmic Ray Origin: Lessons from Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays and the Galactic/Extragalactic Transition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parizot, Etienne

    2014-11-15

    We examine the question of the origin of the Galactic cosmic-rays (GCRs) in the light of the data available at the highest energy end of the spectrum. We argue that the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory and of the KASCADE-Grande experiment suggest that the transition between the Galactic and the extragalactic components takes place at the energy of the ankle in the all-particle cosmic-ray spectrum, and at an energy of the order of 10{sup 17} eV for protons. Such a high energy for Galactic protons appears difficult to reconcile with the general view that GCRs are accelerated by the standard diffusive shock acceleration process at the forward shock of individual supernova remnants (SNRs). We also review various difficulties of the standard SNR-GCR connection, related to the evolution of the light element abundances and to significant isotopic anomalies. We point out that most of the power injected by the supernovæ in the Galaxy is actually released inside superbubbles, which may thus play an important role in the origin of cosmic-rays, and could solve some persistent problems of the standard SNR-GCR scenario in a rather natural way.

  8. Cosmic ray electrons and protons, and their antiparticles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boezio, Mirko

    2014-01-01

    Cosmic rays are a sample of solar, galactic, and extragalactic matter. Their origin, acceleration mechanisms, and subsequent propagation toward Earth have intrigued scientists since their discovery. These issues can be studied via analysis of the energy spectra and composition of cosmic rays. Protons are the most abundant component of the cosmic radiation, and many experiments have been dedicated to the accurate measurement of their spectra. Complementary information is provided by electrons, which comprise about 1% of the cosmic radiation. Because of their low mass, electrons experience severe energy losses through synchrotron emission in the galactic magnetic field and inverse Compton scattering of radiation fields. Electrons therefore provide information on the local galactic environment that is not accessible from the study of the cosmic ray nuclei. Antiparticles, namely antiprotons and positrons, are produced in the interaction between cosmic ray nuclei and the interstellar matter. They are therefore intimately linked to the propagation mechanisms of the parent nuclei. Novel sources of primary cosmic ray antiparticles of either astrophysical (e.g., positrons from pulsars) or exotic origin (e.g., annihilation of dark matter particles) may exist. The nature of dark matter is one of the most prominent open questions in science today. An observation of positrons from pulsars would open a new observation window on these sources. Several experiments equipped with state-of-the art detector systems have recently presented results on the energy spectra of electrons, protons, and their antiparticles with a significant improvement in statistics and better control of systematics The status of the field will be reviewed, with a focus on these recent scientific results. (author)

  9. Cosmic Ray Modulation and Radiation Dose of Aircrews During Possible Grand Minimum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyake, S.; Kataoka, R.; Sato, T.; Imada, S.; Miyahara, H.; Shiota, D.; Matsumoto, T.; Ueno, H.

    2017-12-01

    The Sun is exhibiting low solar activity levels since the descending phase of the last solar cycle, and it is likely to be continued as well as in the case of the past grand solar minima. The cosmic-ray modulation, which is the variation of the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) spectrum caused by the heliospheric environmental change, is basically anti-correlated with the solar activity. In the recent weak solar cycle, we thus expect that the flux of GCRs is getting higher than that in the previous solar cycles, leading to the increase in the radiation exposure in the space and atmosphere. In order to quantitatively evaluate the possible solar modulation of GCRs and resultant radiation exposure at flight altitude, we have developed the time-dependent and three-dimensional model of the cosmic-ray modulation. Our model can give the flux of GCRs anywhere in the heliosphere by assuming the variation of the solar wind speed, the strength of the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF), and its tilt angle. We solve the gradient-curvature drift motion of GCRs in the HMF, and therefore reproduce the 22-year variation of the cosmic-ray modulation. We also calculate the neutron monitor counting rate and the radiation dose of aircrews at flight altitude, by the air-shower simulation performed by PHITS (Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System). In our previous study [1], we calculated the radiation dose at a flight altitude during the coming solar cycle by assuming the variation of the solar wind speed and the strength of the HMF expressed by sinusoidal curve, and obtained that an annual radiation dose of aircrews in 5 years around the next solar minimum will be up to 19% higher than that at the last cycle. In this study, we predict the new model of the heliospheric environmental change on the basis of a prediction model for the sunspot number. The quantitative predictions of the cosmic-ray modulation and the radiation dose at a flight altitude during possible Grand Minimum considering

  10. COSMIC-RAY AND X-RAY HEATING OF INTERSTELLAR CLOUDS AND PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glassgold, Alfred E.; Galli, Daniele; Padovani, Marco

    2012-01-01

    Cosmic-ray and X-ray heating are derived from the electron energy-loss calculations of Dalgarno, Yan, and Liu for hydrogen-helium gas mixtures. These authors treated the heating from elastic scattering and collisional de-excitation of rotationally excited hydrogen molecules. Here we consider the heating that can arise from all ionization and excitation processes, with particular emphasis on the reactions of cosmic-ray and X-ray generated ions with the heavy neutral species, which we refer to as chemical heating. In molecular regions, chemical heating dominates and can account for 50% of the energy expended in the creation of an ion pair. The heating per ion pair ranges in the limit of negligible electron fraction from ∼4.3 eV for diffuse atomic gas to ∼13 eV for the moderately dense regions of molecular clouds and to ∼18 eV for the very dense regions of protoplanetary disks. An important general conclusion of this study is that cosmic-ray and X-ray heating depends on the physical properties of the medium, i.e., on the molecular and electron fractions, the total density of hydrogen nuclei, and, to a lesser extent, on the temperature. It is also noted that chemical heating, the dominant process for cosmic-ray and X-ray heating, plays a role in UV irradiated molecular gas.

  11. Measurements of the dose due to cosmic rays in aircraft

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vukovic, B.; Lisjak, I.; Radolic, V.; Vekic, B.; Planinic, J.

    2006-01-01

    When the primary particles from space, mainly protons, enter the atmosphere, they produce interactions with air nuclei, and cosmic-ray showers are induced. The radiation field at aircraft altitude is complex, with different types of particles, mainly photons, electrons, positrons and neutrons, with a large energy range. The cosmic radiation dose aboard A320 and ATR 42 aircraft was measured with TLD-100 (LiF:Mg,Ti) detectors and the Mini 6100 semiconductor dosimeter; radon concentration in the atmosphere was measured with the Alpha Guard radon detector. The estimated occupational effective dose for the aircraft crew (A320) working 500 h per year was 1.64 mSv. Another experiment was performed by the flights Zagreb-Paris-Buenos Aires and reversely, when one measured cosmic radiation dose; for 26.7 h of flight, the TLD dosimeter registered the total dose of 75 μSv and the average dose rate was 2.7 μSv/h. In the same month, February 2005, a traveling to Japan (24 h flight: Zagreb-Frankfurt-Tokyo and reversely) and the TLD-100 measurement showed the average dose rate of 2.4 μSv/h

  12. Measurements of the dose due to cosmic rays in aircraft

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vukovic, B. [Department of Physics, University of Osijek, Osijek, P.O. Box 125 (Croatia); Lisjak, I. [Croatia Airlines, Zagreb (Croatia); Radolic, V. [Department of Physics, University of Osijek, Osijek, P.O. Box 125 (Croatia); Vekic, B. [Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb (Croatia); Planinic, J. [Department of Physics, University of Osijek, Osijek, P.O. Box 125 (Croatia)]. E-mail: planinic@ffos.hr

    2006-06-15

    When the primary particles from space, mainly protons, enter the atmosphere, they produce interactions with air nuclei, and cosmic-ray showers are induced. The radiation field at aircraft altitude is complex, with different types of particles, mainly photons, electrons, positrons and neutrons, with a large energy range. The cosmic radiation dose aboard A320 and ATR 42 aircraft was measured with TLD-100 (LiF:Mg,Ti) detectors and the Mini 6100 semiconductor dosimeter; radon concentration in the atmosphere was measured with the Alpha Guard radon detector. The estimated occupational effective dose for the aircraft crew (A320) working 500 h per year was 1.64 mSv. Another experiment was performed by the flights Zagreb-Paris-Buenos Aires and reversely, when one measured cosmic radiation dose; for 26.7 h of flight, the TLD dosimeter registered the total dose of 75 {mu}Sv and the average dose rate was 2.7 {mu}Sv/h. In the same month, February 2005, a traveling to Japan (24 h flight: Zagreb-Frankfurt-Tokyo and reversely) and the TLD-100 measurement showed the average dose rate of 2.4 {mu}Sv/h.

  13. A strategy to unveil transient sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takami Hajime

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Transient generation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs has been motivated from promising candidates of UHECR sources such as gamma-ray bursts, flares of active galactic nuclei, and newly born neutron stars and magnetars. Here we propose a strategy to unveil transient sources of UHECRs from UHECR experiments. We demonstrate that the rate of UHECR bursts and/or flares is related to the apparent number density of UHECR sources, which is the number density estimated on the assumption of steady sources, and the time-profile spread of the bursts produced by cosmic magnetic fields. The apparent number density strongly depends on UHECR energies under a given rate of the bursts, which becomes observational evidence of transient sources. It is saturated at the number density of host galaxies of UHECR sources. We also derive constraints on the UHECR burst rate and/or energy budget of UHECRs per source as a function of the apparent source number density by using models of cosmic magnetic fields. In order to obtain a precise constraint of the UHECR burst rate, high event statistics above ∼ 1020 eV for evaluating the apparent source number density at the highest energies and better knowledge on cosmic magnetic fields by future observations and/or simulations to better estimate the time-profile spread of UHECR bursts are required. The estimated rate allows us to constrain transient UHECR sources by being compared with the occurrence rates of known energetic transient phenomena.

  14. Cosmic-ray acceleration and the radio evolution of Cassiopeia A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chevalier, R.A.; Robertson, J.W.; Scott, J.S.

    1976-01-01

    A more detailed analysis of the Scott and Chevalier model for production of galactic cosmic rays in supernova remnants is presented. Particles are accelerated by second-order Fermi acceleration with turbulent vortices (produced by the motions of the supernova ejecta through the remnant) acting as moving scattering centers. The time-dependent equation of continuity in particle energy space is solved numerically. The results of the calculations are in substantial agreement with all time-dependent observations of the radio emission from Cas A. This mechanism implies an dependent solution yields a cosmic ray spectrum with the same slope as galactic cosmic rays. The results of our calculations and new work on γ-rays by, e.g., Stecker and by Lingenfelter and Higdon and cosmic ray composition by, e.g., Hainebach, Norman, and Schramm support our hypothesis that galactic cosmic rays are produced in supernova remnants by the mechanism proposed by Scott and Chevalier

  15. Cosmic Rays in Magnetospheres of the Earth and other Planets

    CERN Document Server

    Dorman, Lev

    2009-01-01

    This monograph describes the behaviour of cosmic rays in the magnetosphere of the Earth and of some other planets. Recently this has become an important topic both theoretically, because it is closely connected with the physics of the Earth’s magnetosphere, and practically, since cosmic rays determine a significant part of space weather effects on satellites and aircraft. The book contains eight chapters, dealing with – The history of the discovery of geomagnetic effects caused by cosmic rays and their importance for the determination of the nature of cosmic rays or gamma rays – The first explanations of geomagnetic effects within the framework of the dipole approximation of the Earth’s magnetic field – Trajectory computations of cutoff rigidities, transmittance functions, asymptotic directions, and acceptance cones in the real geomagnetic field taking into account higher harmonics – Cosmic ray latitude-longitude surveys on ships, trains, tracks, planes, balloons and satellites for determining the...

  16. Measurement of cosmic-ray reconstruction efficiencies in the MicroBooNE LArTPC using a small external cosmic-ray counter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Acciarri, R.; et al.

    2017-07-31

    The MicroBooNE detector is a liquid argon time projection chamber at Fermilab designed to study short-baseline neutrino oscillations and neutrino-argon interaction cross-section. Due to its location near the surface, a good understanding of cosmic muons as a source of backgrounds is of fundamental importance for the experiment. We present a method of using an external 0.5 m (L) x 0.5 m (W) muon counter stack, installed above the main detector, to determine the cosmic-ray reconstruction efficiency in MicroBooNE. Data are acquired with this external muon counter stack placed in three different positions, corresponding to cosmic rays intersecting different parts of the detector. The data reconstruction efficiency of tracks in the detector is found to be $\\epsilon_{\\mathrm{data}}=(97.1\\pm0.1~(\\mathrm{stat}) \\pm 1.4~(\\mathrm{sys}))\\%$, in good agreement with the Monte Carlo reconstruction efficiency $\\epsilon_{\\mathrm{MC}} = (97.4\\pm0.1)\\%$. This analysis represents a small-scale demonstration of the method that can be used with future data coming from a recently installed cosmic-ray tagger system, which will be able to tag $\\approx80\\%$ of the cosmic rays passing through the MicroBooNE detector.

  17. Cosmic veto gamma-spectrometry for Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burnett, J.L.; Davies, A.V.

    2014-01-01

    The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is supported by a global network of monitoring stations that perform high-resolution gamma-spectrometry on air filter samples for the identification of 85 radionuclides. At the UK CTBT Radionuclide Laboratory (GBL15), a novel cosmic veto gamma-spectrometer has been developed to improve the sensitivity of station measurements, providing a mean background reduction of 80.8% with mean MDA improvements of 45.6%. The CTBT laboratory requirement for a 140 Ba MDA is achievable after 1.5 days counting compared to 5–7 days using conventional systems. The system consists of plastic scintillation plates that detect coincident cosmic-ray interactions within an HPGe gamma-spectrometer using the Canberra Lynx TM multi-channel analyser. The detector is remotely configurable using a TCP/IP interface and requires no dedicated coincidence electronics. It would be especially useful in preventing false-positives at remote station locations (e.g. Halley, Antarctica) where sample transfer to certified laboratories is logistically difficult. The improved sensitivity has been demonstrated for a CTBT air filter sample collected after the Fukushima incident

  18. Cosmic veto gamma-spectrometry for Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty samples

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnett, J. L.; Davies, A. V.

    2014-05-01

    The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is supported by a global network of monitoring stations that perform high-resolution gamma-spectrometry on air filter samples for the identification of 85 radionuclides. At the UK CTBT Radionuclide Laboratory (GBL15), a novel cosmic veto gamma-spectrometer has been developed to improve the sensitivity of station measurements, providing a mean background reduction of 80.8% with mean MDA improvements of 45.6%. The CTBT laboratory requirement for a 140Ba MDA is achievable after 1.5 days counting compared to 5-7 days using conventional systems. The system consists of plastic scintillation plates that detect coincident cosmic-ray interactions within an HPGe gamma-spectrometer using the Canberra LynxTM multi-channel analyser. The detector is remotely configurable using a TCP/IP interface and requires no dedicated coincidence electronics. It would be especially useful in preventing false-positives at remote station locations (e.g. Halley, Antarctica) where sample transfer to certified laboratories is logistically difficult. The improved sensitivity has been demonstrated for a CTBT air filter sample collected after the Fukushima incident.

  19. Cosmic veto gamma-spectrometry for Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty samples

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burnett, J.L., E-mail: jonathan.burnett@awe.co.uk; Davies, A.V.

    2014-05-21

    The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is supported by a global network of monitoring stations that perform high-resolution gamma-spectrometry on air filter samples for the identification of 85 radionuclides. At the UK CTBT Radionuclide Laboratory (GBL15), a novel cosmic veto gamma-spectrometer has been developed to improve the sensitivity of station measurements, providing a mean background reduction of 80.8% with mean MDA improvements of 45.6%. The CTBT laboratory requirement for a {sup 140}Ba MDA is achievable after 1.5 days counting compared to 5–7 days using conventional systems. The system consists of plastic scintillation plates that detect coincident cosmic-ray interactions within an HPGe gamma-spectrometer using the Canberra Lynx{sup TM} multi-channel analyser. The detector is remotely configurable using a TCP/IP interface and requires no dedicated coincidence electronics. It would be especially useful in preventing false-positives at remote station locations (e.g. Halley, Antarctica) where sample transfer to certified laboratories is logistically difficult. The improved sensitivity has been demonstrated for a CTBT air filter sample collected after the Fukushima incident.

  20. Constraining heavy dark matter with cosmic-ray antiprotons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuoco, Alessandro; Heisig, Jan; Korsmeier, Michael; Krämer, Michael

    2018-04-01

    Cosmic-ray observations provide a powerful probe of dark matter annihilation in the Galaxy. In this paper we derive constraints on heavy dark matter from the recent precise AMS-02 antiproton data. We consider all possible annihilation channels into pairs of standard model particles. Furthermore, we interpret our results in the context of minimal dark matter, including higgsino, wino and quintuplet dark matter. We compare the cosmic-ray antiproton limits to limits from γ-ray observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and to limits from γ-ray and γ-line observations towards the Galactic center. While the latter limits are highly dependent on the dark matter density distribution and only exclude a thermal wino for cuspy profiles, the cosmic-ray limits are more robust, strongly disfavoring the thermal wino dark matter scenario even for a conservative estimate of systematic uncertainties.

  1. Quasars as Sources of Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic Rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glushkov, A.V.

    2005-01-01

    The results are presented that were obtained by analyzing arrival directions for cosmic rays that the Yakutsk array for studying extensive air showers recorded between 1974 and 2002 in the energy region E 0 ≥5x10 17 eV for zenith angles in the region θ ≤60 deg. . It is shown that quasars for which the redshift lies in the region z≤2.5 can be sources of these cosmic rays. Ordered structures are observed in the disposition of quasars and in the cosmic-ray arrival directions. These structures can be associated in one way or another with the large-scale structure of the Universe

  2. A theory of Cosmic Rays

    CERN Document Server

    Dar, Arnon; Dar, Arnon; Rújula, Alvaro De

    2008-01-01

    We present a theory of non-solar cosmic rays (CRs) based on a single type of CR source at all energies. The total luminosity of the Galaxy, the broken power-law spectra with their observed slopes, the position of the `knee(s)' and `ankle', and the CR composition and its variation with energy are all predicted in terms of very simple and completely `standard' physics. The source of CRs is extremely `economical': it has only one parameter to be fitted to the ensemble of all of the mentioned data. All other inputs are `priors', that is, theoretical or observational items of information independent of the properties of the source of CRs, and chosen to lie in their pre-established ranges. The theory is part of a `unified view of high-energy astrophysics' --based on the `Cannonball' model of the relativistic ejecta of accreting black holes and neutron stars. If correct, this model is only lacking a satisfactory theoretical understanding of the `cannon' that emits the cannonballs in catastrophic processes of accreti...

  3. ATLAS and ultra high energy cosmic ray physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pinfold James

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available After a brief introduction to extended air shower cosmic ray physics the current and future deployment of forward detectors at ATLAS is discussed along with the various aspects of the current and future ATLAS programs to explore hadronic physics. The emphasis is placed on those results and future plans that have particular relevance for high-energy, and ultra high-energy, cosmic ray physics. The possible use of ATLAS as an “underground” cosmic muon observatory is briefly considered.

  4. Transition-radiation detectors for cosmic-ray research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mueller, D.; Chicago Univ., Ill.

    1975-01-01

    Transition-radiation detectors for cosmic-ray work are described which consist of plastic foam of multiple plastic foil radiators, followed by proportional chambers. A summary of the properties of such detectors is given, and the detection and discrimination efficiencies for energetic particles are discussed. Several possible applications of such devices for studies of cosmic-ray particles in the energy region γ=E/mc 2 >10 3 are advertised

  5. Study of cosmic rays reveals secrets of solar-terrestrial science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jokipii, J. R.

    For many years cosmic rays provided the most important source of energetic particles for studies of subatomic physics. Today, cosmic rays are being studied as a natural phenomenon that can tell us much about both the Earth's environment in space and distant astrophysical processes. Cosmic rays are naturally occurring energetic particles—mainly ions—with kinetic energies extending from just above thermal energies to more than 1020 electron volts (eV). They constantly bombard the Earth from all directions, with more than 1018 particles having energies >1 MeV striking the top of the Earth's atmosphere each second. Figure 1 illustrates the continuous cosmic ray energy spectrum.

  6. THE TEMPERATURE EFFECT IN SECONDARY COSMIC RAYS (MUONS) OBSERVED AT THE GROUND: ANALYSIS OF THE GLOBAL MUON DETECTOR NETWORK DATA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Mendonça, R. R. S.; Braga, C. R.; Echer, E.; Dal Lago, A.; Rockenbach, M.; Schuch, N. J. [Space Geophysics Division, National Institute for Space Research, São José dos Campos, SP, 12227-010 (Brazil); Munakata, K.; Kato, C. [Physics Department, Shinshu University, Matsumoto, Nagano, 390-8621 (Japan); Kuwabara, T. [Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, Chiba City, Chiba 263-8522 (Japan); Kozai, M. [Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (ISAS/JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan); Al Jassar, H. K.; Sharma, M. M. [Physics Department, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, 13060 (Kuwait); Tokumaru, M. [Solar Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601 (Japan); Duldig, M. L.; Humble, J. E. [School of Physical Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001 (Australia); Evenson, P. [Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States); Sabbah, I. [Department of Natural Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait City, 72853 (Kuwait)

    2016-10-20

    The analysis of cosmic ray intensity variation seen by muon detectors at Earth's surface can help us to understand astrophysical, solar, interplanetary and geomagnetic phenomena. However, before comparing cosmic ray intensity variations with extraterrestrial phenomena, it is necessary to take into account atmospheric effects such as the temperature effect. In this work, we analyzed this effect on the Global Muon Detector Network (GMDN), which is composed of four ground-based detectors, two in the northern hemisphere and two in the southern hemisphere. In general, we found a higher temperature influence on detectors located in the northern hemisphere. Besides that, we noticed that the seasonal temperature variation observed at the ground and at the altitude of maximum muon production are in antiphase for all GMDN locations (low-latitude regions). In this way, contrary to what is expected in high-latitude regions, the ground muon intensity decrease occurring during summertime would be related to both parts of the temperature effect (the negative and the positive). We analyzed several methods to describe the temperature effect on cosmic ray intensity. We found that the mass weighted method is the one that best reproduces the seasonal cosmic ray variation observed by the GMDN detectors and allows the highest correlation with long-term variation of the cosmic ray intensity seen by neutron monitors.

  7. THE TEMPERATURE EFFECT IN SECONDARY COSMIC RAYS (MUONS) OBSERVED AT THE GROUND: ANALYSIS OF THE GLOBAL MUON DETECTOR NETWORK DATA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Mendonça, R. R. S.; Braga, C. R.; Echer, E.; Dal Lago, A.; Rockenbach, M.; Schuch, N. J.; Munakata, K.; Kato, C.; Kuwabara, T.; Kozai, M.; Al Jassar, H. K.; Sharma, M. M.; Tokumaru, M.; Duldig, M. L.; Humble, J. E.; Evenson, P.; Sabbah, I.

    2016-01-01

    The analysis of cosmic ray intensity variation seen by muon detectors at Earth's surface can help us to understand astrophysical, solar, interplanetary and geomagnetic phenomena. However, before comparing cosmic ray intensity variations with extraterrestrial phenomena, it is necessary to take into account atmospheric effects such as the temperature effect. In this work, we analyzed this effect on the Global Muon Detector Network (GMDN), which is composed of four ground-based detectors, two in the northern hemisphere and two in the southern hemisphere. In general, we found a higher temperature influence on detectors located in the northern hemisphere. Besides that, we noticed that the seasonal temperature variation observed at the ground and at the altitude of maximum muon production are in antiphase for all GMDN locations (low-latitude regions). In this way, contrary to what is expected in high-latitude regions, the ground muon intensity decrease occurring during summertime would be related to both parts of the temperature effect (the negative and the positive). We analyzed several methods to describe the temperature effect on cosmic ray intensity. We found that the mass weighted method is the one that best reproduces the seasonal cosmic ray variation observed by the GMDN detectors and allows the highest correlation with long-term variation of the cosmic ray intensity seen by neutron monitors.

  8. Beyond KERMA - neutron data for biomedical applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blomgren, J.; Olsson, N.

    2003-01-01

    Presently, many new applications of fast neutrons are emerging or under development, like dose effects due to cosmic-ray neutrons for airplane crew, fast-neutron cancer therapy, studies of electronic failures induced by cosmic-ray neutrons, and accelerator-driven incineration of nuclear waste and energy production technologies. All these areas would benefit from improved neutron dosimetry. In this paper, the present rapid progress on measurements of double-differential neutron-induced nuclear reaction data are described. With such data at hand, the full response of, in principle, any system, including human tissue, can be calculated in detail. This could potentially revolutionise our understanding of biological effects in tissue due to fast neutrons. (author)

  9. Markov Stochastic Technique to Determine Galactic Cosmic Ray ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    A new numerical model of particle propagation in the Galaxy has been developed, which allows the study of cosmic-ray production and propagation in 2D. The model has been used to solve cosmic ray diffusive transport equation with a complete network of nuclear interactions using the time backward Markov stochastic ...

  10. Chandra Discovers X-Ray Ring Around Cosmic Powerhouse in Crab Nebula

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-09-01

    After barely two months in space, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has taken a stunning image of the Crab Nebula, the spectacular remains of a stellar explosion, and has revealed something never seen before: a brilliant ring around the nebula's heart. Combined with observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, the image provides important clues to the puzzle of how the cosmic "generator," a pulsing neutron star, energizes the nebula, which still glows brightly almost 1,000 years after the explosion. "The inner ring is unique," said Professor Jeff Hester of Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. "It has never been seen before, and it should tell us a lot about how the energy from the pulsar gets into the nebula. It's like finding the transmission lines between the power plant and the light bulb." Professor Mal Ruderman of Columbia University, New York, NY, agreed. "The X-rays Chandra sees are the best tracer of where the energy is. With images such as these, we can directly diagnose what is going on." What is going on, according to Dr. Martin Weisskopf, Chandra Project Scientist from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, is awesome. "The Crab pulsar is accelerating particles up to the speed of light and flinging them out into interstellar space at an incredible rate." The image shows tilted rings or waves of high-energy particles that appear to have been flung outward over the distance of a light year from the central star, and high-energy jets of particles blasting away from the neutron star in a direction perpendicular to the spiral. Hubble Space Telescope images have shown moving knots and wisps around the neutron star, and previous X-ray images have shown the outer parts of the jet and hinted at the ring structure. With Chandra's exceptional resolution, the jet can be traced all the way in to the neutron star, and the ring pattern clearly appears. The image was made with Chandra's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer and High Energy Transmission

  11. Solar modulation of galactic cosmic rays: techniques and applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perko, J.S.

    1984-01-01

    This thesis covers four topics in the theory of interplanetary cosmic-ray propagation: the first part involves the time-dependent, spherically-symmetric, solar modulation of galactic cosmic rays. A numerical technique was introduced for the solution of this problem. A model for the solar cycle variation in cosmic-ray intensity illustrated this method using enhanced particle scattering regions. The second section contains an attempt to explain recent observations which show that cosmic-ray electrons are returning to higher intensities, characteristic of solar minimum, faster than cosmic-ray protons of about the same energy, the reverse of the previous eleven-year cycle. The third section involves the solar modulation of galactic antiprotons. Using a steady-state, spherically-symmetric, numerical modulation code, a solution that reasonably fits the observed 1980 galactic proton spectrum at 1 AU implied that the modulation used for the data interpretation has been significantly underestimated. The final section contains a spherically-symmetric steady-state calculation of the effects of a strong termination shock in the heliosphere. In the end, high-energy particles cooling down in the upstream solar wind overwhelmed any accelerated low-energy particles

  12. Cosmic ray injection spectrum at the galactic sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagutin, Anatoly; Tyumentsev, Alexander; Volkov, Nikolay

    The spectra of cosmic rays measured at Earth are different from their source spectra. A key to understanding this difference, being crucial for solving the problem of cosmic-ray origin, is the determination of how cosmic-ray (CR) particles propagate through the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM). If the medium is a quasi-homogeneous the propagation process can be described by a normal diffusion model. However, during a last few decades many evidences, both from theory and observations, of the existence of multiscale structures in the Galaxy have been found. Filaments, shells, clouds are entities widely spread in the ISM. In such a highly non-homogeneous (fractal-like) ISM the normal diffusion model certainly is not kept valid. Generalization of this model leads to what is known as "anomalous diffusion". The main goal of the report is to retrieve the cosmic ray injection spectrum at the galactic sources in the framework of the anomalous diffusion (AD) model. The anomaly in this model results from large free paths ("Levy flights") of particles between galactic inhomogeneities. In order to evaluate the CR spectrum at the sources, we carried out new calculation of the CR spectra at Earth. AD equation in terms of fractional derivatives have been used to describe CR propagation from the nearby (r≤1 kpc) young (t≤ 1 Myr) and multiple old distant (r > 1 kpc) sources. The assessment of the key model parameters have been based on the results of the particles diffusion in the cosmic and laboratory plasma. We show that in the framework of the anomalous diffusion model the locally observed basic features of the cosmic rays (difference between spectral exponents of proton, He and other nuclei, "knee" problem, positron to electron ratio) can be explained if the injection spectrum at the main galactic sources of cosmic rays has spectral exponent p˜ 2.85. The authors acknowledge support from The Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant No. 14-02-31524.

  13. Cosmic-ray sum rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frandsen, Mads T.; Masina, Isabella; Sannino, Francesco

    2011-01-01

    We introduce new sum rules allowing to determine universal properties of the unknown component of the cosmic rays; we show how they can be used to predict the positron fraction at energies not yet explored by current experiments, and to constrain specific models.

  14. Experimental Summary: Very High Energy Cosmic Rays and their Interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kampert Karl-Heinz

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The XVII International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions, held in August of 2012 in Berlin, was the first one in the history of the Symposium,where a plethora of high precision LHC data with relevance for cosmic ray physics was presented. This report aims at giving a brief summary of those measurements andit discusses their relevance for observations of high energy cosmic rays. Enormous progress has been made also in air shower observations and in direct measurements of cosmic rays, exhibiting many more structure in the cosmic ray energy spectrum than just a simple power law with a knee and an ankle. At the highest energy, the flux suppression may not be dominated by the GZK-effect but by the limiting energy of a nearby source or source population. New projects and application of new technologies promise further advances also in the near future. We shall discuss the experimental and theoretical progress in the field and its prospects for coming years.

  15. Feasibility study of a level gauge using cosmic-rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuda, Hideharu; Fukaya, Mitsuharu; Minato, Susumu

    1989-01-01

    Cosmic-ray intensities were measured at the stairs in a subway station in Nagoya City, inside a tall concrete building and under a cylindrical water tank to examine the feasibility of a cosmic-ray level gauge using a scintillation counter. The measured results agreed quite well with theoretical calculations. The maximum distinguishable water depth was evaluated to be approximately the radius of the tank from the results of many systematic calculations. It was found from these results that the practical application of a cosmic-ray level gauge is feasible. (author)

  16. Cosmic Ray Data in TRT Barrel

    CERN Multimedia

    M. Hance

    "I had a great day in August when I went into SR1," said Daniel Froidevaux, former project leader of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker, "not only had all SCT barrels arrived at CERN, but there were cosmic ray tracks seen in the TRT!" Daniel's excitement was mirrored by the rest of the TRT collaboration when, on July 29, the first cosmic ray tracks were seen in the barrel. Along with many others in the community, Daniel was quick to point out that this is the cumulative result of years of R&D, test beam work, and an intense installation and integration schedule. Indeed, the cosmic ray readout is only possible through the coordination of many efforts, from detector mechanics to module assembly, power and high voltage control, cooling, gas systems, electronics and cabling, data acquisition, and monitoring. "Many people have worked very hard on the the TRT, some of them for more than 10 years," said Brig Williams, the leader of the UPenn group responsible for much of the TRT front end electronics. He ...

  17. Cosmic rays and climate

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2009-01-01

    The current understanding of climate change in the industrial age is that it is predominantly caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases, with relatively small natural contributions due to solar irradiance and volcanoes. However, palaeoclimatic reconstructions show that the climate has frequently varied on 100-year time scales during the Holocene (last 10 kyr) by amounts comparable to the present warming - and yet the mechanism or mechanisms are not understood. Some of these reconstructions show clear associations with solar variability, which is recorded in the light radio-isotope archives that measure past variations of cosmic ray intensity. However, despite the increasing evidence of its importance, solar-climate variability is likely to remain controversial until a physical mechanism is established. Estimated changes of solar irradiance on these time scales appear to be too small to account for the climate observations. This raises the question of whether cosmic rays may directly affect the climate, provi...

  18. Cosmological cosmic rays: Sharpening the primordial lithium problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prodanovic, Tijana; Fields, Brian D.

    2007-01-01

    Cosmic structure formation leads to large-scale shocked baryonic flows which are expected to produce a cosmological population of structure-formation cosmic rays (SFCRs). Interactions between SFCRs and ambient baryons will produce lithium isotopes via α+α→ 6,7 Li. This pre-galactic (but nonprimordial) lithium should contribute to the primordial 7 Li measured in halo stars and must be subtracted in order to arrive to the true observed primordial lithium abundance. In this paper we point out that the recent halo star 6 Li measurements can be used to place a strong constraint to the level of such contamination, because the exclusive astrophysical production of 6 Li is from cosmic-ray interactions. We find that the putative 6 Li plateau, if due to pre-galactic cosmic-ray interactions, implies that SFCR-produced lithium represents Li SFCR /Li plateau ≅15% of the observed elemental Li plateau. Taking the remaining plateau Li to be cosmological 7 Li, we find a revised (and slightly worsened) discrepancy between the Li observations and big bang nucleosynthesis predictions by a factor of 7 Li BBN / 7 Li plateau ≅3.7. Moreover, SFCRs would also contribute to the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB) through neutral pion production. This gamma-ray production is tightly related to the amount of lithium produced by the same cosmic rays; the 6 Li plateau limits the pre-galactic (high-redshift) SFCR contribution to be at the level of I γ π SFCR /I EGRB < or approx. 5% of the currently observed EGRB

  19. 14. European cosmic ray symposium. Symposium program and abstracts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-08-01

    The abstracts of the 14. European Cosmic Ray Symposium are presented. The papers cover a large variety of topics in cosmic ray physics, both from the theoretical and the experimental point of view. Sun physics, and the effects on the inner heliosphere, the composition, and the properties of the primary and secondary cosmic radiation, galactic acceleration and the results of accelerator physics relevant to cosmic radiation physics, and the description and the results of large detector systems are presented. 63 items are indexed for INIS database. (K.A.)

  20. PREFACE: 23rd European Cosmic Ray Symposium (and 32nd Russian Cosmic Ray Conference)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erlykin, A. D.; Kokoulin, R. P.; Lidvansky, A. S.; Meroshnichenko, L. I.; Panasyuk, M. I.; Panov, A. D.; Wolfendale, A. W.

    2013-02-01

    The 23rd European Cosmic Ray Symposium (ECRS) took place in Moscow at the Lomonosov Moscow State University (3-7 July 2012), and was excellently organized by the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, with the help of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Council on the Complex Problem of Cosmic Rays of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The first symposia were held in 1968 in Lodz, Poland (high energy, extensive air showers and astrophysical aspects) and in Bern (solar and heliospheric phenomena) and the two 'strands' joined together in 1976 with the meeting in Leeds. Since then the symposia, which have been very successful, have covered all the major topics with some emphasis on European collaborations and on meeting the demands of young scientists. Initially, a driving force was the need to overcome the divisions caused by the 'Cold War' but the symposia continued even when that threat ceased and they have shown no sign of having outlived their usefulness. 2012 has been an important year in the history of cosmic ray studies, in that it marked the centenary of the discovery of enigmatic particles in the perilous balloon ascents of Victor Hess. A number of conferences have taken place in Western Europe during the year, but this one took place in Moscow as a tribute to the successful efforts of many former USSR and other Eastern European scientists in discovering the secrets of the subject, often under very difficult conditions. The symposium covers a wide range of scientific issues divided into the following topics: PCR-IPrimary cosmic rays I (E 1015 eV) MNCosmic ray muons and neutrinos GAGeV and TeV gamma astronomy SHEnergetic particles in the heliosphere (solar and anomalous CRs and GCR modulation) GEOCosmic rays and geophysics (energetic particles in the atmosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth) On a personal note, as I step down as co-founder and chairman of the International Advisory Committee, I should like to

  1. High-energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gaisser, Thomas K. [Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)]. E-mail: gaisser@bartol.udel.edu; Stanev, Todor [Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)

    2006-10-17

    After a brief review of galactic cosmic rays in the GeV to TeV energy range, we describe some current problems of interest for particles of very high energy. Particularly interesting are two features of the spectrum, the knee above 10{sup 15} eV and the ankle above 10{sup 18} eV. An important question is whether the highest-energy particles are of extra-galactic origin and, if so, at what energy the transition occurs. A theme common to all energy ranges is use of nuclear abundances as a tool for understanding the origin of the cosmic radiation.

  2. Characterising CCDs with cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fisher-Levine, M.; Nomerotski, A.

    2015-01-01

    The properties of cosmic ray muons make them a useful probe for measuring the properties of thick, fully depleted CCD sensors. The known energy deposition per unit length allows measurement of the gain of the sensor's amplifiers, whilst the straightness of the tracks allows for a crude assessment of the static lateral electric fields at the sensor's edges. The small volume in which the muons deposit their energy allows measurement of the contribution to the PSF from the diffusion of charge as it drifts across the sensor. In this work we present a validation of the cosmic ray gain measurement technique by comparing with radioisotope gain measurments, and calculate the charge diffusion coefficient for prototype LSST sensors

  3. Isotopic composition of cosmic ray nuclei

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enge, W.

    1976-01-01

    A review will be given on the role of cosmic ray isotopes as tracers of the astrophysical nucleo-synthesis. The products of every nuclear burning chain are first of all isotopes and not elements. Thus, it is the study of the isotopes rather than that of the elements that responds to the questions on these nucleo-synthetic reactions. The problems concerning the solar system isotopic abundances and the cosmic ray isotopic abundances as well as a comparison between both will be presented. Furthermore the present stage of the experimental techniques and the latest results will be discussed. (orig.) [de

  4. Cosmic Ray Acceleration in Supernova Remnants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'C Drury, Luke

    2005-01-01

    This paper describes some recent developments in our understanding of cosmic ray acceleration in supernova remnant shocks. It is pointed out that while good agreement now exists as to steady nonlinear modifications to the shock structure, there is also growing evidence that the mesoscopic scales may not in fact be steady and that significant instabilities associated with magnetic field amplification may be a feature of strong collisionless plasma shocks. There is strong observational evidence for such magnetic field amplification, and it appears to solve a number of long-standing issues concerned with acceleration of cosmic rays in supernova remnants

  5. Abnormal increase of cosmic ray on August 7th, 1972

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kodama, Masahiro; Murakami, Kazuaki; Wada, Masami

    1974-01-01

    The abnormal increase of cosmic ray on Aug. 7th particularly the dependence of its starting time on local time was studied. Cosmic ray increased twice before and after the greatest Forbush decrease in history on August 4th and 7th, 1972. This study is a trial to estimate the anisotropic flow of solar cosmic ray from the time difference time at different places. Further, the past instance of 23 ground-level events were statistically restudied, and the relationship between the time of generation of solar cosmic ray and the time of transmission to the earth was investigated. A list is given regarding the solar cosmic ray of more than 10 9 eV which occurred since the observation had started. The list shows definite three groups. Attention is paid to the transmission time of F type which is considered to have the most simplest transmission mechanism. The dispersion of the transmission time is large regarding flare-starting time and peak wave intensity time, but is small regarding solar wave-starting time, but the dependence on the longitude is systematic. After all, cosmic ray is accelerated after 10 minutes since solar electric wave has started, and arrives at the earth most early in the case of a flare occurred at the root of garden force line toward the earth. In conclusion, the method of studying the difference of the starting time of abnormal increase according to local time may be an effective means for examining in the characteristics of anisotropic flow of solar cosmic ray. (Iwakiri, K.)

  6. Towards Hydrological Applications of Stationary and Roving Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensors in the Light of Spatial Sensitivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrön, M.; Köhli, M.; Rosolem, R.; Baroni, G.; Bogena, H. R.; Brenner, J.; Zink, M.; Rebmann, C.; Oswald, S. E.; Dietrich, P.; Samaniego, L. E.; Zacharias, S.

    2017-12-01

    Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) has become a promising and unique method to monitor water content at an effective scale of tens of hectares in area and tens of centimeters in depth. The large footprint is particularly beneficial for hydrological models that operate at these scales.However, reliable estimates of average soil moisture require a detailed knowledge about the sensitivity of the signal to spatial inhomogeneity within the footprint. From this perspective, the large integrating volume challenges data interpretation, validation, and calibration of the sensor. Can we still generate reliable data for hydrological applications? One of the top challenges in the last years was to find out where the signal comes from, and how sensitive it is to spatial variabilities of moisture. Neutron physics simulations have shown that the neutron signal represents a non-linearly weighted average of soil water in the footprint. With the help of the so-called spatial sensitivity functions it is now possible to quantify the contribution of certain regions to the neutron signal. We present examples of how this knowledge can help (1) to understand the contribution of irrigated and sealed areas in the footprint, (2) to improve calibration and validation of the method, and (3) to even reveal excess water storages, e.g. from ponding or rain interception.The spatial sensitivity concept can also explain the influence of dry roads on the neutron signal. Mobile surveys with the CRNS rover have been a common practice to measure soil moisture patterns at the kilometer scale. However, dedicated experiments across agricultural fields in Germany and England have revealed that field soil moisture is significantly underestimated when moving the sensor on roads. We show that knowledge about the spatial sensitivity helps to correct survey data for these effects, depending on road material, width, and distance from the road. The recent methodological advances allow for improved signal

  7. Gamma radiation associated to stellar formation in the galaxy (cosmic ray astronomy)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casse, Michel.

    1980-05-01

    The gamma ray sky revealed by the COS-B satellite is very peculiar: a few 'gamma ray stars' lying along the galactic plane emerge from a bright milky way. A possible interpretation of this sky is to invoke the existence of regions in which stars, cosmic rays and interstellar matter are very concentrated. A genetic link is established between clouds, stars and cosmic rays: the partial fragmentation of a cloud give birth to stars, the most massive stars accelerate cosmic rays through their supersonic stellar winds, cosmic ray interact in turn with the cloud material to copiously produce high energy gamma rays: a gamma ray source is born

  8. ACORDE a cosmic ray detector for ALICE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernandez, A.; Gamez, E.; Herrera, G.; Lopez, R.; Leon-Monzon, I.; Martinez, M.I.; Pagliarone, C.; Paic, G.; Roman, S.; Tejeda, G.; Vargas, M.A.; Vergara, S.; Villasenor, L.; Zepeda, A.

    2007-01-01

    ACORDE is one of the ALICE detectors, presently under construction at CERN. It consists of an array of plastic scintillator counters placed on the three upper faces of the ALICE magnet. It will act as a cosmic ray trigger, and, together with other ALICE sub-detectors, will provide precise information on cosmic rays with primary energies around 10 15 -10 17 eV. Here we describe the design of ACORDE along with the present status and integration into ALICE

  9. Capturing the most energetic cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mantsch, P.

    1999-01-01

    The methods of energy measurement applied to the most energetic cosmic rays are described. The rays are so rare that two gigantic systems of detectors are proposed to detect at least some of them (the Pierre Auger Project ). (Z.J.)

  10. Cosmic ray modulation and merged interaction regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burlaga, L.F.; Goldstein, M.L.; Mcdonald, F.B.

    1985-01-01

    Beyond several AU, interactions among shocks and streams give rise to merged interaction regions in which the magnetic field is turbulent. The integral intensity of . 75 MeV/Nuc cosmic rays at Voyager is generally observed to decrease when a merged interaction region moves past the spacecraft and to increase during the passage of a rarefaction region. When the separation between interaction regions is relatively large, the cosmic ray intensity tends to increase on a scale of a few months. This was the case at Voyager 1 from July 1, 1983 to May 1, 1984, when the spacecraft moved from 16.7 to 19.6 AU. Changes in cosmic ray intensity were related to the magnetic field strength in a simple way. It is estimated that the diffusion coefficient in merged interaction regions at this distance is similar to 0.6 x 10 to the 22nd power sq cm/s

  11. Supernova Remnants as the Sources of Galactic Cosmic Rays

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vink, J.

    2013-01-01

    The origin of cosmic rays holds still manymysteries hundred years after they were first discovered. Supernova remnants have for long been the most likely sources of Galactic cosmic rays. I discuss here some recent evidence that suggests that supernova remnants can indeed efficiently accelerate

  12. Latest AMS Results on elementary particles in cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kounine, Andrei; AMS Collaboration

    2017-01-01

    AMS-02 is a particle physics detector collecting data on the International Space Station since May 2011. Precision measurements of all elementary charged cosmic ray particles have been performed by AMS using a data sample of 85 billion cosmic ray events collected during the first five years of operations on the Station. The latest AMS results on the fluxes and flux ratios of the elementary cosmic ray particles are presented. They show unique features that require accurate theoretical interpretation as to their origin, be it from dark matter collisions or new astrophysical sources. On behalf of the AMS Collaboration.

  13. Cosmic-ray production of tungsten isotopes in lunar samples and meteorites and its implications for Hf-W cosmochemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leya, Ingo; Wieler, Rainer; Halliday, Alex N.

    2000-01-01

    Excesses and deficiencies in 182W in meteorites and lunar samples relative to the terrestrial 182W atomic abundance have been assigned to the decay of 182Hf (t1/2=9 Ma) and have been used to date metal-silicate fractionation events in the early solar system. Because the effects are very small, production and burn-out of tungsten isotopes by cosmic ray interactions are a concern in such studies. Masarik [J. Masarik, Contribution of neutron-capture reactions to observed tungsten isotopic ratios, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 152 (1997) 181-185] showed that neutron-capture reactions on tungsten isotopes can account at best for a minor part of the observed deficit of 182W in Toluca and other iron meteorites. On the other hand, in lunar samples and stony meteorites the production of 182W from 181Ta may become crucial. Here, we calculate this contribution as well as production and consumption of 182-186W by other neutron-induced reactions. The neutron fluence of each sample is estimated by its nominal cosmic-ray exposure age deduced from noble gas data. This approach overestimates the true cosmogenic W isotopic shifts for samples that might have been irradiated very close to the regolith surface. A quantitative estimate is often also hampered by a lack of Ta data. Despite these reservations, it appears that in many lunar samples neutron-capture on Ta has caused a large part of the observed 182W excess. On the other hand, in some samples, especially those with very low exposure ages, clearly only a minor or even negligible fraction of the 182W excess can be cosmogenic. Therefore, the conclusion, based on Hf-W model ages, that the Moon formed 50 Myr after the start of the solar system remains valid. Martian meteorites have lower Ta/W ratios and cosmic ray exposure ages than most lunar samples. Therefore, cosmogenic production has not significantly altered the W isotopic composition in Martian meteorites. Observed 182W excesses in Martian meteorites as well as the very large

  14. 37Ar and 39Ar in meteorites and the spatial cosmic ray gradient

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heusser, G.; Schaeffer, O.A.

    1977-01-01

    Cosmic-ray-produced 37 Ar (tsub(1/2) = 35 days), and 39 Ar (tsub(1/2) = 269 years) in the Fe-Ni phase of meteorites have been studied in connection with their implications for the radial gradient of cosmic ray particles. For the chondrite, Canon City, which fell on October 27, 1973, 20.1 +- 1.5 dpm/kg FeNi of 37 Ar and 22.5 +- 1.4 dpm/kg FeNi of 39 Ar was found. Usually, the 37 Ar/ 39 Ar ratio is used to deduce a spatial gradient. However, 37 Ar data reported in the literature are inconsistent. They fluctuate much more than could be accounted for by different orbits and the anticipated correlation with the cosmic ray neutron registrations is rather weak. Consequently, the 37 Ar/ 39 Ar-derived gradient has a low confidence level. On the other hand, 39 Ar activities group close to a mean value of 22.5 dpm/kg FeNi and appear to be almost independent of the different meteoroid orbits. A comparison of measured 39 Ar activities in meteorites with those calculated for orbits obtained from fireball data shows that a gradient of 10%/Au or less is reconcilable with the experimental findings. The average gradient (E > 200 MeV) during the last 500 years was probably not much larger than that measured presently by the Pioneer 10 and 11, and Helios spacecrafts. (Auth.)

  15. Measurement of cosmic ray flux in the China Jinping underground laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Yucheng; Hao Xiqing; Yue Qian

    2013-01-01

    The China JinPing underground Laboratory (CJPL) is the deepest underground laboratory running in the world at present. In such a deep underground laboratory, the cosmic ray flux is a very important and necessary parameter for rare-event experiments. A plastic scintillator telescope system has been set up to measure the cosmic ray flux. The performance of the telescope system has been studied using the cosmic rays on the ground laboratory near the CJPL. Based on the underground experimental data taken from November 2010 to December 2011 in the CJPL, which has an effective live time of 171 days, the cosmic ray muon flux in the CJPL is measured to be (2.0±0.4)×10 -10 /(cm 2 ·s). The ultra-low cosmic ray background guarantees an ideal environment for dark matter experiments at the CJPL. (authors)

  16. THE IMPLICATIONS OF A HIGH COSMIC-RAY IONIZATION RATE IN DIFFUSE INTERSTELLAR CLOUDS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Indriolo, Nick; Fields, Brian D.; McCall, Benjamin J.

    2009-01-01

    Diffuse interstellar clouds show large abundances of H + 3 which can only be maintained by a high ionization rate of H 2 . Cosmic rays are the dominant ionization mechanism in this environment, so the large ionization rate implies a high cosmic-ray flux, and a large amount of energy residing in cosmic rays. In this paper, we find that the standard propagated cosmic-ray spectrum predicts an ionization rate much lower than that inferred from H + 3 . Low-energy (∼10 MeV) cosmic rays are the most efficient at ionizing hydrogen, but cannot be directly detected; consequently, an otherwise unobservable enhancement of the low-energy cosmic-ray flux offers a plausible explanation for the H + 3 results. Beyond ionization, cosmic rays also interact with the interstellar medium by spalling atomic nuclei and exciting atomic nuclear states. These processes produce the light elements Li, Be, and B, as well as gamma-ray lines. To test the consequences of an enhanced low-energy cosmic-ray flux, we adopt two physically motivated cosmic-ray spectra which by construction reproduce the ionization rate inferred in diffuse clouds, and investigate the implications of these spectra on dense cloud ionization rates, light-element abundances, gamma-ray fluxes, and energetics. One spectrum proposed here provides an explanation for the high ionization rate seen in diffuse clouds while still appearing to be broadly consistent with other observables, but the shape of this spectrum suggests that supernovae remnants may not be the predominant accelerators of low-energy cosmic rays.

  17. 11. European cosmic ray symposium held at Balatonfuered, Hungary, August 21-27, 1988

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-08-01

    The biannual Symposium includes all aspects of cosmic ray research. The scientific programme was organized under three main headings: Cosmic rays in the heliosphere, Cosmic rays in the interstellar and extragalactic space, Properties of high-energy interactions as studied by cosmic rays. Selected short communications out of 114 contributed papers were indexed separately for the INIS database. (R.P.)

  18. Anomalous Transport of Cosmic Rays in a Nonlinear Diffusion Model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Litvinenko, Yuri E. [Department of Mathematics, University of Waikato, P. B. 3105, Hamilton 3240 (New Zealand); Fichtner, Horst; Walter, Dominik [Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, D-44780 Bochum (Germany)

    2017-05-20

    We investigate analytically and numerically the transport of cosmic rays following their escape from a shock or another localized acceleration site. Observed cosmic-ray distributions in the vicinity of heliospheric and astrophysical shocks imply that anomalous, superdiffusive transport plays a role in the evolution of the energetic particles. Several authors have quantitatively described the anomalous diffusion scalings, implied by the data, by solutions of a formal transport equation with fractional derivatives. Yet the physical basis of the fractional diffusion model remains uncertain. We explore an alternative model of the cosmic-ray transport: a nonlinear diffusion equation that follows from a self-consistent treatment of the resonantly interacting cosmic-ray particles and their self-generated turbulence. The nonlinear model naturally leads to superdiffusive scalings. In the presence of convection, the model yields a power-law dependence of the particle density on the distance upstream of the shock. Although the results do not refute the use of a fractional advection–diffusion equation, they indicate a viable alternative to explain the anomalous diffusion scalings of cosmic-ray particles.

  19. Radio reconstruction of the mass of ultra-high cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dorosti, Qader [Institut fuer Kernphysik (IKP), KIT (Germany)

    2015-07-01

    Detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays can reveal the processes of the most violent sources in the Universe, which yet has to be determined. Interaction of cosmic rays with the Earth's atmosphere results in cascades of secondary particles, i.e. air showers. Many of such particles are electrons and positrons. The induced electrons and positrons interact with the geomagnetic field and induce radio emissions. Detection of air showers along with the detection of induced radio emissions can furnish a precise measurement of the direction, energy and mass of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. The Auger Engineering Radio Array consists of 124 radio stations measuring radio emission from air showers, in order to reconstruct the energy, direction and mass of cosmic rays. In this contribution, we present a method which employs a reduced hyperbolic model to describe the shape of radio wave front. We have investigated that the parameters of the reduced hyperbolic model are sensitive to the mass of cosmic rays. The obtained results are presented in this talk.

  20. Low cloud properties influenced by cosmic rays

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marsh, Nigel; Svensmark, Henrik

    2000-01-01

    The influence of solar variability on climate is currently uncertain. Recent observations have indicated a possible mechanism via the influence of solar modulated cosmic rays on global cloud cover. Surprisingly the influence of solar variability is strongest in low clouds (less than or equal to3 km......), which points to a microphysical mechanism involving aerosol formation that is enhanced by ionization due to cosmic rays. If confirmed it suggests that the average state of the heliosphere is important for climate on Earth....

  1. Velocity-space sensitivity of neutron spectrometry measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jacobsen, Asger Schou; Salewski, Mirko; Eriksson, J.

    2015-01-01

    Neutron emission spectrometry (NES) measures the energies of neutrons produced in fusion reactions. Here we present velocity-space weight functions for NES and neutron yield measurements. Weight functions show the sensitivity as well as the accessible regions in velocity space for a given range...

  2. An application of statistical adjustment of data to the energetic solar cosmic ray increase of August 7, 1972

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Komori, H.

    1975-01-01

    Data of five minute intervals of the neutron intensity from twelve cosmic ray stations were utilized for this application. Five source parameters; amplitude a, latitude lambdasub(s), longitude PHIsub(s), power law exponent γ in spectral representation and power law exponent n of angular spread have been determined by the least-square method of Deming. (orig./WBU) [de

  3. Use of the helium-3 proportional counter for neutron spectrometry; Utilisation du compteur proportionnel a helium 3 pour la spectrometrie des neutrons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vialettes, H; Le Thanh, P [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1967-07-01

    Up to now, two methods have been mainly used for neutron spectrometry near nuclear installations: - photographic emulsion spectrometry - the so-called, 'multisphere' technique spectrometry. The first method, which is fairly difficult to apply, has a threshold energy of about 500 keV; this is a big disadvantage for an apparatus which has to be used for spectrometry around nuclear installations where the neutron radiation is very much degraded energetically. The second method does not suffer from this disadvantage but the results which it yields are only approximate. In order to extend the energy range of the neutron spectra studied with sufficient accuracy the use of a helium-3 proportional counter has been considered. This report presents the principles of operation of the helium-3 spectrometer, and the calculation methods which make it possible to take into account the two main effects tending to deform the spectra obtained: - energy absorption by the walls of the counter, - energy loss of the incident neutrons due to elastic collisions with helium-3 nuclei. As an example of the application, the shape of the neutron spectrum emitted by a polonium-lithium source is given; the results obtained are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. (authors) [French] Jusqu'ici deux methodes ont ete utilisees principalement pour la spectrometrie des neutrons autour des installations nucleaires: - la spectrometrie par emulsions photographiques - la spectrometrie par la technique dite des multispheres. La premiere methode, d'un emploi assez delicat presente un seuil en energie d'environ 500 keV qui est un obstacle serieux a la spectrometrie autour des installations nucleaires ou le rayonnement neutronique est tres degrade en energie. La deuxieme methode ne presente pas cet inconvenient mais les resultats qu'elle permet d'obtenir ne sont qu'approches. Pour etendre la gamme d'energie des spectres de neutrons etudies avec une precision suffisante, l'utilisation du

  4. 1912 – 2012: a century of studying cosmic rays

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2012-01-01

    One year ago, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer was docked to the International Space Station. This state-of-the-art tool for studying cosmic rays has revolutionised methods of detecting cosmic radiation, which was discovered barely a century ago.   Victor Francis Hess (in the basket), back from his balloon flight in August 1912. Source: American Physical Society. Exactly one hundred years ago, the Austrian-American physicist Victor Francis Hess discovered cosmic rays. The researcher observed the phenomenon while on board a balloon; he found that at an altitude of 1,000 to 5,000 metres, the wires of his Wulf electrometer (a tool used to measure radiation) showed an increase in electrical charge. Hess had just proven the existence of ionising radiation coming from outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Twenty years or so later, the invention of the Geiger-Müller counter enabled physicists to study the properties of the rays more precisely. One century later, cosmic rays and the ques...

  5. Cosmic Ray Physics with the KASCADE-Grande Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.; Apel, W. D.; Bekk, K.; Bertaina, M.; Blümer, J.; Bozdog, H.; Brancus, I. M.; Cantoni, E.; Chiavassa, A.; Cossavella, F.; Daumiller, K.; de Souza, V.; Di Pierro, F.; Doll, P.; Engel, R.; Fuhrmann, D.; Gherghel-Lascu, A.; Gils, H. J.; Glasstetter, R.; Grupen, C.; Haungs, A.; Heck, D.; Hörandel, J. R.; Huege, T.; Kampert, K.-H.; Kang, D.; Klages, H. O.; Link, K.; Łuczak, P.; Mathes, H. J.; Mayer, H. J.; Milke, J.; Mitrica, B.; Morello, C.; Oehlschläger, J.; Ostapchenko, S.; Pierog, T.; Rebel, H.; Roth, M.; Schieler, H.; Schoo, S.; Schröder, F. G.; Sima, O.; Toma, G.; Trinchero, G. C.; Ulrich, H.; Weindl, A.; Wochele, J.; Zabierowski, J.

    The existence of a knee at a few PeV in the all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum has been well established by several experiments but its physical origin has eluded researches for a long time. It is believed that keys to disentangle the mystery could be found in the spectrum and the composition of cosmic rays between 1 PeV and 1 EeV. A first detailed look into the elemental chemical abundances of cosmic rays in this energy regime was provided by both the KASCADE and the KASCADE-Grande experiments. Their measurements opened the door to a wealth of new data on the subject, which led to the discovery of new structures in the all-particle energy spectrum and the confirmation of knee-like features in the spectra of individual mass groups, as well as the observation of an unexpected ankle-like structure at around 100 PeV in the flux of the light component of cosmic rays. In this contribution, early findings with the KASCADE-Grande experiment will be reviewed and then a short update on the analyses currently performed with the data of the observatory will be presented.

  6. Heliospheric modulation of cosmic rays: model and observation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerasimova S.K.

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the basic model of cosmic ray modulation in the heliosphere, developed in Yu.G. Shafer Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Aeronomy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The model has only one free modulation parameter: the ratio of the regular magnetic field to the turbulent one. It may also be applied to the description of cosmic ray intensity variations in a wide energy range from 100 MeV to 100 GeV. Possible mechanisms of generation of the turbulent field are considered. The primary assumption about the electrical neutrality of the heliosphere appears to be wrong, and the zero potential needed to match the model with observations in the solar equatorial plane can be achieved if the frontal point of the heliosphere, which is flowed around by interstellar gas, lies near the plane. We have revealed that the abnormal rise of cosmic ray intensity at the end of solar cycle 23 is related to the residual modulation produced by the subsonic solar wind behind the front of a standing shock wave. The model is used to describe features of cosmic ray intensity variations in several solar activity cycles.

  7. The application of computer technique in routine neutron activation analysis using high resolution gamma ray spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szopa, Z.; Plejewska, M.; Staszelis, J.

    1982-01-01

    A full system of four computer programs for routine - qualitative and quantitative - neutron activation analysis (NAA) using high resolution gamma ray-spectrometry had been elaborated. The structure and possibilities of the ''data flow'' programs i.e. programs DIDPDP and DIDCDC, dedicated for fast and reliable ''off line'' data transfer between the buffer memory of the spectrometric line (9-track magnetic tape) and the fast access memory (disc) of the used computers PDP-11/45 and CYBER-73 had been presented. The structure and organization of the ''data processing'' programs i.e. programs SAWAPS and MAZYG had been presented as well. The utility and reliability of these programs in the case of the large-scale, routine NAA, exampled by analysis of filters with air polutants, had been tested and discussed. Programs are written mainly in FORTRAN. (author)

  8. Detectors of Cosmic Rays, Gamma Rays, and Neutrinos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Altamirano, A.; Navarra, G.

    2009-01-01

    We summarize the main features, properties and performances of the typical detectors in use in Cosmic Ray Physics. A brief historical and general introduction will focus on the main classes and requirements of such detectors.

  9. Cosmic-ray-induced radiation environment and dose to man for low-orbit space applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandmeier, H.A.; Hansen, G.E.; Battat, M.E.; O'Brien, K.

    1981-09-01

    Neutrons and photons resulting from the interaction of galactic cosmic rays with the material of an orbiting satellite or an orbiting space station at an altitude of some few hundreds of kilometers, and below the level of the radiation belts, have been calculated as a function of geomagnetic latitude and solar activity level. The photon and neutron leakage currents from the top of the atmosphere have been computed. The radiation dose-equivalent rate to an unshielded astronaut has also been calculated. The maximum dose-equivalent rate, near the magnetic poles, was 2 mrem/h. In deep space this would amount to 18 rem/y, indicating that for a prolonged stay in space, shielding would be needed

  10. EMMA: A new underground cosmic-ray experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enqvist, T; Foehr, V; Joutsenvaara, J; Jaemsen, T; Keraenen, P; Kuusiniemi, P; Laitala, H; Lehtola, M; Mattila, A; Narkilahti, J; Peltoniemi, J; Remes, H; Reponen, M; Raeihae, T; Sarkamo, J; Shen, C; Vaittinen, M; Zhang, Z; Ding, L; Zhu, Q; Roos, M; Dzaparova, I; Karpov, S; Kurenya, A; Petkov, V; Yanin, A; Fynbo, H

    2006-01-01

    A cosmic-ray experiment of new type is under construction in the Pyhaesalmi mine in the underground laboratory of the University of Oulu, Finland. It aims to study the composition of cosmic rays at and above the knee region (energy above 1 PeV). The experiment, called EMMA, covers about 150 m 2 of detector area, and the setup is capable of measuring the multiplicity and the lateral distribution of underground muons, and the arrival direction of the air shower. The detector is placed at the depth of about 85 metres (corresponding about 240 mwe) which gives a threshold energy of muons of about 45 GeV. The rock overburden filters out all other particles of the air shower except the high-energy muons. These high-energy muons originate at high altitudes close to the first interaction of the primary cosmic ray and they carry more information about the primary than low-energy muons. The full-size detector is supposed to run by the end of 2007

  11. Celestial Messengers Cosmic Rays The Story of a Scientific Adventure

    CERN Document Server

    Bertolotti, Mario

    2013-01-01

    The book describes from a historical point of view how cosmic rays were discovered. The book describes the research in cosmic rays. The main focus is on how the knowledge was gained, describing the main experiments and the conclusions drawn. Biographical sketches of main researchers are provided. Cosmic rays have an official date of discovery which is linked to the famous balloon flights of the Austrian physicist Hess in 1912. The year 2012 can therefore be considered the centenary of the discovery.

  12. Celestial messengers. Cosmic rays. The story of a scientific adventure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertolotti, Mario

    2013-01-01

    The book describes from a historical point of view how cosmic rays were discovered. The book describes the research in cosmic rays. The main focus is on how the knowledge was gained, describing the main experiments and the conclusions drawn. Biographical sketches of main researchers are provided. Cosmic rays have an official date of discovery which is linked to the famous balloon flights of the Austrian physicist Hess in 1912. The year 2012 can therefore be considered the centenary of the discovery.

  13. Direct cosmic ray muons and atmospheric neutrinos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryazhskaya, O.G.; Volkova, L.V.; Zatsepin, G.T.

    2005-01-01

    A possible contribution of very short living particles (particles with life-time much shorter than that of charmed particles), for example, resonances, into cosmic ray muon and atmospheric neutrino fluxes (direct muons and neutrinos) is estimated. This contribution could become of the same order of magnitude as that from pions and kaons (conventional) already at energies of hundreds TeV and tens TeV for muons and muon neutrinos coming to the sea level in the vertical direction correspondingly. Of course, the estimation has quite a qualitative character and even it is quite arbitrary but it is necessary to keep this contribution in mind when studying EAS, cosmic ray muon component or trying to interpret data of experiments on cosmic neutrino searching at high energies

  14. Cosmic-ray acceleration at stellar wind terminal shocks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Webb, G.M.; Forman, M.A.; Axford, W.I.

    1985-01-01

    Steady-state, spherically symmetric, analytic solutions of the cosmic-ray transport equations, applicable to the problem of acceleration of cosmic rays at the terminal shock to a stellar wind, are studied. The spectra, gradients, and flow patterns of particle modulated and accelerated by the stellar wind and shock are investigated by means of monoenergetic-source solutions at finite radius, as well as solutions with monoenergetic and power-law Galactic spectra. The solutions obtained apply in the test particle limit in which the cosmic rays do not modify the background flow. The solutions show a characteristic power-law momentum spectrum for accelerated particles and a more complex spectrum of particles that are decelerated in the stellar wind. The power-law spectral index depends on the compression ratio of the shock and on the modulation parameters characterizing propagation conditions in the upstream and downstream regions of the shock. Solutions of the transport equations for the total density N (integrated over all energies), pressure P/sub c/, and energy flux F/sub c/ of Galactic cosmic rays interacting with a stellar wind and shock are also studied. The density N(r) increases with radius r, and for strong shocks with large enough modulation parameters, there may be a significant enhancement of the pressure of weakly relativistic particles near the shock compared to the cosmic-ray background pressure P/sub infinity/. The emergent energy flux at infinity is of the order of 4π R 2 V 1 P/sub infinity/ (V 1 is wind velocity upstream of the shock, R is shock radius)

  15. Dark matter and galactic cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taillet, R.

    2010-12-01

    Dark matter is one of the major problems encountered by modern cosmology and astrophysics, resisting the efforts of both theoreticians and experimentalists. The problem itself is easy to state: many indirect astrophysical measurements indicate that the mass contained in the Universe seems to be dominated by a new type of matter which has never been directly seen yet, this is why it is called dark matter. This hypothesis of dark matter being made of new particles is of great interest for particle physicists, whose theories provide many candidates: dark matter is one of the major topics of astro-particle physics. This work focuses on searching dark matter in the form of new particles, more precisely to indirect detection, i.e. the search of particles produced by dark matter annihilation rather than dark matter particles themselves. In this framework, I will present the studies I have been doing in the field of cosmic rays physics (particularly cosmic ray sources), in several collaborations. In particular, the study of the antimatter component of cosmic rays can give relevant information about dark matter. The last chapter is dedicated to my teaching activities

  16. Cosmic Rays and Dynamical Meteorology, 2. Snow Effect In Different Multiplicities According To Neutron Monitor Data of Emilio Segre' Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorman, L. I.; Iucci, N.; Pustil'Nik, L. A.; Sternlieb, A.; Villoresi, G.; Zukerman, I. G.

    On the basis of cosmic ray hourly data obtained by NM of Emilio Segre' Observatory (hight 2025 m above s.l., cut-off rigidity for vertical direction 10.8 GV) we determine the snow effect in CR for total neutron intensity and for multiplicities m=1, m=2, m=3, m=4, m=5, m=6, and m=7. For comparison and excluding primary CR variations we use also hourly data on neutron multiplicities obtained by Rome NM (about sea level, cut-off rigidity 6.7 GV). In this paper we will analize effects of snow in periods from 4 January 2000 to 15 April 2000 with maximal absorption effect about 5%, and from 21 December 2000 up to 31 March 2001 with maximal effect 13% in the total neu- tron intensity. We use the periods without snow to determine regeression coefficients between primary CR variations observed by NM of Emilio Segre' Observatory, and by Rome NM. On the basis of obtained results we develop a method to correct data on snow effect by using several NM hourly data. On the basis of our data we estimate the accuracy with what can be made correction of NM data of stations where the snow effect can be important.

  17. An algorithm to resolve γ-rays from charged cosmic rays with DAMPE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zun-Lei; Duan, Kai-Kai; Shen, Zhao-Qiang; Lei, Shi-Jun; Dong, Tie-Kuang; Gargano, Fabio; Garrappa, Simone; Guo, Dong-Ya; Jiang, Wei; Li, Xiang; Liang, Yun-Feng; Mazziotta, Mario Nicola; Munoz Salinas, Maria Fernanda; Su, Meng; Vagelli, Valerio; Yuan, Qiang; Yue, Chuan; Zang, Jing-Jing; Zhang, Ya-Peng; Zhang, Yun-Long; Zimmer, Stephan

    2018-03-01

    The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), also known as Wukong in China, which was launched on 2015 December 17, is a new high energy cosmic ray and γ-ray satellite-borne observatory. One of the main scientific goals of DAMPE is to observe GeV-TeV high energy γ-rays with accurate energy, angular and time resolution, to indirectly search for dark matter particles and for the study of high energy astrophysics. Due to the comparatively higher fluxes of charged cosmic rays with respect to γ-rays, it is challenging to identify γ-rays with sufficiently high efficiency, minimizing the amount of charged cosmic ray contamination. In this work we present a method to identify γ-rays in DAMPE data based on Monte Carlo simulations, using the powerful electromagnetic/hadronic shower discrimination provided by the calorimeter and the veto detection of charged particles provided by the plastic scintillation detector. Monte Carlo simulations show that after this selection the number of electrons and protons that contaminate the selected γ-ray events at ∼ 10GeV amounts to less than 1% of the selected sample. Finally, we use flight data to verify the effectiveness of the method by highlighting known γ-ray sources in the sky and by reconstructing preliminary light curves of the Geminga pulsar.

  18. The Fermi Large Area Telescope as a cosmic-ray detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sgrò, Carmelo

    2013-01-01

    The Fermi Large Area Telescope is an international observatory conceived to study high energy gamma-rays from the universe. It is designed to identify and reconstruct electromagnetic showers and it can collect cosmic-ray electrons and positrons thanks to its triggering and filtering capabilities. The Fermi LAT collaboration has published several results on charged cosmic rays. We measured the inclusive spectrum of electrons and positrons from 7 GeV to 1 TeV and searched for anisotropies in the electron incoming direction. We have recently published a measurement of cosmic-ray positron-only and electron-only spectra for energies between 20 GeV and 200 GeV exploiting the Earth's magnetic field as a charge separator. In this work we describe the techniques and capabilities of the LAT as a cosmic-ray detector and review the recent results and their interpretations. Prospects for future studies and observations will also be discussed

  19. Cosmic ray spectrum, composition, and anisotropy measured with IceCube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tamburro, Alessio

    2014-01-01

    Analysis of cosmic ray surface data collected with the IceTop array of Cherenkov detectors at the South Pole provides an accurate measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum and its features in the “knee” region up to energies of about 1 EeV. IceTop is part of the IceCube Observatory that includes a deep-ice cubic kilometer detector that registers signals of penetrating muons and other particles. Surface and in-ice signals detected in coincidence provide clear insights into the nuclear composition of cosmic rays. IceCube already measured an increase of the average primary mass as a function of energy. We present preliminary results on both IceTop-only and coincident events analysis. Furthermore, we review the recent measurement of the cosmic ray anisotropy with IceCube

  20. Cosmic ray spectrum, composition, and anisotropy measured with IceCube

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamburro, Alessio

    2014-04-01

    Analysis of cosmic ray surface data collected with the IceTop array of Cherenkov detectors at the South Pole provides an accurate measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum and its features in the "knee" region up to energies of about 1 EeV. IceTop is part of the IceCube Observatory that includes a deep-ice cubic kilometer detector that registers signals of penetrating muons and other particles. Surface and in-ice signals detected in coincidence provide clear insights into the nuclear composition of cosmic rays. IceCube already measured an increase of the average primary mass as a function of energy. We present preliminary results on both IceTop-only and coincident events analysis. Furthermore, we review the recent measurement of the cosmic ray anisotropy with IceCube.

  1. Cosmic Ray Mass Measurements with LOFAR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Buitink Stijn

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In the dense core of LOFAR individual air showers are detected by hundreds of dipole antennas simultaneously. We reconstruct Xmax by using a hybrid technique that combines a two-dimensional fit of the radio profile to CoREAS simulations and a one-dimensional fit of the particle density distribution. For high-quality detections, the statistical uncertainty on Xmax is smaller than 20 g/cm2. We present results of cosmic-ray mass analysis in the energy regime of 1017 - 1017.5 eV. This range is of particular interest as it may harbor the transition from a Galactic to an extragalactic origin of cosmic rays.

  2. Extrapolating cosmic ray variations and impacts on life: Morlet wavelet analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarrouk, N.; Bennaceur, R.

    2009-07-01

    Exposure to cosmic rays may have both a direct and indirect effect on Earth's organisms. The radiation may lead to higher rates of genetic mutations in organisms, or interfere with their ability to repair DNA damage, potentially leading to diseases such as cancer. Increased cloud cover, which may cool the planet by blocking out more of the Sun's rays, is also associated with cosmic rays. They also interact with molecules in the atmosphere to create nitrogen oxide, a gas that eats away at our planet's ozone layer, which protects us from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. On the ground, humans are protected from cosmic particles by the planet's atmosphere. In this paper we give estimated results of wavelet analysis from solar modulation and cosmic ray data incorporated in time-dependent cosmic ray variation. Since solar activity can be described as a non-linear chaotic dynamic system, methods such as neural networks and wavelet methods should be very suitable analytical tools. Thus we have computed our results using Morlet wavelets. Many have used wavelet techniques for studying solar activity. Here we have analysed and reconstructed cosmic ray variation, and we have better depicted periods or harmonics other than the 11-year solar modulation cycles.

  3. Theory of geomagnetic effects of cosmic rays: its past and presence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gall, R [Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City. Inst. de Geofisica

    1981-03-01

    The interest expressed by Lemaitre and Vallarta in the nature of universal corpuscular radiation, remnant of the exploded primogenitive atom, culminated in 1932, in the development of their theory of the geomagnetic effects of cosmic rays, a tool since its publication, basic to cosmic radiation research and to the advancement of cosmic ray astronomy. Between 1940 and 1960 challenging experimental data from proliferating cosmic radiation stations and of direct detection techniques provided geomagnetic field models for greater theoretical precision. The discoveries since the advent of the space age of the Earth's cavity and geomagnetic tail, and of the nonrelativistic solar cosmic rays have resulted in a new branch of the theory dealing with magnetosphere effects in the propagation of low energy cosmic radiations. The theory's importance and application to cosmic bodies other than the Earth is discussed.

  4. Correcting the effects of the matrix using capture gamma-ray spectrometry: Application to measurement by Active Neutron Interrogation; Correction des effets de matrice par spectrometrie des rayonnements gamma de capture: Application a la mesure par Interrogation Neutronique Active (I.N.A.)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baudry, G.

    2003-11-15

    In the field of the measurement of low masses of fissile material ({sup 235}U, {sup 239}Pu, {sup 241}Pu) in radioactive waste drums, the Active Neutron Interrogation is a non-destructive method achieving good results. It does however remain reliant upon uncertainties related to the matrix effects on interrogation and fission neutrons. The aim of this thesis is to develop a correction method able to take into account these matrix effects by quantifying the amount of absorbent materials (chlorine and hydrogen) in a 118- liter homogeneous matrix. The main idea is to use the gamma-ray spectrometry of gamma emitted by neutron captures to identify and quantify the composition of the matrix. An indicator from its chlorine content is then deduced in order to choose the calibration coefficient which best represents the real composition of the matrix. This document firstly presents the needs of control and characterization of radioactive objects, and the means used in the field of nuclear measurement. Emphases is put in particular on the Active Neutron Interrogation method. The matrices of interest are those made of light technological waste (density {<=} 0,4 g/cm{sup 3}) containing hydrogenated and chlorinated materials. The advantages of gamma-rays emitted by neutron captures for the determination of a chlorine content indicator of the matrices and the principles of the correction method are then explained. Measurements have been firstly realized with an existing Neutron Interrogation device (PROMETHEE 6). Such measurements have proven its inadequacy: no signal from the matrix hydrogen was detected, due to an intense signal from the polyethylene contained in some cell elements. Moreover, the matrix chlorine content appeared difficult to be measured. A new and specific device, named REGAIN and dedicated to active gamma-rays spectrometry, was defined with the Monte-Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code. The experiments conducted with this new device made it possible to detect the

  5. Identifying Galactic Cosmic Ray Origins With Super-TIGER

    Science.gov (United States)

    deNolfo, Georgia; Binns, W. R.; Israel, M. H.; Christian, E. R.; Mitchell, J. W.; Hams, T.; Link, J. T.; Sasaki, M.; Labrador, A. W.; Mewaldt, R. A.; hide

    2009-01-01

    Super-TIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is a new long-duration balloon-borne instrument designed to test and clarify an emerging model of cosmic-ray origins and models for atomic processes by which nuclei are selected for acceleration. A sensitive test of the origin of cosmic rays is the measurement of ultra heavy elemental abundances (Z > or equal 30). Super-TIGER is a large-area (5 sq m) instrument designed to measure the elements in the interval 30 TIGER builds on the heritage of the smaller TIGER, which produced the first well-resolved measurements of elemental abundances of the elements Ga-31, Ge-32, and Se-34. We present the Super-TIGER design, schedule, and progress to date, and discuss the relevance of UH measurements to cosmic-ray origins.

  6. Cosmic rays,Climate and the CERN CLOUD Experiment

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2011-01-01

    For more than two centuries, scientists have been puzzled by observations of solar-climate variability yet the lack of any established physical mechanism. Some recent observations, although disputed, suggest that clouds may be influenced by cosmic rays, which are modulated by the solar wind. The CLOUD experiment aims to settle the question of whether or not cosmic rays have a climatically-significant effect on clouds by carrying out a series of carefully-controlled measurements in a large cloud chamber exposed to a beam from the CERN PS. This talk will present the scientific motivation for CLOUD and the first results, which have recently been published in Nature (Kirkby et al. (2011). Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation. Nature 476, 429-433).

  7. Cosmic Rays from the Knee to the Ankle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haungs, Andreas

    Investigations of the energy spectrum as well as the mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range of PeV to EeV are important for understanding both, the origin of the galactic and the extragalactic cosmic rays. Recently, three modern experimental installations (KASCADE-Grande, IceTop, Tunka-133), dedicated to investigate this primary energy range, have published new results on the all-particle energy spectrum. In this short review these results are presented and the similarities and differences discussed. In addition, the effects of using different hadronic interaction models for interpreting the measured air-shower data will be examined. Finally, a brief discussion on the question if the present results are in agreement or in contradiction with astrophysical models for the transition from galactic to extragalactic origin of cosmic rays completes this paper.

  8. The cosmic-ray shock structure problem for relativistic shocks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, G. M.

    1985-01-01

    The time asymptotic behaviour of a relativistic (parallel) shock wave significantly modified by the diffusive acceleration of cosmic-rays is investigated by means of relativistic hydrodynamical equations for both the cosmic-rays and thermal gas. The form of the shock structure equation and the dispersion relation for both long and short wavelength waves in the system are obtained. The dependence of the shock acceleration efficiency on the upstream fluid spped, long wavelength Mach number and the ratio N = P sub co/cP sub co+P sub go)(Psub co and P sub go are the upstream cosmic-ray and thermal gas pressures respectively) are studied.

  9. Hydrology and Cosmic radiation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Mie

    and calibration. Yet, soil moisture measurements are traditionally provided on either point or kilometer scale from electromagnetic based sensors and satellite retrievals, respectively. Above the ground surface, the cosmic-ray neutron intensity (eV range) is inversely correlated to all hydrogen present...

  10. Cosmic gamma-ray bursts from BATSE - Another great debate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartmann, Dieter H.; The, Lih-Sin; Clayton, Donald D.; Schnepf, Neil G.; Linder, Eric V.

    1992-01-01

    The BATSE detectors aboard Compton Observatory record about one cosmic gamma-ray burst (GRB) per day. Preliminary data analysis shows a highly isotropic sky map and a nonuniform brightness distribution. Anisotropies expected from a Galactic neutron star population, the most frequently considered source model, did not emerge from the data. Taken at face value, the data seem to suggest a heliocentric solution of the GRB puzzle. The observed isotropy can be achieved if sources are either very near or extragalactic. Pop I neutron stars in the disk do not simultaneously fit sky and brightness distributions. A possibility are sources in an extended Galactic halo with scale length large enough to avoid strong anisotropies due to the solar offset from the Galactic center. If GRBs are located in an extended halo we ask whether the neutron star paradigm can survive. We show that the recently discovered high velocity radio pulsars may provide a natural source population for GRBs. If these pulsars formed in the halo, as suggested by the radio data, the possibility arises that GRBs and high velocity pulsars are two related phenomena that provide observational evidence of the dark Galactic corona. We also discuss cosmological redshift constraints that follow from the observed brightness distribution.

  11. Latitude survey investigation of galactic cosmic ray solar modulation during 1994-2007

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nuntiyakul, W.; Ruffolo, D.; Sáiz, A. [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400 (Thailand); Evenson, P.; Bieber, J. W.; Clem, J.; Pyle, R. [Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States); Duldig, M. L.; Humble, J. E., E-mail: w.nuntiyakul@gmail.com, E-mail: david.ruf@mahidol.ac.th, E-mail: alejandro.sai@mahidol.ac.th, E-mail: evenson@udel.edu, E-mail: jwbieber@bartol.udel.edu, E-mail: clem@bartol.udel.edu, E-mail: pyle@bartol.udel.edu, E-mail: John.Humble@utas.edu.au, E-mail: Marc.Duldig@utas.edu.au [School of Physical Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001 (Australia)

    2014-11-01

    The Galactic cosmic ray spectrum exhibits subtle variations over the 22 yr solar magnetic cycle in addition to the more dramatic variations over the 11 yr sunspot cycle. Neutron monitors are large ground-based detectors that provide accurate measurements of variations in the cosmic ray flux at the top of the atmosphere above the detector. At any given location the magnetic field of the Earth excludes particles below a well-defined rigidity (momentum per unit charge) known as the cutoff rigidity, which can be accurately calculated using detailed models of the geomagnetic field. By carrying a neutron monitor to different locations, e.g., on a ship, the Earth itself serves as a magnet spectrometer. By repeating such latitude surveys with identical equipment, a sensitive measurement of changes in the spectrum can be made. In this work, we analyze data from the 1994 through 2007 series of latitude surveys conducted by the Bartol Research Institute, the University of Tasmania, and the Australian Antarctic Division. We confirm the curious 'crossover' in spectra measured near solar minima during epochs of opposite solar magnetic polarity, and show that it is directly related to a sudden change in the spectral behavior of solar modulation at the time of the polarity reversal, as revealed from contemporaneous variations in the survey data and a fixed station. We suggest that the spectral change and crossover result from the interaction of effects due to gradient/curvature drifts with a systematic change in the interplanetary diffusion coefficient caused by turbulent magnetic helicity.

  12. PRECISE COSMIC RAYS MEASUREMENTS WITH PAMELA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Bruno

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The PAMELA experiment was launched on board the Resurs-DK1 satellite on June 15th 2006. The apparatus was designed to conduct precision studies of charged cosmic radiation over a wide energy range, from tens of MeV up to several hundred GeV, with unprecedented statistics. In five years of continuous data taking in space, PAMELA accurately measured the energy spectra of cosmic ray antiprotons and positrons, as well as protons, electrons and light nuclei, sometimes providing data in unexplored energetic regions. These important results have shed new light in several astrophysical fields like: an indirect search for Dark Matter, a search for cosmological antimatter (anti-Helium, and the validation of acceleration, transport and secondary production models of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. Some of the most important items of Solar and Magnetospheric physics were also investigated. Here we present the most recent results obtained by the PAMELA experiment.

  13. Observations of cosmic gamma ray bursts with WATCH on EURECA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brandt, Søren; Lund, N.; Castro-Tirado, A. J.

    1995-01-01

    19 Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts were detected by the WATCH wide field X-ray monitor during the 11 months flight of EURECA. The identification of the bursts were complicated by a high frequency of background of events caused by high energy cosmic ray interactions in the detector and by low energy, trap...

  14. The NASA cosmic ray program for the 1990's and beyond Interim report of the NASA Cosmic Ray Program Working Group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahlen, S.P.; Binns, W.R.; Cherry, M.L.; Gaisser, T.K.; Jones, W.V.; Ling, J.C.; Mewaldt, R.A.; Muller, D.; Ormes, J.O.; Ramaty, R.; Stone, E.C.; Waddington, C.J.; Webber, W.R.; Miedenbeck, M.E.

    1990-01-01

    The interim report of the 1989 NASA Cosmic Ray Program Working Group is presented. The report summarizes the cosmic ray program for the 1990's, including the recently approved ACE, Astromag, HNC, POEMS, and SAMPEX missions, as well as other key elements of the program. New science themes and candidate missions are identified for the first part of the 21st Century, including objectives that might be addressed as part of the Human Exploration Initiative. Among the suggested new thrusts for the 21st century are: an Interstellar Probe into the nearby interstellar medium; a Lunar-Based Calorimeter to measure the cosmic ray composition near ∼10 16 eV; high precision element and isotope spectroscopy of ultraheavy (Z≥30) elements; and new, more sensitive, studies of impulsive solar flare events

  15. Muon Production in Relativistic Cosmic-Ray Interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein, Spencer

    2009-01-01

    Cosmic-rays with energies up to 3 x 10 20 eV have been observed. The nuclear composition of these cosmic rays is unknown but if the incident nuclei are protons then the corresponding center of mass energy is √s nn = 700 TeV. High energy muons can be used to probe the composition of these incident nuclei. The energy spectra of high-energy (> 1 TeV) cosmic ray induced muons have been measured with deep underground or under-ice detectors. These muons come from pion and kaon decays and from charm production in the atmosphere. Terrestrial experiments are most sensitive to far-forward muons so the production rates aresensitive to high-x partons in the incident nucleus and low-x partons in the nitrogen/oxygen targets. Muon measurements can complement the central-particle data collected at colliders. This paper will review muon production data and discuss some non-perturbative (soft) models that have been used to interpret the data. I will show measurements of TeV muon transverse momentum (p T ) spectra in cosmic-ray air showers from MACRO, and describe how the IceCube neutrino observatory and the proposed Km3Net detector will extend these measurements to a higher p T region where perturbative QCD should apply. With a 1 km 2 surface area, the full IceCube detector should observe hundreds of muons/year with p T in the pQCD regime.

  16. Muon Production in Relativistic Cosmic-Ray Interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein, Spencer R.

    2009-01-01

    Cosmic-rays with energies up to 3x10 20 eV have been observed. The nuclear composition of these cosmic rays is unknown but if the incident nuclei are protons then the corresponding center of mass energy is √(s nn )=700TeV. High energy muons can be used to probe the composition of these incident nuclei. The energy spectra of high-energy (>1TeV) cosmic ray induced muons have been measured with deep underground or under-ice detectors. These muons come from pion and kaon decays and from charm production in the atmosphere. Terrestrial experiments are most sensitive to far-forward muons so the production rates are sensitive to high-x partons in the incident nucleus and low-x partons in the nitrogen/oxygen targets. Muon measurements can complement the central-particle data collected at colliders. This paper will review muon production data and discuss some non-perturbative (soft) models that have been used to interpret the data. I will show measurements of TeV muon transverse momentum (p T ) spectra in cosmic-ray air showers from MACRO, and describe how the IceCube neutrino observatory and the proposed Km3Net detector will extend these measurements to a higher p T region where perturbative QCD should apply. With a 1 km 2 surface area, the full IceCube detector should observe hundreds of muons/year with p T in the pQCD regime.

  17. Cosmic ray antimatter: Is it primary or secondary?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stecker, F. W.; Protheroe, R. J.; Kazanas, D.

    1981-01-01

    The relative merits and difficulties of the primary and secondary origin hypotheses for the observed cosmic ray antiprotons, including the low energy measurement of Buffington, were examined. It is concluded that the cosmic ray antiproton data may be strong evidence for antimatter galaxies and baryon symmetric cosmology. The present antiproton data are consistent with a primary extragalactic component having antiproton/proton approximately equal to .0032 + or - 0.7.

  18. Measurement of hydrogen and helium isotopes flux in galactic cosmic rays with the PAMELA experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Formato, V., E-mail: valerio.formato@ts.infn.it [INFN, Sezione di Trieste, I-34149 Trieste (Italy); University of Trieste, Department of Physics, I-34147 Trieste (Italy); Adriani, O. [University of Florence, Department of Physics, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Florence, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); Barbarino, G.C. [University of Naples “Federico II”, Department of Physics, I-80126 Naples (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Naples, I-80126 Naples (Italy); Bazilevskaya, G.A. [Lebedev Physical Institute, RU-119991, Moscow (Russian Federation); Bellotti, R. [University of Bari, Department of Physics, I-70126 Bari (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy); Boezio, M. [INFN, Sezione di Trieste, I-34149 Trieste (Italy); Bogomolov, E.A. [Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, RU-194021 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Bongi, M. [University of Florence, Department of Physics, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Florence, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); Bonvicini, V. [INFN, Sezione di Trieste, I-34149 Trieste (Italy); Bottai, S. [INFN, Sezione di Florence, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); Bruno, A.; Cafagna, F. [INFN, Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy); Campana, D. [INFN, Sezione di Naples, I-80126 Naples (Italy); Carbone, R. [INFN, Sezione di Trieste, I-34149 Trieste (Italy); Carlson, P. [KTH, Department of Physics, AlbaNova University Centre, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden); Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics (Sweden); Casolino, M. [INFN, Sezione di Rome “Tor Vergata”, I-00133 Rome (Italy); RIKEN, Advanced Science Institute, Wako-shi, Saitama (Japan); Castellini, G. [IFAC, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); and others

    2014-04-01

    PAMELA is a satellite borne experiment designed to study with great accuracy cosmic rays of galactic, solar, and trapped nature, with particular focus on the antimatter component. The detector consists of a permanent magnet spectrometer core to provide rigidity and charge sign information, a Time-of-Flight system for velocity and charge information, a Silicon–Tungsten calorimeter and a Neutron detector for lepton/hadron identification. The velocity and rigidity information allow the identification of different isotopes for Z=1 and Z=2 particles in the energy range 100 MeV/n to 1 GeV/n. In this work we will present the PAMELA results on the H and He isotope fluxes based on the data collected during the 23rd solar minimum from 2006 to 2007. Such fluxes carry relevant information helpful in constraining parameters in galactic cosmic rays propagation models complementary to those obtained from other secondary to primary measurements such as the boron-to-carbon ratio.

  19. Cosmic ray spectroscopy using plastic scintillator detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rudra, Sharmili; Nandan, Akhilesh P.; Neog, Himangshu; Biswas, S.; Mohanty, B.; Mahapatra, S.; Samal, P.K.

    2014-01-01

    A simple and new technique has been developed using plastic scintillator detectors for cosmic ray spectroscopy without single channel analyzer (SCA) or multichannel analyzer (MCA). In this technique only a leading edge discriminator (LED) and a NIM scaler have been used. Plastic scintillator detectors has been used to measure the velocity of cosmic ray muons. Here the time difference has been measured from the Tektronix DPO 5054 digital phosphor oscilloscope with 500 MHz and 5 GS/s. The details of experimental technique, analysis procedure and experimental results are presented

  20. Long-term variations of cosmic ray intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dergachev, V.A.; Kocharov, G.E.; Ostryakov, V.M.

    1982-01-01

    At the present time we know only one possibility to reconstruct the Cosmic Ray intensity in the past. This possibility is connected with the measurements of radiocarbon abundance in the dendrochronologically dated wood samples. As the experiments carried out with the help of spacecrafts, balloons and ground apparatus show the Galactic Cosmic Ray flux essentially varies on a short time scales. The variations are caused by different astrophysical and geophysical phenomena. 14 C isotope allows us to investigate these reasons on a more long time interval in comparison with direct observational possibilities

  1. Cosmic Rays: studies and measurements before 1912

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Angelis, Alessandro [INFN and Università di Udine, Via delle Scienze 206, I-33100 Udine (Italy); LIP/IST Lisboa (Portugal)

    2013-06-15

    The discovery of cosmic rays, a milestone in science, was based on the work by scientists in Europe and the New World and took place during a period characterised by nationalism and lack of communication. Many scientists that took part in this research a century ago were intrigued by the penetrating radiation and tried to understand the origin of it. Several important contributions to the discovery of the origin of cosmic rays have been forgotten; historical, political and personal facts might have contributed to their substantial disappearance from the history of science.

  2. Status of the UMC cosmic ray experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nitz, D.

    1989-01-01

    The UMC Ultra High Energy cosmic ray experiment is a collaboration among the University of Utah, the University of Michigan, and the University of Chicago. It is located at the site of the Fly's Eye II experiment at Dugway, Utah, at latitude 40.2 0 and an atmospheric depth of 850 gm/cm 2 . Extensive air shower (EAS) surface arrays, a large area muon counter array, tracking Cerenkov telescopes, and the Fly's Eye detector constitute the elements of a versatile cosmic ray observatory for > or approx. 10 14 eV extensive air showers. (orig.)

  3. Cosmic Rays: studies and measurements before 1912

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Angelis, Alessandro

    2013-06-01

    The discovery of cosmic rays, a milestone in science, was based on the work by scientists in Europe and the New World and took place during a period characterised by nationalism and lack of communication. Many scientists that took part in this research a century ago were intrigued by the penetrating radiation and tried to understand the origin of it. Several important contributions to the discovery of the origin of cosmic rays have been forgotten; historical, political and personal facts might have contributed to their substantial disappearance from the history of science.

  4. Cosmic Rays: studies and measurements before 1912

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Angelis, Alessandro

    2013-01-01

    The discovery of cosmic rays, a milestone in science, was based on the work by scientists in Europe and the New World and took place during a period characterised by nationalism and lack of communication. Many scientists that took part in this research a century ago were intrigued by the penetrating radiation and tried to understand the origin of it. Several important contributions to the discovery of the origin of cosmic rays have been forgotten; historical, political and personal facts might have contributed to their substantial disappearance from the history of science

  5. Cosmic rays and stochastic magnetic reconnection in the heliotail

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Desiati

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Galactic cosmic rays are believed to be generated by diffusive shock acceleration processes in Supernova Remnants, and the arrival direction is likely determined by the distribution of their sources throughout the Galaxy, in particular by the nearest and youngest ones. Transport to Earth through the interstellar medium is expected to affect the cosmic ray properties as well. However, the observed anisotropy of TeV cosmic rays and its energy dependence cannot be explained with diffusion models of particle propagation in the Galaxy. Within a distance of a few parsec, diffusion regime is not valid and particles with energy below about 100 TeV must be influenced by the heliosphere and its elongated tail. The observation of a highly significant localized excess region of cosmic rays from the apparent direction of the downstream interstellar flow at 1–10 TeV energies might provide the first experimental evidence that the heliotail can affect the transport of energetic particles. In particular, TeV cosmic rays propagating through the heliotail interact with the 100–300 AU wide magnetic field polarity domains generated by the 11 yr cycles. Since the strength of non-linear convective processes is expected to be larger than viscous damping, the plasma in the heliotail is turbulent. Where magnetic field domains converge on each other due to solar wind gradient, stochastic magnetic reconnection likely occurs. Such processes may be efficient enough to re-accelerate a fraction of TeV particles as long as scattering processes are not strong. Therefore, the fractional excess of TeV cosmic rays from the narrow region toward the heliotail direction traces sightlines with the lowest smearing scattering effects, that can also explain the observation of a harder than average energy spectrum.

  6. Modelling cosmic ray intensities along the Ulysses trajectory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. C. Ndiitwani

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available Time dependent cosmic ray modulation in the inner heliosphere is studied by comparing results from a 2-D, time-dependent cosmic ray transport model with Ulysses observations. A compound approach, which combines the effects of the global changes in the heliospheric magnetic field magnitude with drifts to establish a realistic time-dependence, in the diffusion and drift coefficients, are used. We show that this model results in realistic cosmic ray modulation from the Ulysses launch (1990 until recently (2004 when compared to 2.5-GV electron and proton and 1.2-GV electron and Helium observations from this spacecraft. This approach is also applied to compute radial gradients present in 2.5-GV cosmic ray electron and protons in the inner heliosphere. The observed latitude dependence for both positive and negative charged particles during both the fast latitude scan periods, corresponding to different solar activity conditions, could also be realistically computed. For this an additional reduction in particle drifts (compared to diffusion toward solar maximum is needed. This results in a realistic charge-sign dependent modulation at solar maximum and the model is also applied to predict charge-sign dependent modulation up to the next expected solar minimum.

  7. Cosmic ray anisotropy along with interplanetary transients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mishra, Rajesh Kumar

    The present work deals with the study of first three harmonics of low amplitude anisotropic wave trains of cosmic ray intensity over the period 1991-1994 for Deep River neutron monitoring station. It is observed that the diurnal time of maximum remains in the corotational direction; whereas, the time of maximum for both diurnal and semi-diurnal anisotropy has significantly shifted towards later hours as compared to the quiet day annual average for majority of the LAE events. It is noticed that these events are not caused either by the high-speed solar wind streams or by the sources on the Sun responsible for producing these streams; such as, polar coronal holes. The direction of the tri-diurnal anisotropy shows a good negative correlation with Bz component of interplanetary magnetic field. The occurrence of low amplitude events is dominant for positive polarity of Bz. The Disturbance Storm Time index i.e. Dst remains consistently negative only throughout the entire low amplitude wave train event.

  8. Z-burst scenario for the highest energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fodor, Z.

    2002-10-01

    The origin of highest energy cosmic rays is yet unknown. An appealing possibility is the so-called Z-burst scenario, in which a large fraction of these cosmic rays are decay products of Z bosons produced in the scattering of ultrahigh energy neutrinos on cosmological relic neutrinos. The comparison between the observed and predicted spectra constrains the mass of the heaviest neutrino. The required neutrino mass is fairly robust against variations of the presently unknown quantities, such as the amount of relic neutrino clustering, the universal photon radio background and the extragalactic magnetic field. Considering different possibilities for the ordinary cosmic rays the required neutrino masses are determined. In the most plausible case that the ordinary cosmic rays are of extragalactic origin and the universal radio background is strong enough to suppress high energy photons, the required neutrino mass is 0.08 eV ≤ m ν ≤ 0.40 eV. The required ultrahigh energy neutrino flux should be detected in the near future by experiments such as AMANDA, RICE or the Pierre Auger Observatory. (orig.)

  9. First cosmic-ray images of bone and soft tissue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mrdja, Dusan; Bikit, Istvan; Bikit, Kristina; Slivka, Jaroslav; Hansman, Jan; Oláh, László; Varga, Dezső

    2016-11-01

    More than 120 years after Roentgen's first X-ray image, the first cosmic-ray muon images of bone and soft tissue are created. The pictures, shown in the present paper, represent the first radiographies of structures of organic origin ever recorded by cosmic rays. This result is achieved by a uniquely designed, simple and versatile cosmic-ray muon-imaging system, which consists of four plastic scintillation detectors and a muon tracker. This system does not use scattering or absorption of muons in order to deduct image information, but takes advantage of the production rate of secondaries in the target materials, detected in coincidence with muons. The 2D image slices of cow femur bone are obtained at several depths along the bone axis, together with the corresponding 3D image. Real organic soft tissue, polymethyl methacrylate and water, never seen before by any other muon imaging techniques, are also registered in the images. Thus, similar imaging systems, placed around structures of organic or inorganic origin, can be used for tomographic imaging using only the omnipresent cosmic radiation.

  10. Experimental Investigation of Aerosols Produced by Cosmic Rays

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Jens Olaf Pepke; Enghoff, Martin Andreas Bødker; Svensmark, Henrik

    an experiment in order to investigate the underlying microphysical processes. The results of this experiment will help to understand whether ionisation from cosmic rays, and by implication the related processes in the universe, has a direct influence on Earth’s atmosphere and climate. Since any physical...... mechanism linking cosmic rays to clouds and climate is currently speculative, there have been various suggestions of the role atmospheric ions may play; these involve any one of a number of processes from the nucleation of aerosols up to the collection processes of cloud droplets.We have chosen to start our......Satellite observations have shown that the Earth’s cloud cover is strongly correlated with the galactic cosmic ray flux. While this correlation is indicative of a possible physical connection, there is currently no confirmation that a physical mechanism exists. We are therefore setting up...

  11. Solar-cosmic-ray variability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reedy, R.C.

    1976-01-01

    The maximum flux of particles from solar events that should be considered in designing the shielding for a space habitation is discussed. The activities of various radionuclides measured in the top few centimeters of lunar rocks are used to examine the variability of solar cosmic ray fluxes over the last five million years. 10 references

  12. Background to Dark Matter Searches from Galactic Cosmic Rays

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    Just as searches for BSM physics at the LHC necessitate a careful audit of SM backgrounds, the search for signals of dark matter in cosmic rays must contend with production of secondaries like e+ and pbar through cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy. The theoretical framework for calculating this has however not been directly calibrated at the high energies being explored by AMS-02 and there may be surprises in store. In particular a nearby source where cosmic rays are being accelerated stochastically can naturally generate a e+ fraction rising with energy as is observed. The test of this is the expected correlated rise in other secondary/primary ratios e.g. B/C and pbar/p. Such a nearby cosmic accelerator should also be detectable through the concomitant flux of neutrinos and its discovery would be (nearly!) as exciting as that of dark matter.

  13. Long-lived staus from cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahlers, M.; Illana, J.I.; Masip, M.

    2007-05-01

    The collision of a high energy cosmic ray with a nucleon in the upper atmosphere could produce long-lived heavy particles. Such particles would be very penetrating, since the energy loss in matter scales as the inverse mass, and could reach a neutrino telescope like IceCube from large zenith angles. Here we study this possibility and focus on the long-lived stau of SUSY models with a gravitino LSP. The signal would be a pair of muon-like parallel tracks separated by 50 meters along the detector. We evaluate the background of muon pairs and show that any events from zenith angles above 80. could be explained by the production of these heavy particles by cosmic rays. (orig.)

  14. Long-lived staus from cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahlers, M. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Illana, J.I.; Masip, M. [Granada Univ. (Spain). CAFPE y Dept. de Fisica Teorica y del Cosmos; Meloni, D. [Univ. degli Studi di Roma La Spienza (Italy). Dipt. di Fisica; INFN, Roma (Italy)

    2007-05-15

    The collision of a high energy cosmic ray with a nucleon in the upper atmosphere could produce long-lived heavy particles. Such particles would be very penetrating, since the energy loss in matter scales as the inverse mass, and could reach a neutrino telescope like IceCube from large zenith angles. Here we study this possibility and focus on the long-lived stau of SUSY models with a gravitino LSP. The signal would be a pair of muon-like parallel tracks separated by 50 meters along the detector. We evaluate the background of muon pairs and show that any events from zenith angles above 80. could be explained by the production of these heavy particles by cosmic rays. (orig.)

  15. Angular correlation of cosmic neutrinos with ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and implications for their sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moharana, Reetanjali; Razzaque, Soebur, E-mail: reetanjalim@uj.ac.za, E-mail: srazzaque@uj.ac.za [Department of Physics, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006 (South Africa)

    2015-08-01

    Cosmic neutrino events detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory with energy 0∼> 3 TeV have poor angular resolutions to reveal their origin. Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), with better angular resolutions at 0>6 EeV energies, can be used to check if the same astrophysical sources are responsible for producing both neutrinos and UHECRs. We test this hypothesis, with statistical methods which emphasize invariant quantities, by using data from the Pierre Auger Observatory, Telescope Array and past cosmic-ray experiments. We find that the arrival directions of the cosmic neutrinos are correlated with 0≥ 10 EeV UHECR arrival directions at confidence level ≈ 90%. The strength of the correlation decreases with decreasing UHECR energy and no correlation exists at energy 0∼ 6 EeV . A search in astrophysical databases within 3{sup o} of the arrival directions of UHECRs with energy 0≥ 10 EeV, that are correlated with the IceCube cosmic neutrinos, resulted in 18 sources from the Swift-BAT X-ray catalog with redshift z≤ 0.06. We also found 3 objects in the Kühr catalog of radio sources using the same criteria. The sources are dominantly Seyfert galaxies with Cygnus A being the most prominent member. We calculate the required neutrino and UHECR fluxes to produce the observed correlated events, and estimate the corresponding neutrino luminosity (25 TeV–2.2 PeV) and cosmic-ray luminosity (500 TeV–180 EeV), assuming the sources are the ones we found in the Swift-BAT and Kühr catalogs. We compare these luminosities with the X-ray luminosity of the corresponding sources and discuss possibilities of accelerating protons to 0∼> 10 EeV and produce neutrinos in these sources.

  16. A new method for imaging nuclear threats using cosmic ray muons

    OpenAIRE

    Morris, C. L.; Bacon, Jeffrey; Borozdin, Konstantin; Miyadera, Haruo; Perry, John; Rose, Evan; Watson, Scott; White, Timothy; Aberle, Derek; Green, J. Andrew; McDuff, George G.; Lukić, Zarija; Milner, Edward C.

    2013-01-01

    Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate three dimensional images of volumes using information contained in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Advantages of this technique are the ability of cosmic rays to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose delivered to subjects under study above the natural cosmic ray flux. Disadvantages include the relatively long exposure times and poor position resolution and complex algorithms needed for...

  17. On the age distribution of galactic cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Owens, A.J.

    1975-01-01

    I consider the general solution for the distribution of ages for primary cosmic rays for a class of steady-state, bounded models of cosmic-ray diffusion in the galaxy. Both one dimensional and three-dimensional models are considered, with point sources and distributed sources. In all models, the age distribution is approximately exponential for ages longer than the average age, although for shorter ages the distribution depends on the details of the model. (orig.) [de

  18. Transition from galactic to extra-galactic cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aloisio, Roberto

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we review the main features of the observed Cosmic Rays spectrum in the energy range 10 17 eV to 10 20 eV. We present a theoretical model that explains the main observed features of the spectrum, namely the second Knee and Dip, and implies a transition from Galactic to Extra-Galactic cosmic rays at energy E ≅ 10 18 eV, with a proton dominated Extra-Galactic spectrum

  19. The transition from galactic to extragalactic cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor [Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)

    2007-06-15

    We discuss the region of transition between galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays. The exact shapes and compositions of these two components contain information about important parameters of powerful astrophysical sources and the conditions in extragalactic space. Several types of experimental data, including the exact shape of the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, their chemical composition and their anisotropy, and the fluxes of cosmogenic neutrinos have to be included in the solution of this problem.

  20. THE ORIGIN OF COSMIC RAYS: WHAT CAN GLAST SAY?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bloom, Elliott

    2000-10-10

    Gamma rays in the band from 30 MeV to 300 GeV, used in combination with direct measurements and with data from radio and X-ray bands, provide a powerful tool for studying the origin of Galactic cosmic rays. Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) with its fine 10-20 arcmin angular resolution will be able to map the sites of acceleration of cosmic rays and their interactions with interstellar matter. It will provide information that is necessary to study the acceleration of energetic particles in supernova shocks, their transport in the interstellar medium and penetration into molecular clouds.

  1. Cosmic rays and the search for a Lorentz Invariance Violation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bietenholz, Wolfgang, E-mail: wolbi@nucleares.unam.mx

    2011-08-15

    This is an introductory review about the ongoing search for a signal of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) in cosmic rays. We first summarise basic aspects of cosmic rays, focusing on rays of ultrahigh energy (UHECRs). We discuss the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) energy cutoff for cosmic protons, which is predicted due to photopion production in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This is a process of modest energy in the proton rest frame. It can be investigated to a high precision in the laboratory, if Lorentz transformations apply even at factors {gamma}{approx}O(10{sup 11}). For heavier nuclei, the energy attenuation is even faster due to photo-disintegration, again if this process is Lorentz invariant. Hence the viability of Lorentz symmetry up to tremendous {gamma}-factors-far beyond accelerator tests-is a central issue. Next, we comment on conceptual aspects of Lorentz Invariance and the possibility of its spontaneous breaking. This could lead to slightly particle dependent 'Maximal Attainable Velocities'. We discuss their effect in decays, Cerenkov radiation, the GZK cutoff and neutrino oscillation in cosmic rays. We also review the search for LIV in cosmic {gamma}-rays. For multi-TeV {gamma}-rays, we encounter another possible puzzle related to the transparency of the CMB, similar to the GZK cutoff, due to electron/positron creation and subsequent inverse Compton scattering. The photons emitted in a Gamma Ray Burst occur at lower energies, but their very long path provides access to information not that far from the Planck scale. We discuss conceivable nonlinear photon dispersions based on non-commutative geometry or effective approaches. No LIV has been observed so far. However, even extremely tiny LIV effects could change the predictions for cosmic ray physics drastically. An Appendix is devoted to the recent results by the Pierre Auger Collaboration, in particular the hypothesis that nearby Active Galactic Nuclei-or objects next to

  2. Cosmic rays and the search for a Lorentz Invariance Violation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bietenholz, Wolfgang

    2008-11-01

    This is an introductory review about the on-going search for a signal of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) in cosmic rays. We first summarise basic aspects of cosmic rays, focusing on rays of ultra high energy (UHECRs). We discuss the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) energy cutoff for cosmic protons, which is predicted due to photopion production in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This is a process of modest energy in the proton rest frame. It can be investigated to a high precision in the laboratory, if Lorentz transformations apply even at factors γ ∝ O(10 11 ). For heavier nuclei the energy attenuation is even faster due to photo-disintegration, again if this process is Lorentz invariant. Hence the viability of Lorentz symmetry up to tremendous γ-factors - far beyond accelerator tests - is a central issue. Next we comment on conceptual aspects of Lorentz Invariance and the possibility of its spontaneous breaking. This could lead to slightly particle dependent ''Maximal Attainable Velocities''. We discuss their effect in decays, Cerenkov radiation, the GZK cutoff and neutrino oscillation in cosmic rays. We also review the search for LIV in cosmic γ-rays. For multi TeV γ-rays we possibly encounter another puzzle related to the transparency of the CMB, similar to the GZK cutoff, due to electron/positron creation and subsequent inverse Compton scattering. The photons emitted in a Gamma Ray Burst occur at lower energies, but their very long path provides access to information not far from the Planck scale. We discuss conceivable non-linear photon dispersions based on non-commutative geometry or effective approaches. No LIV has been observed so far. However, even extremely tiny LIV effects could change the predictions for cosmic ray physics drastically. An Appendix is devoted to the recent hypothesis by the Pierre Auger Collaboration, which identifies nearby Active Galactic Nuclei - or objects next to them - as probable UHECR sources. (orig.)

  3. Cosmic rays and the search for a Lorentz Invariance Violation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bietenholz, Wolfgang [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC

    2008-11-15

    This is an introductory review about the on-going search for a signal of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) in cosmic rays. We first summarise basic aspects of cosmic rays, focusing on rays of ultra high energy (UHECRs). We discuss the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) energy cutoff for cosmic protons, which is predicted due to photopion production in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This is a process of modest energy in the proton rest frame. It can be investigated to a high precision in the laboratory, if Lorentz transformations apply even at factors {gamma} {proportional_to} O(10{sup 11}). For heavier nuclei the energy attenuation is even faster due to photo-disintegration, again if this process is Lorentz invariant. Hence the viability of Lorentz symmetry up to tremendous {gamma}-factors - far beyond accelerator tests - is a central issue. Next we comment on conceptual aspects of Lorentz Invariance and the possibility of its spontaneous breaking. This could lead to slightly particle dependent ''Maximal Attainable Velocities''. We discuss their effect in decays, Cerenkov radiation, the GZK cutoff and neutrino oscillation in cosmic rays. We also review the search for LIV in cosmic {gamma}-rays. For multi TeV {gamma}-rays we possibly encounter another puzzle related to the transparency of the CMB, similar to the GZK cutoff, due to electron/positron creation and subsequent inverse Compton scattering. The photons emitted in a Gamma Ray Burst occur at lower energies, but their very long path provides access to information not far from the Planck scale. We discuss conceivable non-linear photon dispersions based on non-commutative geometry or effective approaches. No LIV has been observed so far. However, even extremely tiny LIV effects could change the predictions for cosmic ray physics drastically. An Appendix is devoted to the recent hypothesis by the Pierre Auger Collaboration, which identifies nearby Active Galactic Nuclei - or objects

  4. VI School on Cosmic Rays and Astrophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2017-01-01

    VI School on Cosmic Rays and Astrophysics 17-25 November 2015, Chiapas, Mexico The VI School on Cosmic Rays and Astrophysics was held at the MCTP, at the Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH), Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico thanks to the Science for Development ICTP-UNACH-UNESCO Regional Seminar, 17-25 November 2015 (http://mctp.mx/e-VI-School-on-Cosmic-Rays-and-Astrophysics.html). The School series started in La Paz, Bolivia in 2004 and it has been, since then, hosted by several Latin American countires: 1.- La Paz, Bolivia (August, 2004), 2.- Puebla, Mexico (September, 2006), 3.- Arequipa, Peru (September, 2008), 4.- Santo André, Brazil (September, 2010), 5.- La Paz, Bolivia (August, 2012). It aims to promote Cosmic Ray (CR) Physics and Astrophysics in the Latin American community and to provide a general overview of theoretical and experimental issues on these topics. It is directed to undergraduates, postgraduates and active researchers in the field. The lectures introduce fundamental Cosmic Ray Physics and Astrophysics with a review of standards of the field. It is expected the school continues happening during the next years following a tradition. In this edition, the list of seminars included topics such as experimental techniques of CR detection, development of CR showers and hadronic interactions, composition and energy spectrum of primary CR, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), neutrino Astrophysics, spacecraft detectors, simulations, solar modulation, and the current state of development and results of several astroparticle physics experiments such as The Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, HAWC in Mexico, KASCADE and KASCADE Grande, HESS, IceCube, JEM-EUSO, Fermi-LAT, and others. This time the school has been complemented with the ICTP-UNACH-UNESCO Seminar of theory on Particle and Astroparticle Physics. The organization was done by MCTP, the Mesoamerican Centre for Theoretical Physics. The school had 46 participants, 30 students from Honduras, Brazil

  5. Propagation of cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Putze, Antje [LPSC-CNRS-IN2P3, 53, avenue des Martyrs, 38021 Grenoble cedex (France)

    2006-06-15

    Cosmic rays are composed of charged particles, which arrive after a long travel through the Galaxy on Earth. Supernova explosions are considered to be galactic sources, which accelerate these particles up to energies around 10{sup 18} eV. Beyond this energy, one supposes that the extragalactic sources, like active galaxy nuclei (AGN), gamma ray bursts or pulsars, are the origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays. The spectral index of the elemental energy distributions of cosmic rays reflects the dynamic of its propagation, particularly the conjugation of the effects connected to the cosmic ray source spectrum and those connected to its propagation (acceleration, absorption and escape). The evolution of the spectral index with the cosmic-ray particle energy constitutes a sensitive test of the components, which determine this evolution. The precise index measurement of individual elemental spectra of the cosmic rays by AMS up to TeV and by the experiment CREAM beyond it, from TeV to PeV, will permit to proceed in this problematic. One of the difficulties on this measurement is to take well into account the systematic errors. During the data analysis we have to take into account in particular the interaction (diffusion and fragmentation) of the ions while their travel through the Earth's atmosphere. The study of the interaction and the fragmentation of these ions in the atmosphere is hence indispensable and described in this work. The study is based on a matrix calculation, which had been successfully implemented and tested and which has permitted to analyse the effects, caused by the experimental uncertainties on the cross sections, on the spectral index measurement. (author)

  6. Charge Asymmetric Cosmic Rays as a probe of Flavor Violating Asymmetric Dark Matter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Masina, Isabella; Sannino, Francesco

    2011-01-01

    The recently introduced cosmic sum rules combine the data from PAMELA and Fermi-LAT cosmic ray experiments in a way that permits to neatly investigate whether the experimentally observed lepton excesses violate charge symmetry. One can in a simple way determine universal properties of the unknown...... component of the cosmic rays. Here we attribute a potential charge asymmetry to the dark sector. In particular we provide models of asymmetric dark matter able to produce charge asymmetric cosmic rays. We consider spin zero, spin one and spin one-half decaying dark matter candidates. We show that lepton...... flavor violation and asymmetric dark matter are both required to have a charge asymmetry in the cosmic ray lepton excesses. Therefore, an experimental evidence of charge asymmetry in the cosmic ray lepton excesses implies that dark matter is asymmetric....

  7. Track-etched detectors for the dosimetry of the radiation of cosmic origin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spurny, F.; Turek, K.

    2004-01-01

    Cosmic rays contribute to the exposure on the Earth's surface as well as in its surroundings. At the surface and/or at aviation altitudes, there are mostly secondary particles created through the cosmic rays interaction in the atmosphere, which contribute to this type of exposure. Onboard a spacecraft, the exposure comes mostly from primary cosmic rays. Track-etched detectors (TED) are able to characterise both these types of exposure. The contribution of neutrons, of cosmic origin, on the Earth's surface was studied at altitudes from few hundreds to 3000 m using TED in a moderator sphere. The results obtained are compared with other data on this type of natural radiation background. The results of studies performed onboard aircraft and/or spacecraft are presented afterwards. We used TED-based neutron dosemeter, as well as a spectrometer of linear energy transfer based on a chemically etched TED. The results of studies performed onboard aircraft, as well as spacecraft, are presented and discussed, including an attempt to estimate a neutron component onboard the spacecraft. It was found that they correlate with the results of other independent investigations. (authors)

  8. Neutron induced gamma spectrometry for on-line compositional analysis in coal conversion and fluidized-bed combustion plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herzenberg, C.L.; O'Fallon, N.M.; Yarlagadda, B.S.; Doering, R.W.; Cohn, C.E.; Porges, K.G.; Duffey, D.

    1977-01-01

    Nuclear techniques involving relatively penetrating radiation may offer the possibility of non-invasive, continuous on-line instrumental monitoring which is representative of the full process stream. Prompt gamma rays following neutron capture are particularly attractive because the penetrating power of the neutrons and the, typically several MeV, capture gammas makes possible interrogation of material within a pipe. We are evaluating neutron capture gamma techniques for this application, both for elemental composition monitoring and for mass-flow measurement purposes, and this paper will present some recent work on composition analysis by neutron induced gamma spectrometry

  9. Flux and anisotropy of galactic cosmic rays: beyond homogeneous models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernard, Guilhem

    2013-01-01

    In this thesis I study the consequence of non homogeneously distributed cosmic ray sources in the Milky way. The document starts with theoretical and experimental synthesis. Firstly, I will describe the interstellar medium to understand the mechanism of propagation and acceleration of cosmic rays. Then, the detailed study of cosmic rays diffusion on the galactic magnetic field allows to write a commonly used propagation equation. I will recall the Steady-state solutions of this equation, then I will focus on the time dependant solutions with point-like sources. A statistical study is performed in order to estimate the standard deviation of the flux around its mean value. The computation of this standard deviation leads to mathematical divergences. Thus, I will develop statistical tools to bypass this issue. So i will discuss the effect of the granularity of cosmic ray sources. Its impact on cosmic ray spectrum can explain some recent features observed by the experiments CREAM and PAMELA.Besides, this thesis is focused on the study of the anisotropy of cosmic rays. I will recap experimental methods of measurements, and I will show how to connect theoretical calculation from propagation theories to experimental measurements. Then, the influence of the local environment on the anisotropy measurements will be discussed, particularly the effect of a local diffusion coefficient. Then, I will compute anisotropy and its variance in a framework of point-like local sources with the tools developed in the first part. Finally, the possible influence of local sources on the anisotropy is discussed in the light of the last experimental results. (author) [fr

  10. Nuclear Physics Meets the Sources of the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boncioli, Denise; Fedynitch, Anatoli; Winter, Walter

    2017-07-07

    The determination of the injection composition of cosmic ray nuclei within astrophysical sources requires sufficiently accurate descriptions of the source physics and the propagation - apart from controlling astrophysical uncertainties. We therefore study the implications of nuclear data and models for cosmic ray astrophysics, which involves the photo-disintegration of nuclei up to iron in astrophysical environments. We demonstrate that the impact of nuclear model uncertainties is potentially larger in environments with non-thermal radiation fields than in the cosmic microwave background. We also study the impact of nuclear models on the nuclear cascade in a gamma-ray burst radiation field, simulated at a level of complexity comparable to the most precise cosmic ray propagation code. We conclude with an isotope chart describing which information is in principle necessary to describe nuclear interactions in cosmic ray sources and propagation.

  11. To the problem of superfluous cosmic radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Savenko, I.A.; Saraeva, M.A.; Shavrin, P.I.

    1979-01-01

    From consideration of a number of basic works on the excessive cosmic radiation given is the most probable composition (electron, proton, and nuclear components) of this radiation in equatorial regions at altitudes corresponding to minimum altitudes of the drift trajectories hsub(min) <= 0, in case of detecting by detector on the artificial satellite of the Earth (ASE) with the mass up to 1t and of the heavier ASE. The disagreement in spectra of solar cosmic rays obtained along the latitude effect on the ASE. ''Molniya-1'' and in the experiments out of the magnetosphere on the ASE ''Explorer-41'' is explained by excessive radiation production of solar cosmic rays. The comparison of readings of the neutron channel with those of the charged particle channels of the apparatus on the ASE ''Molniya-1'' during the proton event on 25.01.1971 does not contradict to the supposition on the similarity of excessive cosmic radiation production of galactic and solar cosmic rays

  12. The acceleration of cosmic rays in supernova remnants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhat, C.L.; Issa, M.R.

    1986-01-01

    The idea that the bulk of cosmic rays below 10 GeV are accelerated in supernova remnants suggests that cosmic rays should also exhibit intensity variations on a scale comparable with the linear size of a representative remnant. Following the general spirit of shock-wave acceleration models, here Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to predict what this scale should be and then corroborative evidence is presented from an autocorrelation analysis of the COS B and SAS II γ-ray data for the latitude range |b|=10-20 0 ('near Galaxy') and |b| 0 ('far Galaxy'). (author)

  13. Distinct Pattern of Solar Modulation of Galactic Cosmic Rays above a High Geomagnetic Cutoff Rigidity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangeard, Pierre-Simon; Clem, John; Evenson, Paul; Pyle, Roger; Mitthumsiri, Warit; Ruffolo, David; Sáiz, Alejandro; Nutaro, Tanin

    2018-05-01

    Solar modulation refers to Galactic cosmic-ray variations with the ∼11 yr sunspot cycle and ∼22 yr solar magnetic cycle and is relevant to the space radiation environment and effects on Earth’s atmosphere. Its complicated dependence on solar and heliospheric conditions is only roughly understood and has been empirically modeled in terms of a single modulation parameter. Most analyses of solar modulation use neutron monitor (NM) data from locations with relatively low geomagnetic cutoff rigidity, i.e., the threshold for cosmic rays to penetrate Earth’s magnetic field. The Princess Sirindhorn Neutron Monitor at Doi Inthanon, Thailand, has the world’s highest cutoff rigidity (≈17 GV) where observations span a complete solar modulation cycle (since late 2007). The pattern of solar modulation at Doi Inthanon during 2011–2014 was qualitatively very different from that at a low geomagnetic cutoff and is not well described by the same modulation parameter. At other times, NM count rates from Doi Inthanon and McMurdo, Antarctica (cutoff ∼1 GV), were linearly correlated and confirm the observation from latitude surveys in the previous solar cycle that the slope of the correlation changes with solar magnetic polarity. Low solar magnetic tilt angles (magnetic field, which is consistent with an increase in diffusion at high rigidity short-circuiting the effects of drifts and the heliospheric current sheet.

  14. Advanced detection techniques for educational experiments in cosmic ray physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aiola, Salvatore; La-Rocca, Paola; Riggi, Francesco; Riggi, Simone

    2013-06-01

    In this paper we describe several detection techniques that can be employed to study cosmic ray properties and carry out training activities at high school and undergraduate level. Some of the proposed devices and instrumentation are inherited from professional research experiments, while others were especially developed and marketed for educational cosmic ray experiments. The educational impact of experiments in cosmic ray physics in high-school or undergraduate curricula will be exploited through various examples, going from simple experiments carried out with small Geiger counters or scintillation devices to more advanced detection instrumentation which can offer starting points for not trivial research work. (authors)

  15. Neutron spectrometry and dosimetry with ANNs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vega C, H. R.; Hernandez D, V. M.; Gallego, E.; Lorente, A.

    2009-10-01

    Artificial neural networks technology has been applied to unfold the neutron spectra and to calculate the effective dose, the ambient equivalent dose, and the personal dose equivalent for 252 Cf and 241 AmBe neutron sources. A Bonner sphere spectrometry with a 6 LiI(Eu) scintillator was utilized to measure the count rates of the spheres that were utilized as input in two artificial neural networks, one for spectrometry and another for dosimetry. Spectra and the ambient dose equivalent were also obtained with BUNKIUT code and the UTA4 response matrix. With both procedures spectra and ambient dose equivalent agrees in less than 10%. (author)

  16. May heavy neutrinos solve underground and cosmic-ray puzzles?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belotsky, K. M.; Fargion, D.; Khlopov, M. Yu.; Konoplich, R. V.

    2008-01-01

    Primordial heavy neutrinos of the fourth generation might explain different astrophysical puzzles. The simplest fourth-neutrino scenario is consistent with known fourth-neutrino physics, cosmic ray antimatter, cosmic gamma fluxes, and positive signals in underground detectors for a very narrow neutrino mass window (46–47 GeV). However, accounting for the constraint of underground experiment CDMS prohibits solution of cosmic-ray puzzles in this scenario. We have analyzed extended heavy-neutrino models related to the clumpiness of neutrino density, new interactions in heavy-neutrino annihilation, neutrino asymmetry, and neutrino decay. We found that, in these models, the cosmic-ray imprint may fit the positive underground signals in DAMA/Nal experiment in the entire mass range 46–70 GeV allowed from uncertainties of electroweak parameters, while satisfaction of the CDMS constraint reduces the mass range to around 50 GeV, where all data can come to consent in the framework of the considered hypothesis.

  17. May heavy neutrinos solve underground and cosmic-ray puzzles?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belotsky, K. M.; Fargion, D.; Khlopov, M. Yu.; Konoplich, R. V.

    2008-01-01

    Primordial heavy neutrinos of the fourth generation might explain different astrophysical puzzles. The simplest fourth-neutrino scenario is consistent with known fourth-neutrino physics, cosmic ray antimatter, cosmic gamma fluxes, and positive signals in underground detectors for a very narrow neutrino mass window (46-47 GeV). However, accounting for the constraint of underground experiment CDMS prohibits solution of cosmic-ray puzzles in this scenario. We have analyzed extended heavy-neutrino models related to the clumpiness of neutrino density, new interactions in heavy-neutrino annihilation, neutrino asymmetry, and neutrino decay. We found that, in these models, the cosmic-ray imprint may fit the positive underground signals in DAMA/Nal experiment in the entire mass range 46-70 GeV allowed from uncertainties of electroweak parameters, while satisfaction of the CDMS constraint reduces the mass range to around 50 GeV, where all data can come to consent in the framework of the considered hypothesis

  18. Acceleration of galactic cosmic rays in shock waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lagage, P.O.

    1981-06-01

    The old problem of the origin of cosmic rays has triggered off fresh interest owing to the discovery of a new model which enables a lot of energy to be transferred to a small number of particles on the one hand and the discovery of the coronal environment in which this transfer occurs, on the other. In this paper, interest is taken in the galactic cosmic rays and an endeavour is made to find out if the model can reveal the existence of cosmic rays over a wide energy range. The existence of an energy break, predicted by the model, was recognized fairly early but, in the literature, it varies from 30 GeV ro 10 6 GeV according to the authors. A study has been made of the two main causes of an energy break: the sphericity of the shock and the life time of the shock wave [fr

  19. Galactic cosmic ray iron composition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scherzer, R.; Enge, W.; Beaujean, R.

    1980-11-01

    We have studied the isotopic compostition of galactic cosmic ray iron in the energy interval 500-750 MeV/nucleon with a visual track detector system consisting of nuclear emulsion and cellulose-nitrate platic. Stopping iron nuclei were identified from ionization - range measurements in the two detector parts. Cone lengths were measured in the plastic sheets and the residual ranges of the particles were measured in plastic and in emulsion. We have determined the mass of 17 iron nuclei with an uncertainty of about 0.3 amu. The isotopic composition at the detector level was found to be 52 Fe: 53 Fe: 54 Fe: 55 Fe: 56 Fe: 57 Fe: 58 Fe = 0:1: 4:3:8:1:0. These numbers are not in conflict with the assumption that the isotopic composition of cosmic ray iron at the source is similar to the solar system composition. (author)

  20. Some problems of physics of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isaev, P.S.

    1999-01-01

    Nearest 15-20 years will be years of flourishing of experimental researches into the energy of cosmic rays at > or ∼ 10 15 eV and of new discoveries in the physics of elementary particles of ultrahigh energies. Unsolved problems of modern physics of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, which are relevant to the problems of elementary particles physics, are reviewed

  1. A formalism for cosmic ray propagation studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Golden, R.L.; Badhwar, G.D.; Stephens, S.A.

    1975-01-01

    The continuity equation for cosmic ray propagation is used to derive a set of linear equations interrelating the fluxes of multiply charged nuclei as observed at any particular part of the galaxy. The derivation leads to model indepent definitions for cosmic ray storage time, mean density of target nuclei and effective mass traversed. The set of equations form a common framework for comparisons of theories and observations. As an illustration, it is shown that there exists a large class of propagation models which give the same result as the exponential path length model. (orig./BJ) [de

  2. Search for antimatter in primary cosmic rays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buffington, A.; Smith, L. H.; Smoot, G. F.; Alvarez, L. W.; Wahlig, M. A.

    1972-01-01

    Data from two flights of a new superconducting magnetic spectrometer are reported. This instrument was capable of a direct matter-antimatter separation in the cosmic rays. Antimatter events would appear in the spectrometer as trajectories which curve in the opposite direction to common matter, because of their negative charge. A brief description of the equipment and of the characteristics of the instrument is presented, along with the data processing techniques used. A new upper limit on the amount of antimatter in primary cosmic rays has been established. The limits are considerably lower than those for any previous experiment.

  3. The puzzle of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    CERN Document Server

    Tkachev, I I

    2003-01-01

    In early years the cosmic ray studies were ahead of accelerator research, starting from the discovery of positrons, through muons, to that of pions and strange particles. Today we are facing the situation that the puzzling saga of cosmic rays of the highest energies may again unfold in the discovery of new physics, now beyond the Standard Model; or it may bring to life an "extreme" astrophysics. After a short review of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin puzzle, I discuss different models which were suggested for its resolution. Are there any hints pointing to the correct model? I argue that the small-scale clustering of arrival directions of cosmic rays gives a clue, and BL Lacs are the probable sources of the observed events. (58 refs).

  4. FPGA development board for applications in cosmic rays physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Angelov, Ivo; Damov, Krasimir; Dimitrova, Svetla

    2013-01-01

    The modern experiments in cosmic rays and particle physics are usually performed with large number of detectors and signal processing have to be done by complex electronics. The analog signals from the detectors are converted to digital (by discriminators or fast ADC) and connected to different type of logic implemented in FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). A FPGA development board based on Xilinx XC3S50AN was designed, assembled and tested. The board will be used for developing a modern registering controller (to replace the existing now) for the muon telescope in the University and can be used for other experiments in cosmic rays physics when fast digital pulses have to be processed. Keywords: FPGA, Spartan3A, muon telescope, cosmic rays variations

  5. In-Situ Spectrometry of Neutrons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maurer, Richard H.

    1999-01-01

    High energy charged particles of extra-galactic, galactic and solar origin collide with spacecraft structures in Earth orbit outside the atmosphere and in interplanetary travel beyond the Earth's magnetosphere. These primaries create a number of secondary particles inside the structures that can produce a significant ionizing radiation environment. This radiation is a threat to long term inhabitants or travelers for space missions and produces an increased risk of cancer and DNA damage. The primary high energy cosmic rays and trapped protons collide with common spacecraft materials such as aluminum and silicon and create secondary particles inside structures that are mostly protons and neutrons. Charged protons are readily detected and instruments are already in existence for this task. Neutrons are electrically neutral and therefore much more difficult to measure and detect. These neutrons are reported to contribute 30-60% of the dose inside space structures and cannot be ignored. Currently there is no compact, portable and real time neutron detector instrumentation available for use inside spacecraft or on planetary surfaces where astronauts will live and work. We propose to design and build a portable, low power and robust neutron spectrometer that will measure the neutron spectrum from 10 KeV to 500 MeV with at least 10% energy resolution in the various energy intervals. This instrument will monitor the existing neutron environment both inside spacecraft structures and on planetary surfaces to determine the safest living areas, warn of high fluxes associated with solar storms and assist the NSBRI Radiation Effects Team in making an accurate assessment of increased cancer risk and DNA damage to astronauts. The instrument uses a highly efficient proportional counter Helium 3 tube at the lowest energy intervals where .equivalent damage factors for tissue are the highest (10 KeV-2 MeV). The Helium 3 tube may be shielded with a cadmium absorber to eliminate the much

  6. High-Energy Cosmic Ray Self-Confinement Close to Extra-Galactic Sources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blasi, Pasquale; Amato, Elena; D'Angelo, Marta

    2015-09-18

    The ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays observed on the Earth are most likely accelerated in extra-Galactic sources. For the typical luminosities invoked for such sources, the electric current associated to the flux of cosmic rays that leave them is large. The associated plasma instabilities create magnetic fluctuations that can efficiently scatter particles. We argue that this phenomenon forces cosmic rays to be self-confined in the source proximity for energies Esources for energies Esource luminosity in units of 10^{44} erg/s.

  7. Particle and astrophysics aspects of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sigl, G.

    2001-01-01

    The origin of cosmic rays is one of the major unresolved astrophysical questions. In particular, the highest energy cosmic rays observed possess macroscopic energies and their origin is likely to be associated with the most energetic processes in the Universe. Their existence triggered a flurry of theoretical explanations ranging from conventional shock acceleration to particle physics beyond the Standard Model and processes taking place at the earliest moments of our Universe. Furthermore, many new experimental activities promise a strong increase of statistics at the highest energies and a combination with γ-ray and neutrino astrophysics will put strong constraints on these theoretical models. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations indicate that charged ultra-high energy cosmic rays can also be used as probes of large scale magnetic fields whose origin may open another window into the very early Universe. We give an overview over this quickly evolving research field. (author)

  8. Particle and astrophysics aspects of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sigl, G [Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, Paris (France)

    2001-11-15

    The origin of cosmic rays is one of the major unresolved astrophysical questions. In particular, the highest energy cosmic rays observed possess macroscopic energies and their origin is likely to be associated with the most energetic processes in the Universe. Their existence triggered a flurry of theoretical explanations ranging from conventional shock acceleration to particle physics beyond the Standard Model and processes taking place at the earliest moments of our Universe. Furthermore, many new experimental activities promise a strong increase of statistics at the highest energies and a combination with {gamma}-ray and neutrino astrophysics will put strong constraints on these theoretical models. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations indicate that charged ultra-high energy cosmic rays can also be used as probes of large scale magnetic fields whose origin may open another window into the very early Universe. We give an overview over this quickly evolving research field. (author)

  9. Cosmic rays and climate

    CERN Multimedia

    2009-01-01

    Inside the new chamber the CLOUD team will be able to recreate the conditions of any part of the atmosphere, from the polar stratosphere to the low level tropics (top). The new chamber safely in position in the East hall. Once carefully cleaned the chamber will be turned sideways onto its legs ready for the beam of 'cosmic rays' (bottom).

  10. A New Measurement of the Cosmic X-ray Background

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moretti, A.

    2009-01-01

    I present a new analytical description of the cosmic X-ray background (CXRB) spectrum in the 1.5-200 keV energy band, obtained by combining the new measurement performed by the Swift X-ray telescope (XRT) with the recently published Swift burst alert telescope (BAT) measurement. A study of the cosmic variance in the XRT band (1.5-7 keV) is also presented. I find that the expected cosmic variance (expected from LogN-LogS) scales as Ω -0.3 (where Ω is the surveyed area) in very good agreement with XRT data.

  11. Cosmic-ray shock acceleration in oblique MHD shocks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, G. M.; Drury, L. OC.; Volk, H. J.

    1986-01-01

    A one-dimensional, steady-state hydrodynamical model of cosmic-ray acceleration at oblique MHD shocks is presented. Upstream of the shock the incoming thermal plasma is subject to the adverse pressure gradient of the accelerated particles, the J x B force, as well as the thermal gas pressure gradient. The efficiency of the acceleration of cosmic-rays at the shock as a function of the upstream magnetic field obliquity and upstream plasma beta is investigated. Astrophysical applications of the results are briefly discussed.

  12. Muon reconstruction performance using cosmic rays in CMS

    CERN Document Server

    Calderon, Alicia

    2009-01-01

    After the incident with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in September 2008, the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collaboration invested a considerable effort in further refining the understanding of the detector using cosmic muon data. About 300 million cosmic events were recorded with the CMS detector fully operational and the central solenoid switched on at the nominal value of 3.8 Tesla. The resulting data set provides ample statistics to study in great detail the detector performance and allows to analyze properties of cosmic rays. We present recent results on detector performance from the cosmic muon analysis activities and compare cosmic data to dedicated cosmic Monte Carlo samples. These results demonstrate the readiness of the CMS detector to do physics analysis with muons, and the study of cosmic muon properties provides interesting links to astrophysics.

  13. Cosmic ray-modified stellar winds. I. Solution topologies and singularities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ko, C.M.; Webb, G.M.

    1987-01-01

    In the present two-fluid hydrodynamical model for stellar wind flow modification due to its interaction with Galactic cosmic rays, these rays are coupled to the stellar wind by either hydromagnetic wave scattering or background flow irregularity propagation. The background flow is modified by the cosmic rays via their pressure gradient. The system of equations used possesses a line of singularities in (r, u, P/sub c/)-space, or a two-dimensional hypersurface of singularities in (r, u, P/sub c/, dP/sub c/dr)-space, where r, u, and P/sub c/ are respectively the radial distance from the star, the radial wind flow speed, and the cosmic ray pressure. The singular points may be nodes, foci, or saddle points. 64 references

  14. A search for solar neutron response in neutron monitor data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kudela, K.

    1990-01-01

    The search for an impulsive increase corresponding to a solar neutron response on high-mountain neutron monitors requires control of the stability of the measurement and elimination of other sources of short-time increases of different kinds which are involved in fluctuations of cosmic-ray intensity. For the solar flare of June 3, 1982 the excess of counting rate on the Lomnicky stit neutron monitor is, within a factor or 1.8, equal to that expected from solar neutrons. Superposed epoch analysis of 17 flares with gamma-ray or hard X-ray production gives a slight tendency of an occurring signal in cases of high heliocentric angles, indicating anisotropic production of neutrons on the sun. The low statistical significance of the result indicates that higher temporal resolution, better evaluation of multiplicity, better knowledge of the power spectra of short-term intensity fluctuations on neutron monitors, as well as coordinated measurements of solar gamma-rays and neutrons on satellites, are required. 21 refs

  15. Solar activity effects on cosmic ray intensity and geomagnetic field variation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shukla, A.K.; Shukla, J.P.; Sharma, S.M.; Singh, R.L.; Agrawal, S.P.

    1978-01-01

    An analysis has been performed to statistically correlate the date of solar flare occurrence and its importance with the short term cosmic ray intensity decreases (observed by the high latitude neutron monitors) as well as with the geomagnetic field fluctuation indices (Asub(p) and Dsub(st)), during the period 1973-1976. This period has the particular advantage of being close to a solar minimum to avoid the ambiguity due to closely spaced solar flares. It is found that the intensity decrease starts at least 2-3 days after the date of bright solar flares of Imp 1B, 2B or 3B and the amplitude of the decrease increases with the importance of the solar flare. (author)

  16. MODELING THE GAMMA-RAY EMISSION IN THE GALACTIC CENTER WITH A FADING COSMIC-RAY ACCELERATOR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Ruo-Yu; Wang, Xiang-Yu; Prosekin, Anton [Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Chang, Xiao-Chuan, E-mail: ruoyu@mpi-hd.mpg.de, E-mail: xywang@nju.edu.cn [School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)

    2016-12-20

    Recent HESS observations of the ∼200 pc scale diffuse gamma-ray emission from the central molecular zone (CMZ) suggest the presence of a PeV cosmic-ray accelerator (PeVatron) located in the inner 10 pc region of the Galactic center. Interestingly, the gamma-ray spectrum of the point-like source (HESS J1745-290) in the Galactic center shows a cutoff at ∼10 TeV, implying a cutoff around 100 TeV in the cosmic-ray proton spectrum. Here we propose that the gamma-ray emission from the inner and the outer regions may be explained self-consistently by run-away protons from a single yet fading accelerator. In this model, gamma-rays from the CMZ region are produced by protons injected in the past, while gamma-rays from the inner region are produced by protons injected more recently. We suggest that the blast wave formed in a tidal disruption event (TDE) caused by the supermassive black hole (Sgr A*) could serve as such a fading accelerator. With typical parameters of the TDE blast wave, gamma-ray spectra of both the CMZ region and HESS J1745-290 can be reproduced simultaneously. Meanwhile, we find that the cosmic-ray energy density profile in the CMZ region may also be reproduced in the fading accelerator model when appropriate combinations of the particle injection history and the diffusion coefficient of cosmic rays are adopted.

  17. Low- and high-frequency spectral behavior of cosmic-ray intensity for the period 1953–1996

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Mavromichalaki

    2003-08-01

    Full Text Available A study of the cosmic-ray intensity power spectrum using the Climax Neutron Monitor data in the frequency range from 10-9 Hz to 10-7 Hz (which corresponds to periodicities from 11 years to a few months during the period 1953–1996, was carried out by means of the successive approximations method of analysis and was compared against the power spectrum and the maximum entropy methods. The contributions of the time evolution of several peaks to the global one were obtained. Except for the well-known 11-year and the 1-year variations, peaks at 7.7, 5.5, 2 and 1.7 years are found. Several peaks with periods less than 10 months have appeared in our analysis, while the occurrence of 5.1 months is obtained in all the examined solar cycles with a strong signature in cycle 21. Transitions of these quasi-periodicities are seen in power spectra plots. Some of them can be attributed to the modulation of the cosmic ray intensity by solar activity. Others are sporadic and have been previously attributed to the interplanetary magnetic field. The results obtained support once again the argument regarding the difference in the solar activity between odd and even solar cycles.Key words. Interplanetary physics (Cosmic rays, Interplanetary magnetic fields

  18. New fermionic dark matters, extended Standard Model and cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Jae-Kwang

    2017-08-01

    Three generations of leptons and quarks correspond to the lepton charges (LCs) in this work. Then, the leptons have the electric charges (ECs) and LCs. The quarks have the ECs, LCs and color charges (CCs). Three heavy leptons and three heavy quarks are introduced to make the missing third flavor of EC. Then the three new particles which have the ECs are proposed as the bastons (dark matters) with the rest masses of 26.121 eV/c2, 42.7 GeV/c2 and 1.9 × 1015 eV/c2. These new particles are applied to explain the origins of the astrophysical observations like the ultra-high energy cosmic rays and supernova 1987A anti-neutrino data. It is concluded that the 3.5 keV X-ray peak observed from the cosmic X-ray background spectra is originated not from the pair annihilations of the dark matters but from the X-ray emission of the Q1 baryon atoms which are similar in the atomic structure to the hydrogen atom. The presence of the 3.5 keV cosmic X-ray supports the presence of the Q1 quark with the EC of -4/3. New particles can be indirectly seen from the astrophysical observations like the cosmic ray and cosmic gamma ray. In this work, the systematic quantized charges of EC, LC and CC for the elementary particles are used to consistently explain the decay and reaction schemes of the elementary particles. Also, the strong, weak and dark matter forces are consistently explained.

  19. Measurements at LHC and their relevance for cosmic ray physics

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2016-01-01

    Many LHC measurements are already used to improve hadronic interaction models used in cosmic ray analyses. This already had a positive effect on the model dependence of crucial data analyses. Some of the data and the model tuning is reviewed. However, the LHC still has a lot more potential to provide crucial information. Since the start of Run2 the highest accelerator beam energies are reached and no further increase can be expected for a long time. First data of Run2 are published and the fundamental performance of cosmic ray hadronic interaction models can be scrutinized. The relevance of LHC data in general for cosmic ray data analyses is demonstrated.

  20. Milagro Contributions to XXVI International Cosmic Ray Conference

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoffman, C.M.; Haines, T.J.; Sinnis, G.; Miller, R.S.; Thompson, N.T.

    1999-08-01

    Milagrito, a prototype for the Milagro detector, operated for 15 months in 1997--8 and collected 8.9 x 10{sup 9} events. It was the first extensive air shower (EAS) array sensitive to showers initiated by primaries with energy below 1 TeV. The shadows of the sun and moon observed with cosmic rays can be used to study systematic pointing shifts and measure the angular resolution of EAS arrays. Below a few TeV, the paths of cosmic rays coming toward the earth are bent by the helio- and geo-magnetic fields. This is expected to distort and displace the shadows of the sun and the moon. The moon shadow, offset from the nominal (unreflected) position, has been observed with high statistical significance in Milagrito. This can be used to establish energy calibrations, as well as to search for the anti-matter content of the VHE cosmic ray flux. The shadow of the sun has also been observed with high significance.

  1. Study of cosmic ray nuclei detection by an image calorimeter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Casolino, M.; Sparvoli, R.; Morselli, A.; Picozza, P. [Rome Univ. `Tor Vergata` (Italy)]|[INFN, Sezione Univ. `Tor Vergata` Rome (Italy); Ozerov, Yu.V.; Zemskov, V.M.; Zverev, V.G.; Galper, A.M. [Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow (Russian Federation); Carlson, P. [Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden); Fuglesang, C. [ESA-EAC, Cologne (Germany)

    1995-09-01

    It is shown that a cosmic gamma-ray telescope made of a multilayer silicon tracker and a imaging CsI calorimeter, is capable of identifying cosmic ray nuclei. The telescope charge resolution is estimated around 4% independently of charge. Simulation methods are used to determine the telescope properties for nuclei detection.

  2. Search for tachyonomonopoles in cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartlett, D.F.; Nauenberg, U.

    1977-05-01

    Two of the most speculative particles are the magnetic monopole and the tachyon. One conjectures that these particles exist in cosmic rays as a combined ''tachyon monopole''. The fringing magnetic field of Fermilab's 15-foot bubble chamber is used to ''accelerate'' the tachyon to sufficiently high energy that it can emit visible Cherenkov radiation. This radiation is detected by 8 photomultiplier tubes mounted on the corners of a room-sized box which is suspended from the ceiling above the bubble chamber. Two small plastic scintillator counters placed inside the box differentiate between extensive air showers and tachyon monopoles. The detector was exposed to cosmic rays for 50 days. During that time we have not recorded any tachyon monopoles. The flux of such particles in cosmic rays cannot exceed 2.5 x 10 -15 cm -2 sec -1 if they follow the earth's magnetic field lines or 1.2 x 10 -12 cm -2 sec -1 if they do not. In either event this limit is at least 400 times lower than that inferred from a previous measurement. One did record counts from extensive air showers at a rate consistent with previous experiment. This rate was halved when the bubble chamber's magnetic field was turned off. This phenomenon was likely caused by focusing of the shower electrons in the fringing magnetic field of the bubble chamber

  3. Measurement of the Cosmic Ray primary spectrum with ARGO-YBJ experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Panico, B; Iuppa, R; Di Sciascio, G

    2013-01-01

    The study of cosmic ray physic of 10 12 – 10 15 primary cosmic energy is one of the main goals of ARGO-YBJ experiment. The detector, located at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (Tibet, 4300 m a.s.l., 606 g/cm 2 ), is an EAS array consisting of a continuous carpet of RPCs. The low energy threshold of the detector allows to study an energy region characterized by the transition from the direct to the indirect measurements. In this talk we will report on the measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum at different zenith angles. The phenomenology of horizontal air shower (θ > 70°) will be described and discussed.

  4. Towards a Unified Source-Propagation Model of Cosmic Rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, M.; Molla, M.

    2010-07-01

    It is well known that the cosmic ray energy spectrum is multifractal with the analysis of cosmic ray fluxes as a function of energy revealing a first “knee” slightly below 1016 eV, a second knee slightly below 1018 eV and an “ankle” close to 1019 eV. The behaviour of the highest energy cosmic rays around and above the ankle is still a mystery and precludes the development of a unified source-propagation model of cosmic rays from their source origin to Earth. A variety of acceleration and propagation mechanisms have been proposed to explain different parts of the spectrum the most famous of course being Fermi acceleration in magnetised turbulent plasmas (Fermi 1949). Many others have been proposd for energies at and below the first knee (Peters & Cimento (1961); Lagage & Cesarsky (1983); Drury et al. (1984); Wdowczyk & Wolfendale (1984); Ptuskin et al. (1993); Dova et al. (0000); Horandel et al. (2002); Axford (1991)) as well as at higher energies between the first knee and the ankle (Nagano & Watson (2000); Bhattacharjee & Sigl (2000); Malkov & Drury (2001)). The recent fit of most of the cosmic ray spectrum up to the ankle using non-extensive statistical mechanics (NESM) (Tsallis et al. (2003)) provides what may be the strongest evidence for a source-propagation system deviating significantly from Boltmann statistics. As Tsallis has shown (Tsallis et al. (2003)), the knees appear as crossovers between two fractal-like thermal regimes. In this work, we have developed a generalisation of the second order NESM model (Tsallis et al. (2003)) to higher orders and we have fit the complete spectrum including the ankle with third order NESM. We find that, towards the GDZ limit, a new mechanism comes into play. Surprisingly it also presents as a modulation akin to that in our own local neighbourhood of cosmic rays emitted by the sun. We propose that this is due to modulation at the source and is possibly due to processes in the shell of the originating supernova. We

  5. Cosmic Ray Signatures of Decaying Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibarra, Alejandro

    2011-01-01

    Astrophysical and cosmological observations do not require the dark matter particles to be absolutely stable. If they are indeed unstable, their decay into Standard Model particles might occur at a sufficiently large rate to allow the indirect detection of dark matter through an anomalous contribution to the high energy cosmic ray fluxes. We analyze the implications of the excess in the total electron plus positron flux and the positron fraction reported by the Fermi and PAMELA collaborations, respectively, for the scenario of decaying dark matter. We also discuss the constraints on this scenario from measurements of other cosmic ray species and the predictions for the diffuse gamma ray flux and the neutrino flux. In particular, we expect a sizable dipole-like anisotropy which may be observed in the near future by the Fermi-LAT.

  6. Analysis of atmospheric pressure and temperature effects on cosmic ray measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    de MendonçA, R. R. S.; Raulin, J.-P.; Echer, E.; Makhmutov, V. S.; Fernandez, G.

    2013-04-01

    In this paper, we analyze atmospheric pressure and temperature effects on the records of the cosmic ray detector CARPET. This detector has monitored secondary cosmic ray intensity since 2006 at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (San Juan, Argentina, 31°S, 69°W, 2550 m over sea level) where the geomagnetic rigidity cutoff, Rc, is ~9.8 GV. From the correlation between atmospheric pressure deviations and relative cosmic ray variations, we obtain a barometric coefficient of -0.44 ± 0.01 %/hPa. Once the data are corrected for atmospheric pressure, they are used to analyze temperature effects using four methods. Three methods are based on the surface temperature and the temperature at the altitude of maximum production of secondary cosmic rays. The fourth method, the integral method, takes into account the temperature height profile between 14 and 111 km above Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito. The results obtained from these four methods are compared on different time scales from seasonal time variations to scales related to the solar activity cycle. Our conclusion is that the integral method leads to better results to remove the temperature effect of the cosmic ray intensity observed at ground level.

  7. Tracking performance with cosmic rays in CMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cerati, G.B.

    2009-01-01

    The CMS Tracker is the biggest all-silicon detector in the world and is designed to be extremely efficient and accurate even in a very hostile environment such as the one close to the CMS collision point. It consists of an inner pixel detector, made of three barrel layers (48M pixels) and four forward disks (16M pixels), and an outer micro-strip detector, divided in two barrel sub-detectors, TIB and TOB, and two endcap sub-detectors, TID and TEC, for a total of 9.6M strips. The commissioning of the CMS Tracker detector has been initially carried out at the Tracker Integration Facility at CERN (TIF), where cosmic ray data were collected for the strip detector only, and is still ongoing at the CMS site (LHC Point 5). Here the Strip and Pixel detectors have been installed in the experiment and are taking part to the cosmic global-runs. After an overview of the tracking algorithms for cosmic-ray data reconstruction, the resulting tracking performance on cosmic data both at TIF and at P5 are presented. The excellent performance proves that the CMS Tracker is ready for the first collisions foreseen for 2009.

  8. Fast neutron spectrometry and dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blaize, S.; Ailloud, J.; Mariani, J.; Millot, J.P.

    1958-01-01

    We have studied fast neutron spectrometry and dosimetry through the recoil protons they produce in hydrogenated samples. In spectrometric, we used nuclear emulsions, in dosimetric, we used polyethylene coated with zinc sulphide and placed before a photomultiplier. (author) [fr

  9. Cosmic ray studies with the Soudan 2 detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruddick, Keith

    1994-01-01

    We will describe attempts to measure the elemental composition of the primary cosmic rays using muons observed deep underground in coincidence with detectors on the surface of the earth. A proportional tube array has been used to measure shower size at the surface and we have recently constructed a Cerenkov array which will give a more direct measurement of primary cosmic ray energy. We will also present results from an all-sky survey obtained from the trajectories of underground muons ohserved over a four year period. ((orig.))

  10. Probing the Cosmic X-Ray and MeV Gamma-Ray Background Radiation through the Anisotropy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Inoue, Yoshiyuki [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Murase, Kohta [Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States). School of Natural Sciences; Madejski, Grzegorz M. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Uchiyama, Yasunobu [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Rikkyo Univ., Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Physics

    2013-09-24

    While the cosmic soft X-ray background is very likely to originate from individual Seyfert galaxies, the origin of the cosmic hard X-ray and MeV gamma-ray background is not fully understood. It is expected that Seyferts including Compton thick population may explain the cosmic hard X-ray background. At MeV energy range, Seyferts having non-thermal electrons in coronae above accretion disks or MeV blazars may explain the background radiation. We propose that future measurements of the angular power spectra of anisotropy of the cosmic X-ray and MeV gamma-ray backgrounds will be key to deciphering these backgrounds and the evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). As AGNs trace the cosmic large-scale structure, spatial clustering of AGNs exists. We show that e-ROSITA will clearly detect the correlation signal of unresolved Seyferts at 0.5-2 keV and 2-10 keV bands and will be able to measure the bias parameter of AGNs at both bands. Once the future hard X-ray all sky satellites achieve the sensitivity better than 10-12 erg/cm2/s-1 at 10-30 keV or 30-50 keV - although this is beyond the sensitivities of current hard X-ray all sky monitors - angular power spectra will allow us to independently investigate the fraction of Compton-thick AGNs in all Seyferts. We also find that the expected angular power spectra of Seyferts and blazars in the MeV range are different by about an order of magnitude, where the Poisson term, so-called shot noise, is dominant. Current and future MeV instruments will clearly disentangle the origin of the MeV gamma-ray background through the angular power spectrum.

  11. Probing the cosmic x-ray and MeV gamma ray background radiation through the anisotropy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Inoue, Yoshiyuki [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Murase, Kohta [Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (United States); Madejski, Grzegorz M. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Uchiyama, Yasunobu [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Rikkyo Univ., Tokyo (Japan)

    2013-09-24

    While the cosmic soft X-ray background is very likely to originate from individual Seyfert galaxies, the origin of the cosmic hard X-ray and MeV gamma-ray background is not fully understood. It is expected that Seyferts including Compton thick population may explain the cosmic hard X-ray background. At MeV energy range, Seyferts having non-thermal electrons in coronae above accretion disks or MeV blazars may explain the background radiation. We propose that future measurements of the angular power spectra of anisotropy of the cosmic X-ray and MeV gamma-ray backgrounds will be key to deciphering these backgrounds and the evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). As AGNs trace the cosmic large-scale structure, spatial clustering of AGNs exists. We show that e-ROSITA will clearly detect the correlation signal of unresolved Seyferts at 0.5-2 keV and 2-10 keV bands and will be able to measure the bias parameter of AGNs at both bands. Once future hard X-ray all sky satellites achieve a sensitivity better than 10–12 erg cm–2 s–1 at 10-30 keV or 30-50 keV—although this is beyond the sensitivities of current hard X-ray all sky monitors—angular power spectra will allow us to independently investigate the fraction of Compton-thick AGNs in all Seyferts. We also find that the expected angular power spectra of Seyferts and blazars in the MeV range are different by about an order of magnitude, where the Poisson term, so-called shot noise, is dominant. Current and future MeV instruments will clearly disentangle the origin of the MeV gamma-ray background through the angular power spectrum.

  12. A new method for imaging nuclear threats using cosmic ray muons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morris, C. L.; Bacon, Jeffrey; Borozdin, Konstantin; Miyadera, Haruo; Perry, John; Rose, Evan; Watson, Scott; White, Tim; Aberle, Derek; Green, J. Andrew; McDuff, George G.; Lukić, Zarija; Milner, Edward C.

    2013-01-01

    Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate three dimensional images of volumes using information contained in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Advantages of this technique are the ability of cosmic rays to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose delivered to subjects under study above the natural cosmic ray flux. Disadvantages include the relatively long exposure times and poor position resolution and complex algorithms needed for reconstruction. Here we demonstrate a new method for obtaining improved position resolution and statistical precision for objects with spherical symmetry.

  13. A new method for imaging nuclear threats using cosmic ray muons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, C. L.; Bacon, Jeffrey; Borozdin, Konstantin; Miyadera, Haruo; Perry, John; Rose, Evan; Watson, Scott; White, Tim; Aberle, Derek; Green, J. Andrew; McDuff, George G.; Lukić, Zarija; Milner, Edward C.

    2013-08-01

    Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate three dimensional images of volumes using information contained in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Advantages of this technique are the ability of cosmic rays to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose delivered to subjects under study above the natural cosmic ray flux. Disadvantages include the relatively long exposure times and poor position resolution and complex algorithms needed for reconstruction. Here we demonstrate a new method for obtaining improved position resolution and statistical precision for objects with spherical symmetry.

  14. CRAnE: A JAS-based Data Acquisition System for Cosmic Rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Langeveld, Willy G.J.

    2003-08-25

    Cosmic Ray Analysis Environment (CRAnE) is a software tool designed to collect and plot data from a cosmic ray telescope (CRT) connected to a computer serial port. As a plug-in to Java Analysis Studio (JAS), CRAnE provides visual displays of incoming cosmic ray rates as they are detected. In an effort to make the program user-friendly, it operates through a graphical user interface. This paper describes the features of CRAnE and includes installation and operation instructions in the appended user's manual.

  15. A new method for imaging nuclear threats using cosmic ray muons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morris, C. L.; Bacon, Jeffrey; Borozdin, Konstantin; Miyadera, Haruo; Perry, John; Rose, Evan; Watson, Scott; White, Tim [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Aberle, Derek; Green, J. Andrew; McDuff, George G. [National Security Technologies, Los Alamos, NM 87544 (United States); Lukić, Zarija [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Milner, Edward C. [Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75205 (United States)

    2013-08-15

    Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate three dimensional images of volumes using information contained in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Advantages of this technique are the ability of cosmic rays to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose delivered to subjects under study above the natural cosmic ray flux. Disadvantages include the relatively long exposure times and poor position resolution and complex algorithms needed for reconstruction. Here we demonstrate a new method for obtaining improved position resolution and statistical precision for objects with spherical symmetry.

  16. Gravi-Burst: Super-GZK Cosmic Rays from Localized Gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davoudiasl, Hooman

    2000-01-01

    The flux of cosmic rays beyond the GZK cutoff (∼ 10 20 eV) may be explained through their production by ultra high energy cosmic neutrinos, annihilating on the relic neutrino background, in the vicinity of our galaxy. This process is mediated through the production of a Z boson at resonance, and is generally known as the Z-Burst mechanism. We show that a similar mechanism can also contribute to the super-GZK spectrum at even higher, ultra-GZK energies, where the particles produced at resonance are the Kaluza-Klein gravitons of weak scale mass and coupling from the Randall-Sundrum (RS) hierarchy model of localized gravity model. We call this mechanism Gravi-Burst. We discuss the parameter space of relevance to Gravi-Bursts, and comment on the possibility of its contribution to the present and future super-GZK cosmic ray data and place bounds on the RS model parameters. Under certain assumptions about the energy spectrum of the primary neutrinos we find that cosmic ray data could be potentially as powerful as the LHC in probing the RS model

  17. Very high-energy gamma-ray signature of ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray acceleration in Centaurus A

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Jagdish C.; Miranda, Luis Salvador; Razzaque, Soebur; Yang, Lili

    2018-04-01

    The association of at least a dozen ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR) events with energy ≳ 55 EeV detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) from the direction of Centaurus-A, the nearest radio galaxy, supports the scenario of UHECR acceleration in the jets of radio galaxies. In this work, we model radio to very high energy (VHE,≳ 100 GeV) γ-ray emission from Cen A, including GeV hardness detected by Fermi-LAT and TeV emission detected by HESS. We consider two scenarios: (i) Two zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) and external-Compton (EC) models, (ii) Two zone SSC, EC and photo-hadronic emission from cosmic ray interactions. The GeV hardness observed by Fermi-LAT can be explained using these two scenarios, where zone 2 EC emission is very important. Hadronic emission in scenario (ii) can explain VHE data with the same spectral slope as obtained through fitting UHECRs from Cen A. The peak luminosity in cosmic ray proton at 1 TeV, to explain the VHE γ-ray data is ≈2.5 × 1046 erg/s. The bolometric luminosity in cosmic ray protons is consistent with the luminosity required to explain the origin of 13 UHECR signal events that are correlated with Cen A.

  18. Radio-wave detection of ultra-high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huege, Tim; Besson, Dave

    2017-12-01

    Radio waves, perhaps because our terrestrial atmosphere and the cosmos beyond are uniquely transparent to them, or perhaps because they are macroscopic, so the basic instruments of detection (antennas) are easily constructible, arguably occupy a privileged position within the electromagnetic spectrum, and, correspondingly, receive disproportionate attention experimentally. Detection of radio-frequency radiation, at macroscopic wavelengths, has blossomed within the last decade as a competitive method for the measurement of cosmic particles, particularly charged cosmic rays and neutrinos. Cosmic-ray detection via radio emission from extensive air showers has been demonstrated to be a reliable technique that has reached a reconstruction quality of the cosmic-ray parameters competitive with more traditional approaches. Radio detection of neutrinos in dense media seems to be the most promising technique to achieve the gigantic detection volumes required to measure neutrinos at energies beyond the PeV-scale flux established by IceCube. In this article, we review radio detection both of cosmic rays in the atmosphere, as well as neutrinos in dense media.

  19. The TeV-scale cosmic ray proton and helium spectra

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-01-07

    Jan 7, 2016 ... Recent measurements of cosmic ray proton and helium spectra show a hardening above a few hundreds of GeV. This excess is hard to understand in the framework of the conventional models of galactic cosmic ray production and propagation. Here, we propose to explain this anomaly by the presence of ...

  20. Probing cosmic-ray acceleration and propagation with H{sub 3}{sup +} observations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Indriolo, Nick; Fields, Brian D.; McCall, Benjamin J. [3D University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)

    2015-01-22

    As cosmic rays traverse the interstellar medium (ISM) they interact with the ambient gas in various ways. These include ionization of atoms and molecules, spallation of nuclei, excitation of nuclear states, and production of pions among others. All of these interactions produce potential observables which may be used to trace the flux of cosmic rays. One such observable is the molecular ion H{sub 3}{sup +}-produced via the ionization of an H{sub 2} molecule and its subsequent collision with another H{sub 2}-which can be identified by absorption lines in the 3.5-4 μm spectral region. We have detected H{sub 3}{sup +} in several Galactic diffuse cloud sight lines and used the derived column densities to infer ζ{sub 2}, the cosmic-ray ionization rate of H{sub 2}. Ionization rates determined in this way vary from about 7×10{sup −17} s{sup −1} to about 8×10{sup −16} s{sup −1}, and suggest the possibility of discrete sources producing high local fluxes of low-energy cosmic rays. Theoretical calculations of the ionization rate from postulated cosmic-ray spectra also support this possibility. Our recent observations of H{sub 3}{sup +} near the supernova remnant IC 443 (a likely site of cosmic-ray acceleration) point to even higher ionization rates, on the order of 10{sup −15} s{sup −1}. Together, all of these results can further our understanding of the cosmic-ray spectrum both near the acceleration source and in the general Galactic ISM.

  1. Upper limits on the total cosmic-ray luminosity of individual sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anjos, R.C.; De Souza, V. [Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (Brazil); Supanitsky, A.D., E-mail: rita@ifsc.usp.br, E-mail: vitor@ifsc.usp.br, E-mail: supanitsky@iafe.uba.ar [Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE), CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

    2014-07-01

    In this paper, upper limits on the total luminosity of ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECR) E > 10{sup 18} eV) are determined for five individual sources. The upper limit on the integral flux of GeV--TeV gamma-rays is used to extract the upper limit on the total UHECR luminosity of individual sources. The correlation between upper limit on the integral GeV--TeV gamma-ray flux and upper limit on the UHECR luminosity is established through the cascading process that takes place during propagation of the cosmic rays in the background radiation fields, as explained in reference [1]. Twenty-eight sources measured by FERMI-LAT, VERITAS and MAGIC observatories have been studied. The measured upper limit on the GeV--TeV gamma-ray flux is restrictive enough to allow the calculation of an upper limit on the total UHECR cosmic-ray luminosity of five sources. The upper limit on the UHECR cosmic-ray luminosity of these sources is shown for several assumptions on the emission mechanism. For all studied sources an upper limit on the ultra-high-energy proton luminosity is also set.

  2. Upper limits on the total cosmic-ray luminosity of individual sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anjos, R.C.; De Souza, V.; Supanitsky, A.D.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, upper limits on the total luminosity of ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECR) E > 10 18 eV) are determined for five individual sources. The upper limit on the integral flux of GeV--TeV gamma-rays is used to extract the upper limit on the total UHECR luminosity of individual sources. The correlation between upper limit on the integral GeV--TeV gamma-ray flux and upper limit on the UHECR luminosity is established through the cascading process that takes place during propagation of the cosmic rays in the background radiation fields, as explained in reference [1]. Twenty-eight sources measured by FERMI-LAT, VERITAS and MAGIC observatories have been studied. The measured upper limit on the GeV--TeV gamma-ray flux is restrictive enough to allow the calculation of an upper limit on the total UHECR cosmic-ray luminosity of five sources. The upper limit on the UHECR cosmic-ray luminosity of these sources is shown for several assumptions on the emission mechanism. For all studied sources an upper limit on the ultra-high-energy proton luminosity is also set

  3. Cosmic-ray electrons and galactic radio emission - a conflict

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badhwar, G.D.; Daniel, R.R.; Stephens, S.A.

    1977-01-01

    Reference is made to attempts in the past to deduce information of astrophysical importance from a study of the galactic non-thermal continuum in relation to cosmic ray electrons observed in the neighbourhood of the Earth. Such investigations were carried out using the cosmic ray electron data obtained from a single experiment or by making use of an average spectrum derived from world data, although it was known that the flux values observed by different investigators in any energy band differed by as much as a factor of 4. This has led to conflicting conclusions being drawn from the analysis of data of different observers. The present authors used a different approach for analysing the observational data, based on arguments of internal consistency between each measured electron spectrum and the magnetic field strength and the dimension of the radio-emitting region required to explain the radio observations. Such an approach makes it possible to highlight the inconsistencies associated with some of the electron measurements and permits certain inferences of cosmic ray and astrophysical interest. From the discussion it is concluded that the observed spectral index of the radio continuum in the Galaxy is in conflict with some of the cosmic ray electron measurements; also that the absolute intensities of cosmic ray electrons as measured in some experiments are so low that they cannot be reconciled either with the interstellar magnetic field limits or with the extent of the galactic disk, and it is likely that the field strength derived from Faraday rotation measurements gives only a lower limit to the local magnetic field in the Galaxy. (U.K.)

  4. Stellar origin of the 22Ne excess in cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casse, M.; Paul, J.A.

    1982-01-01

    The 22 Ne excess at the cosmic-ray source is discussed in terms of a 22 Ne-rich component injected and accelerated by carbon-rich Wolf-Rayet stars. The overabundance of 22 Ne relative to 20 Ne predicted at the surface of these stars is estimated to a factor approx.120 with respect to solar system abundances. In order to give rise to a 22 Ne excess of about 3 at the cosmic-ray sources as inferred from observations, the carbon-rich Wolf-Rayet contribution to the primary cosmic-ray flux is to be at maximum 1/60. This component would be energized by strong stellar winds producing quasi-standing shocks around the Wolf-Rayet stars

  5. Cosmic ray radio emission as air shower detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Curutiu, Alexandru; Rusu, Mircea; Isar, Gina; Zgura, Sorin

    2004-01-01

    The possibility of radio-detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (within the 10 to 100 MHz range) are discussed. Currently, air showers are detected by various methods, mainly based on particle detectors (KASCADE, Auger) or optical detection (Cerenkov radiation). Recently,to detect radio emission from cosmic ray air showers a method using electromagnetic radiation in low frequency domain (LOFAR) was proposed. We are investigating this possibility, using simulation codes created to investigate electromagnetic radiation of intricate antennae structure, for example fractal antennas. Some of the preliminary results will be communicated in this session. (authors)

  6. From cosmic ray physics to cosmic ray astronomy: Bruno Rossi and the opening of new windows on the universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonolis, Luisa

    2014-01-01

    Bruno Rossi is considered one of the fathers of modern physics, being also a pioneer in virtually every aspect of what is today called high-energy astrophysics. At the beginning of 1930s he was the pioneer of cosmic ray research in Italy, and, as one of the leading actors in the study of the nature and behavior of the cosmic radiation, he witnessed the birth of particle physics and was one of the main investigators in this fields for many years. While cosmic ray physics moved more and more towards astrophysics, Rossi continued to be one of the inspirers of this line of research. When outer space became a reality, he did not hesitate to leap into this new scientific dimension. Rossi's intuition on the importance of exploiting new technological windows to look at the universe with new eyes, is a fundamental key to understand the profound unity which guided his scientific research path up to its culminating moments at the beginning of 1960s, when his group at MIT performed the first in situ measurements of the density, speed and direction of the solar wind at the boundary of Earth's magnetosphere, and when he promoted the search for extra-solar sources of X rays. A visionary idea which eventually led to the breakthrough experiment which discovered Scorpius X-1 in 1962, and inaugurated X-ray astronomy.

  7. Cosmic rays exposure during aircraft flight (3). Guideline and dose evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasuda, Hiroshi

    2007-01-01

    Radiation Council of MEXT drew up the Guideline of Cosmic Ray Exposure Control for Air Crew in 2006. The content of the Guideline and evaluation methods of dose are explained. The Guideline stated five items for Airline Company. It consists of 1) exposure dose control for air crew, 2) evaluation methods of cosmic rays exposure dose of air crew, 3) explanation and education of cosmic rays exposure for air crew, 4) reading, record and store of cosmic rays exposure dose of air crew, and 5) health control of air crew. The doses of four airlines were calculated by the Civil Aeromedical Research Institute (CARI) code and the European Program package for the Calculation of Aviation Route Doses (EPCARD) code. The difference of two codes was about 15 to 25%. Japanese Internet System for Calculation of Aviation Route Doses (JISCAED) has been developed by Japan. (S.Y.)

  8. Using the information on cosmic rays to predict influenza epidemics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Z.D.

    1985-01-01

    A correlation between the incidence of influenza pandemics and increased cosmic ray activity is made. A correlation is also made between the occurrence of these pandemics and the appearance of bright novae, e.g., Nova Eta Car. Four indices based on increased cosmic ray activity and novae are proposed to predict future influenza pandemics and viral antigenic shifts

  9. A self-consistent model for the Galactic cosmic ray, antiproton and positron spectra

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    In this talk I will present the escape model of Galactic cosmic rays. This model explains the measured cosmic ray spectra of individual groups of nuclei from TeV to EeV energies. It predicts an early transition to extragalactic cosmic rays, in agreement with recent Auger data. The escape model also explains the soft neutrino spectrum 1/E^2.5 found by IceCube in concordance with Fermi gamma-ray data. I will show that within the same model one can explain the excess of positrons and antiprotons above 20 GeV found by PAMELA and AMS-02, the discrepancy in the slopes of the spectra of cosmic ray protons and heavier nuclei in the TeV-PeV energy range and the plateau in cosmic ray dipole anisotropy in the 2-50 TeV energy range by adding the effects of a 2 million year old nearby supernova.

  10. Signs of cosmic rays in gravitational wave detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tavares, Denis Borgarelli

    2010-01-01

    One of the phenomena predicted by Einstein in the derivation of general relativity is the existence of small perturbations of the metric that he named gravitational waves. As they travel through space oscillates the space-time according to its polarization. This is the only major prediction of general relativity not yet proven completely. The small signal generated by the passage of a gravitational wave compared to the noise in the system of detection makes their direct detection one challenge of modern science. In this paper we study the noise generated by cosmic rays in the gravitational antenna Mario Schenberg, located in the city of Sao Paulo. Single muons and hadrons flux measurements held in the northern hemisphere were used to calculate the expected flux of these particles in the city of Sao Paulo. The calculation of the energy deposited in the detector of gravitational waves from cosmic rays was performed by Monte Carlo simulations using Geant4. The transport of muons and protons, with several energy and some different angles of incidence, across the building and the resonant sphere was simulated. We developed a thermo-acoustic model, called multi-point, suitable for calculating the energy deposited in the normal modes from the energy deposited on the sphere by elementary particles. With these results we calculate the expected rate of cosmic ray signals in the main detection mode of gravitational waves, nl = 12, of the Mario Schenberg detector, for temperatures T noise between 10 -5 and 10 -7 K. The results showed for the designed for 4.2 K sensitivity of the Mario Schenberg detector that the rate of signals due to cosmic rays is very small, being around 5 events per day. However, when it will reach the quantum limit will be needed a more detailed analysis of the antenna signal output, since the expected number of cosmic ray noise increases considerably, reaching about 250 signals per day. (author)

  11. Origin of transient cosmic ray intensity variations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duggal, S.P.; Pomerantz, M.A.

    1977-01-01

    A new approach to determining the solar progenitor of transient cosmic ray intensity variations has revealed that in a statistical sense, solar flares, heretofore regarded as the predominant source of the modulation, actually do not precede the reduction in flux observed at earth. Superposed epoch analysis of the cosmic ray data with respect to the time of occurrence of all 379 solar flares of importance (Imp) < or =2 observed during solar cycle 20 (1964-1974 inclusive) shows that the onset of a decrease in the composite nucleonic intensity at polar stations occurs prior to the zero day (i.e., time of the flare) well before the arrival in the vicinity of earth of the associated solar plasma. The statistical significance of this result is confirmed by comparing the pooled variance determined from Chree analysis of an equal number of random epochs with that of the curve representing the flare epochs. Subdivision of the latter into three groups according to the heliographic longitude of the flares shows that whereas eastern flares might be associated with cosmic ray decreases, central (30degree to -30degree) and western flares cannot be thus related. A similar analysis of all flares of Imp< or =2 that occurred in a selected set of 24 extraordinary flare-rich active centers during 1964--1974 confirms these results and shows that the observed cosmic ray intensity decrease is, in fact, associated with the central meridian passage ( +- 1 day) of the active regions. Thus earlier conclusions concerning relationships between the heliolongitude of flares and their apparent effectiveness in producing Forbush decreases require reevaluation. The specific feature associated with solar active centers that is actually the principal source of transient modulations remanins to be identified

  12. A new method for imaging nuclear threats using cosmic ray muons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. L. Morris

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate three dimensional images of volumes using information contained in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Advantages of this technique are the ability of cosmic rays to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose delivered to subjects under study above the natural cosmic ray flux. Disadvantages include the relatively long exposure times and poor position resolution and complex algorithms needed for reconstruction. Here we demonstrate a new method for obtaining improved position resolution and statistical precision for objects with spherical symmetry.

  13. Neutron Collar Evolution and Fresh PWR Assembly Measurements with a New Fast Neutron Passive Collar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menlove, Howard Olsen [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Geist, William H. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Root, Margaret A. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Rael, Carlos D. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Belian, Anthony P. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-11-02

    The passive neutron collar approach removes the effect of poison rods when using a 1mm Gd liner. This project sets out to solve the following challenges: BWR fuel assemblies have less mass and less neutron multiplication than PWR; and effective removal of cosmic ray spallation neutron bursts needed via QC tests.

  14. Insights into the Galactic Cosmic-ray Source from the TIGER Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Link, Jason T.; Barbier, L. M.; Binns, W. R.; Christian, E. R.; Cummings, J. R.; Geier, S.; Israel, M. H.; Lodders, K.; Mewaldt,R. A.; Mitchell, J. W.; hide

    2009-01-01

    We report results from 50 days of data accumulated in two Antarctic flights of the Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER). With a detector system composed of scintillators, Cherenkov detectors, and scintillating optical fibers, TIGER has a geometrical acceptance of 1.7 sq m sr and a charge resolution of 0.23 cu at Iron. TIGER has obtained abundance measurements of some of the rare galactic cosmic rays heavier than iron, including Zn, Ga, Ge, Se, and Sr, as well as the more abundant lighter elements (down to Si). The heavy elements have long been recognized as important probes of the nature of the galactic cosmic-ray source and accelerator. After accounting for fragmentation of cosmic-ray nuclei as they propagate through the Galaxy and the atmosphere above the detector system, the TIGER source abundances are consistent with a source that is a mixture of about 20% ejecta from massive stars and 80% interstellar medium with solar system composition. This result supports a model of cosmic-ray origin in OB associations previously inferred from ACE-CRIS data of more abundant lighter elements. These TIGER data also support a cosmic-ray acceleration model in which elements present in interstellar grains are accelerated preferentially compared with those found in interstellar gas.

  15. 2-D Modelling of Long Period Variations of Galactic Cosmic Ray Intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siluszyk, M; Iskra, K; Alania, M

    2015-01-01

    A new two-dimensional (2-D) time dependent model describing long-period variations of the Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) intensity has been developed. New approximations for the changes of the magnitude B of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF), the tilt angle δ of the Heliospheric Neutral Sheet (HNS) and drift effects of the GCR particles have been included into the model. Moreover, temporal changes of the exponent γ expressing the power law - rigidity dependence of the amplitudes of the 11-year variation of the GCR intensity have been added. We show that changes of the expected GCR particle density precedes changes of the GCR intensity measured by the Moscow Neutron (MN) monitor by about 18 months. So ∼18 months can be taken as an effective delay time between the expected intensity caused by the combined influence of the changes of the parameters implemented in the time-dependent 2-D model and the GCR intensity measured by neutron monitors during the 21 cycle of solar activity. (paper)

  16. Neutron detection gamma ray sensitivity criteria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kouzes, Richard T.; Ely, James H.; Lintereur, Azaree T.; Mace, Emily K.; Stephens, Daniel L.; Woodring, Mitchell L.

    2011-01-01

    The shortage of 3 He has triggered the search for effective alternative neutron detection technologies for national security and safeguards applications. Any new detection technology must satisfy two basic criteria: (1) it must meet a neutron detection efficiency requirement, and (2) it must be insensitive to gamma-ray interference at a prescribed level, while still meeting the neutron detection requirement. It is the purpose of this paper to define measureable gamma ray sensitivity criteria for neutron detectors. Quantitative requirements are specified for: intrinsic gamma ray detection efficiency and gamma ray absolute rejection. The gamma absolute rejection ratio for neutrons (GARRn) is defined, and it is proposed that the requirement for neutron detection be 0.9 3 He based neutron detector is provided showing that this technology can meet the stated requirements. Results from tests of some alternative technologies are also reported.

  17. Status of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    I will review the recent results on Ultra-High energy cosmic rays obtained by the Auger and Telescope Array Observatories, and discuss some of the Astrophysical scenarios that could account for them, a connection with LHC results  as well as the possible connections to neutrino and gamma ray observations.

  18. Cosmic matrix in the jubilee of relativistic astrophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruffini, R.; Aimuratov, Y.; Enderli, M.; Kovacevic, M.; Belinski, V.; Bianco, C. L.; Izzo, L.; Moradi, R.; Muccino, M.; Rueda, J. A.; Vereshchagin, G. V.; Wang, Y.; Xue, S.-S.; Mathews, G. J.; Penacchioni, A. V.; Pisani, G. B.

    2015-01-01

    Following the classical works on Neutron Stars, Black Holes and Cosmology, I outline some recent results obtained in the IRAP-PhD program of ICRANet on the “Cosmic Matrix”: a new astrophysical phenomenon recorded by the X- and Gamma-Ray satellites and by the largest ground based optical telescopes all over our planet. In 3 minutes it has been recorded the occurrence of a “Supernova”, the “Induced-Gravitational-Collapse” on a Neutron Star binary, the formation of a “Black Hole”, and the creation of a “Newly Born Neutron Star”. This presentation is based on a document describing activities of ICRANet and recent developments of the paradigm of the Cosmic Matrix in the comprehension of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) presented on the occasion of the Fourteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting on Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Gravitation, and Relativistic Field Theory. A Portuguese version of this document can be downloaded at: http://www.icranet.org/documents/brochure_icranet_pt.pdf

  19. A Multi-Variate Fit to the Chemical Composition of the Cosmic-Ray Spectrum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisch, Jonathan

    Since the discovery of cosmic rays over a century ago, evidence of their origins has remained elusive. Deflected by galactic magnetic fields, the only direct evidence of their origin and propagation remain encoded in their energy distribution and chemical composition. Current models of galactic cosmic rays predict variations of the energy distribution of individual elements in an energy region around 3x1015 eV known as the knee. This work presents a method to measure the energy distribution of individual elemental groups in the knee region and its application to a year of data from the IceCube detector. The method uses cosmic rays detected by both IceTop, the surface-array component, and the deep-ice component of IceCube during the 2009-2010 operation of the IC-59 detector. IceTop is used to measure the energy and the relative likelihood of the mass composition using the signal from the cosmic-ray induced extensive air shower reaching the surface. IceCube, 1.5 km below the surface, measures the energy of the high-energy bundle of muons created in the very first interactions after the cosmic ray enters the atmosphere. These event distributions are fit by a constrained model derived from detailed simulations of cosmic rays representing five chemical elements. The results of this analysis are evaluated in terms of the theoretical uncertainties in cosmic-ray interactions and seasonal variations in the atmosphere. The improvements in high-energy cosmic ray hadronic-interaction models informed by this analysis, combined with increased data from subsequent operation of the IceCube detector, could provide crucial limits on the origin of cosmic rays and their propagation through the galaxy. In the course of developing this method, a number of analysis and statistical techniques were developed to deal with the difficulties inherent in this type of measurement. These include a composition-sensitive air shower reconstruction technique, a method to model simulated event

  20. Measurement of the cosmic ray muon charge ratio with the OPERA detector

    CERN Document Server

    Mauri, N

    2010-01-01

    The OPERA detector at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) was used to measure the cosmic ray muon charge ratio Rμ = Nμ+/Nμ− in the TeV energy region. We analyzed 403069 cosmic ray muons corresponding to 113.4 days of livetime during the 2008 CNGS run. We computed separately the muon charge ratio for single and for multiple muon events in order to select different energy regions of the primary cosmic ray spectrum and to test the Rμ dependence on the primary composition. Rμ is also shown as a function of the Òvertical surface energyÓ Eμ cos !. A Þt to a simpliÞed model of muon pro- duction in atmosphere allowed the determination of the pion and kaon charge ratios weighted by the cosmic ray energy spectrum.