WorldWideScience

Sample records for high energy cosmic

  1. Cosmic physics: the high energy frontier

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stecker, F W

    2003-01-01

    Cosmic rays have been observed up to energies 10 8 times larger than those of the best particle accelerators. Studies of astrophysical particles (hadrons, neutrinos and photons) at their highest observed energies have implications for fundamental physics as well as astrophysics. Thus, the cosmic high energy frontier is the nexus to new particle physics. This overview discusses recent advances being made in the physics and astrophysics of cosmic rays and cosmic γ-rays at the highest observed energies as well as the related physics and astrophysics of very high energy cosmic neutrinos. These topics touch on questions of grand unification, violations of Lorentz invariance as well as Planck scale physics and quantum gravity. (topical review)

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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

  5. 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)

  6. 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

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. Diffuse fluxes of cosmic high-energy neutrinos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stecker, F.W.

    1979-01-01

    Production spectra of high-energy neutrinos from galactic cosmic-ray interactions with interstellar gas and extragalactic ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray interactions with microwave blackbody photons are presented and discussed. These production processes involve the decay of charged pions and are thus related to the production of cosmic γ-rays from the decay of neutral pions. Estimates of the neutrino fluxes from various diffuse cosmic sources are then made, and the reasons for significant differences with previous estimates are discussed. Small predicted event rates for a DUMAND type detection system, combined with a possible significant flux of prompt neutrinos from the atmosphere above 50 TeV, may make the study of diffuse extraterrestrial neutrinos more difficult than previously thought

  10. 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.

  11. High energy cosmic ray astronomy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fonseca, V.

    1996-01-01

    A brief introduction to High Energy Cosmic Ray Astronomy is presented. This field covers a 17 decade energy range (2.10 4 -10 20 ) eV. Recent discoveries done with gamma-ray detectors on-board satellites and ground-based Cherenkov devices are pushing for a fast development of new and innovative techniques, specially in the low energy region which includes the overlapping of satellite and ground-based measurements in the yet unexplored energy range 20 keV-250 GeV. Detection of unexpected extremely high energy events have triggered the interest of the international scientific community. (orig.)

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. 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,

  16. 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...

  17. Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays

    CERN Document Server

    Dova, M.T.

    2015-05-22

    The origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with energies above E > 10 17 eV, is still unknown. The discovery of their sources will reveal the engines of the most energetic astrophysical accelerators in the universe. This is a written version of a series of lectures devoted to UHECR at the 2013 CERN-Latin-American School of High-Energy Physics. We present anintroduction to acceleration mechanisms of charged particles to the highest energies in astrophysical objects, their propagation from the sources to Earth, and the experimental techniques for their detection. We also discuss some of the relevant observational results from Telescope Array and Pierre Auger Observatory. These experiments deal with particle interactions at energies orders of magnitude higher than achieved in terrestrial accelerators.

  18. 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.

  19. Cosmic very high-energy {gamma}-rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Plaga, R. [Max-Planck-Institut fur Physik, Muenchen (Germany)

    1998-12-31

    The article gives a brief overview, aimed at nonspecialists, about the goals and selected recent results of the detection of very-high energy {gamma}-rays (energies above 100 GeV) with ground based detectors. The stress is on the physics questions, specially the origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays and the emission of TeV {gamma}-radiation from active galaxies. Moreover some particle-physics questions which are addressed in this area are discussed.

  20. Cosmic-ray ultra high-energy multijet family event

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zou Bao-tang; Wang Cheng-rui; Ren Jing-ru

    1987-01-01

    A cosmic-ray ultra-high-energy multijet family event with visible energy of about 1500 TeV and five large cores is reported. This event was found in the 1980-1981 exposure of the Mt. Kambala (5500 M a.s.l.) emulsion-chamber experiment. The family characteristics are analyzed and compared with other cosmic ray events in the same energy range. The production and fragmentation characteristics of the five jets are studied and compared with the experimental results of accelerators and emulsion chamber C-jets as well as with QCD predictions above the TeV range. Some features on hadronic interactions in the TeV range are discussed

  1. 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.

  2. Theory Summary: Very High Energy Cosmic Rays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarkar Subir

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This is a summary of ISVHECRI 2012 from a theorist’s perspective. A hundred years after their discovery, there is renewed interest in very high energy cosmic raysand their interactions which can provide unique information on new physics well beyond the Standard Model if only we knew how to unambiguously decipher the experimental data. While the observational situation has improved dramatically on the past decade with regard to both improved statistics and better understood systematics, the long standing questions regarding the origin of cosmic rays remain only partially answered, while further questions have been raised by new data. A recent development discussed at this Symposium is the advent of forward physics data from several experiments at the LHC, which have broadly vindicated the air shower simulation Monte Carlos currently in use and reduced their uncertainties further. Nevertheless there is still a major extrapolation required to interpret the highest energy air showers observed which appear to be undergoing a puzzling change in their elemental composition, even casting doubt on whether the much vaunted GZK cutoff has indeedbeen observed. The situation is further compounded by the apparent disagreement between Auger and Telescope Array data. A crucial diagnostic will be provided by the detection of the accompanying ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos — two intriguing events have recently been recorded by IceCube.

  3. A cosmic ray super high energy multijet family event

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zou Baotang; Wang Chengrui; Ren Jingru

    1986-01-01

    A cosmic ray super high energy family event with visible energy of about 1500 TeV and five big cores is reported. This event was found in the 1980-1981 exposure of Mt. Kambala (5500 M a.s.l.) emulsion chamber experiment. The family characteristics are analyzed and compared with the other cosmic ray events in the same energy range. The production and fragmentation characteristics of the five jets are studied and compared with the experimntal results of accelerators and C-jets as well as with QCD predictions up to TeV. Some features on hadronic interactions at TeV range are discussed

  4. Phenomenon of energy concentration in high-energy family events of cosmic rays

    CERN Document Server

    Wang He; Dai Zhi Qiang; Xue Liang; Feng Cun Feng; Zhang Xue Yao; Li Jin; Zhang Nai Jian; He Mao; Wang Cheng Rui; Ren Jing Ru; Lu Sui Ling

    2002-01-01

    The phenomenon of energy concentration in high-energy family events of cosmic rays is studied by comparing the results of family events of total visible energies 100-400 TeV observed in the Kanbala emulsion chamber experiment with the Monte Carlo simulation data. The simulation is made by the program CORSIKA in which QGSJET is applied as the hadronic interaction model, and the chemical composition of primary cosmic rays is obtained from the rigidity-cut model and the extrapolation of new results of direct measurements. This shows that the whole distribution tendency of the rate of energy concentration of simulated family events is basically consistent with that of the experiment

  5. Probing neutrino dark energy with extremely high-energy cosmic neutrinos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ringwald, A.; Schrempp, L.

    2006-06-01

    Recently, a new non-Standard Model neutrino interaction mediated by a light scalar field was proposed, which renders the big-bang relic neutrinos of the cosmic neutrino background a natural dark energy candidate, the so-called Neutrino Dark Energy. As a further consequence of this interaction, the neutrino masses become functions of the neutrino energy densities and are thus promoted to dynamical, time/redshift dependent quantities. Such a possible neutrino mass variation introduces a redshift dependence into the resonance energies associated with the annihilation of extremely high-energy cosmic neutrinos on relic anti-neutrinos and vice versa into Z-bosons. In general, this annihilation process is expected to lead to sizeable absorption dips in the spectra to be observed on earth by neutrino observatories operating in the relevant energy region above 10 13 GeV. In our analysis, we contrast the characteristic absorption features produced by constant and varying neutrino masses, including all thermal background effects caused by the relic neutrino motion. We firstly consider neutrinos from astrophysical sources and secondly neutrinos originating from the decomposition of topological defects using the appropriate fragmentation functions. On the one hand, independent of the nature of neutrino masses, our results illustrate the discovery potential for the cosmic neutrino background by means of relic neutrino absorption spectroscopy. On the other hand, they allow to estimate the prospects for testing its possible interpretation as source of Neutrino Dark Energy within the next decade by the neutrino observatories ANITA and LOFAR. (Orig.)

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.)

  9. Simulations of ultra-high energy cosmic rays in the local Universe and the origin of cosmic magnetic fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hackstein, S.; Vazza, F.; Brüggen, M.; Sorce, J. G.; Gottlöber, S.

    2018-04-01

    We simulate the propagation of cosmic rays at ultra-high energies, ≳1018 eV, in models of extragalactic magnetic fields in constrained simulations of the local Universe. We use constrained initial conditions with the cosmological magnetohydrodynamics code ENZO. The resulting models of the distribution of magnetic fields in the local Universe are used in the CRPROPA code to simulate the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We investigate the impact of six different magneto-genesis scenarios, both primordial and astrophysical, on the propagation of cosmic rays over cosmological distances. Moreover, we study the influence of different source distributions around the Milky Way. Our study shows that different scenarios of magneto-genesis do not have a large impact on the anisotropy measurements of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. However, at high energies above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK)-limit, there is anisotropy caused by the distribution of nearby sources, independent of the magnetic field model. This provides a chance to identify cosmic ray sources with future full-sky measurements and high number statistics at the highest energies. Finally, we compare our results to the dipole signal measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. All our source models and magnetic field models could reproduce the observed dipole amplitude with a pure iron injection composition. Our results indicate that the dipole is observed due to clustering of secondary nuclei in direction of nearby sources of heavy nuclei. A light injection composition is disfavoured, since the increase in dipole angular power from 4 to 8 EeV is too slow compared to observation by the Pierre Auger Observatory.

  10. SimProp: a simulation code for ultra high energy cosmic ray propagation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aloisio, R.; Grillo, A.F.; Boncioli, D.; Petrera, S.; Salamida, F.

    2012-01-01

    A new Monte Carlo simulation code for the propagation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays is presented. The results of this simulation scheme are tested by comparison with results of another Monte Carlo computation as well as with the results obtained by directly solving the kinetic equation for the propagation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays. A short comparison with the latest flux published by the Pierre Auger collaboration is also presented

  11. Inverse problem for extragalactic transport of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ptuskin, V.S.; Rogovaya, S.I.; Zirakashvili, V.N.

    2015-01-01

    The energy spectra and composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays are changing in a course of propagation in the expanding Universe filled with background radiation. We developed a numerical code for solution of inverse problem for cosmic-ray transport equations that allows the determination of average source spectra of different nuclei from the cosmic ray spectra observed at the Earth. Employing this approach, the injection spectra of protons and Iron nuclei in extragalactic sources are found assuming that only these species are accelerated at the source. The data from the Auger experiment and the combined data from the Telescope Array + HiRes experiments are used to illustrate the method

  12. Inverse problem for extragalactic transport of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ptuskin, V.S.; Rogovaya, S.I.; Zirakashvili, V.N., E-mail: vptuskin@izmiran.ru, E-mail: rogovaya@izmiran.ru, E-mail: zirak@izmiran.ru [Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN), Troitsk, Moscow, 142190 (Russian Federation)

    2015-03-01

    The energy spectra and composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays are changing in a course of propagation in the expanding Universe filled with background radiation. We developed a numerical code for solution of inverse problem for cosmic-ray transport equations that allows the determination of average source spectra of different nuclei from the cosmic ray spectra observed at the Earth. Employing this approach, the injection spectra of protons and Iron nuclei in extragalactic sources are found assuming that only these species are accelerated at the source. The data from the Auger experiment and the combined data from the Telescope Array + HiRes experiments are used to illustrate the method.

  13. Contribution from individual nearby sources to the spectrum of high-energy cosmic-ray electrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sedrati, R.; Attallah, R.

    2014-01-01

    In the last few years, very important data on high-energy cosmic-ray electrons and positrons from high-precision space-born and ground-based experiments have attracted a great deal of interest. These particles represent a unique probe for studying local comic-ray accelerators because they lose energy very rapidly. These energy losses reduce the lifetime so drastically that high-energy cosmic-ray electrons can attain the Earth only from rather local astrophysical sources. This work aims at calculating, by means of Monte Carlo simulation, the contribution from some known nearby astrophysical sources to the cosmic-ray electron/positron spectra at high energy (≥10GeV). The background to the electron energy spectrum from distant sources is determined with the help of the GALPROP code. The obtained numerical results are compared with a set of experimental data

  14. Contribution from individual nearby sources to the spectrum of high-energy cosmic-ray electrons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sedrati, R., E-mail: rafik.sedrati@univ-annaba.org; Attallah, R.

    2014-04-01

    In the last few years, very important data on high-energy cosmic-ray electrons and positrons from high-precision space-born and ground-based experiments have attracted a great deal of interest. These particles represent a unique probe for studying local comic-ray accelerators because they lose energy very rapidly. These energy losses reduce the lifetime so drastically that high-energy cosmic-ray electrons can attain the Earth only from rather local astrophysical sources. This work aims at calculating, by means of Monte Carlo simulation, the contribution from some known nearby astrophysical sources to the cosmic-ray electron/positron spectra at high energy (≥10GeV). The background to the electron energy spectrum from distant sources is determined with the help of the GALPROP code. The obtained numerical results are compared with a set of experimental data.

  15. Source composition of cosmic rays at high energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Juliusson, E.; Cesarsky, C.J.; Meneguzzi, M.; Casse, M.

    1975-01-01

    The source composition of the cosmic ray is usually calculated at an energy of a few GeV per nucleon. Recent measurements have however indicated that the source composition may be energy dependent. In order to give a quantitative answer to this question the source composition at 50GeV/nucleon has been calculated using an exponential distribution of path lengths and in the slab approximation. The results obtained at high energy agree very well with the source composition obtained at lower energies, except the abundance of carbon which is significantly lower than the generally accepted value of low energies [fr

  16. 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.

  17. Introduction to high energy cosmic ray physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battistoni, G.; Grillo, A.F.

    1995-01-01

    After a few general qualitative considerations about the characteristics of primary cosmic rays arriving at the top of atmosphere, the fundamental concepts on their propagation and acceleration are discussed. The experimental situation, both from direct and indirect experiments, is presented, followed by a discussion on some concepts on hadronic interactions at high energy which are applied in a simplified and analytical model to the production of secondary particles in atmosphere

  18. High-energy cosmic rays: Puzzles, models, and giga-ton neutrino ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    magnetic field, it is believed that cosmic rays of energy <1019 eV are of galactic ... high energy near the central source is impossible due to the high density of pho- .... 1020 eV, the Fly's Eye, HiRes and Yakutsk experiments are in agreement .... detection rate of ~20 neutrino-induced muon events per year (over 4π sr) in a.

  19. On the Origin of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays II

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fowler, T K; Colgate, S; Li, H; Bulmer, R H; Pino, J

    2011-03-08

    We show that accretion disks around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) could account for the enormous power in observed ultra high energy cosmic rays {approx}10{sup 20} eV (UHEs). In our model, cosmic rays are produced by quasi-steady acceleration of ions in magnetic structures previously proposed to explain jets around Active Galactic Nuclei with supermassive black holes. Steady acceleration requires that an AGN accretion disk act as a dynamo, which we show to follow from a modified Standard Model in which the magnetic torque of the dynamo replaces viscosity as the dominant mechanism accounting for angular momentum conservation during accretion. A black hole of mass M{sub BH} produces a steady dynamo voltage V {proportional_to} {radical}M{sub BH} giving V {approx} 10{sup 20} volts for M{sub BH} {approx} 10{sup 8} solar masses. The voltage V reappears as an inductive electric field at the advancing nose of a dynamo-driven jet, where plasma instability inherent in collisionless runaway acceleration allows ions to be steadily accelerated to energies {approx} V, finally ejected as cosmic rays. Transient events can produce much higher energies. The predicted disk radiation is similar to the Standard Model. Unique predictions concern the remarkable collimation of jets and emissions from the jet/radiolobe structure. Given MBH and the accretion rate, the model makes 7 predictions roughly consistent with data: (1) the jet length; (2) the jet radius; (3) the steady-state cosmic ray energy spectrum; (4) the maximum energy in this spectrum; (5) the UHE cosmic ray intensity on Earth; (6) electron synchrotron wavelengths; and (7) the power in synchrotron radiation. These qualitative successes motivate new computer simulations, experiments and data analysis to provide a quantitative verification of the model.

  20. High-energy cosmic rays and tests of basic principles of Physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalez-Mestres L.

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available With the present understanding of data, the observed flux suppression for ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR at energies above 4.1019 eV can be a signature of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK cutoff or be related to a similar mechanism. But it may also correspond, for instance, to the maximum energies available at the relevant sources. In both cases, violations of special relativity modifying cosmic-ray propagation or acceleration at very high energy can potentially play a role. Other violations of fundamental principles of standard particle physics (quantum mechanics, energy and momentum conservation, vacuum homogeneity and “static” properties, effective space dimensions, quark confinement… can also be relevant at these energies. In particular, UHECR data would in principle allow to set bounds on Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV in patterns incorporating a privileged local reference frame (the “vacuum rest frame”, VRF. But the precise analysis is far from trivial, and other effects can also be present. The effective parameters can be related to Planckscale physics, or even to physics beyond Planck scale, as well as to the dynamics and effective symmetries of LSV for nucleons, quarks, leptons and the photon. LSV can also be at the origin of GZK-like effects. In the presence of a VRF, and contrary to a “grand unification” view, LSV and other violations of standard principles can modify the internal structure of particles at very high energy and conventional symmetries may cease to be valid at energies close to the Planck scale. We present an updated discussion of these topics, including experimental prospects, new potentialities for high-energy cosmic ray phenomenology and the possible link with unconventional pre-Big Bang scenarios, superbradyon (superluminal preon patterns… The subject of a possible superluminal propagation of neutrinos at accelerator energies is also dealt with.

  1. Summary of super high energy events and exotic phenomena in cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyake, S.

    1979-01-01

    In this report, the features of superhigh energy events and exotic phenomena are presented. The examples obtained with emulsion chambers show clear trend of change in the hadron interaction characteristics with energy. The scaling law is violated in the very high energy region above 10 15 eV. In the energy region from 10 to 100 TeV, there is mild violation of scaling. The cosmic ray data on the diffusion of high energy particles in the atmosphere was used to study the mild violation of scaling. It is not easy to discuss the violation in the energy region higher than 10 15 eV, because such event can be obtained very rarely. The only method is the observation of extensive air showers. The relation of average transverse momenta to primary cosmic ray energy was compared with some accelerator data. The cosmic ray data tend to show smaller momentum values. The energy spectrum of cosmic ray muons can be measured by the underground observation, the observation of muon-production burst with emulsion chambers, or the observation of horizontal air showers. Analysis of this spectrum shows that there is an upper limit for the direct production of muons at primary energy of several times of 10 14 eV. Other support for the change of interaction character at 10 14 eV is seen. Possible examples of heavy lepton events were found in the deep underground observation. In deep underground observation, anomalous showers with energy content larger than several hundred GeV were observed. Comment on the long tail nuclear cascade is presented. Some experiments for future are introduced. (Kato, T.)

  2. The MIDAS telescope for microwave detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Soares, E.A.; Berlin, A.; Bogdan, M.; Boháčová, Martina; Bonifazi, C.; Carvalho, W.R.; de Mello Neto, J.R.T.; San Luis, P.F.; Genat, J.F.; Hollon, N.; Mills, E.; Monasor, M.; Privitera, P.; Ramos de Castro, A.; Reyes, L.C.; Richardson, M.; Rouille D’Orfeuil, B.; Santos, E.M.; Wayne, S.; Williams, C.; Zas, E.; Zhou, J.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 719, Aug (2013), s. 70-80 ISSN 0168-9002 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : ultra high energy cosmic rays * radio-detection * microwave * GHz Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 1.316, year: 2013

  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. Restriction of cosmic-ray acceleration, mechanisms by high-energy Be7/Be data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Orth, C.D.; Buffington, A.; Mast, T.S.

    1979-01-01

    New high-energy cosmic-ray Be data indicate that the ratio Be 7 /Be drops by approximately a factor of two between 200 and 1500 MeV/nucleon. This result may provide a severe constraint for theories of cosmic-ray acceleration

  5. Percolation Effects in Very-High-Energy Cosmic Rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dias de Deus, J.; Santo, M.C. Espirito; Pimenta, M.; Pajares, C.

    2006-01-01

    Cosmic ray data at high energies present a number of well-known puzzles. At very high energies (E∼10 20 eV) there are indications of a discrepancy between ground array experiments and fluorescence detectors. On the other hand, the dependence of the depth of the shower maximum X max with the primary energy shows a change in slope (E∼10 17 eV) which is usually explained assuming a composition change. Both effects could be accounted for in models predicting that above a certain energy showers would develop deeper in the atmosphere. In this Letter we argue that this can be done naturally by including percolation effects in the description of the shower development, which cause a change in the behavior of the inelasticity K above E≅10 17 eV

  6. A combined cosmic ray muon spectrometer and high energy air shower array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cherry, M.L.; Ayres, D.S.; Halzen, F.

    1986-01-01

    Cosmic rays have been detected at energies in excess of 10 20 eV, and individual sources have been conclusively identified as intense emitters of gamma rays at energies up to 10 16 eV. There is clearly a great deal of exciting astrophysics to be learned from such studies, but it has been suggested that there may be particle physics to be learned from the cosmic beam as well. Based in particular on the reports of surprisingly high fluxes of underground muons from the direction of Cygnus X-3 modulated by the known orbital period, there have been several suggestions recently invoking stable supersymmetric particles produced at Cygnus X-3, enhanced muon production from high energy photons, quark matter, and ''cygnets.'' Although the underground muon results have been questioned, it may still be worthwhile to consider the possibility of new physics beyond the standard model with energy scale (G/sub F/)/sup -1/2/ ≥ 0.25 TeV. For example, there have been recent discussions on the experimental signatures to be observed from new high energy photon couplings to matter, exchanges between constituent quarks and leptons, and stable gluinos and photinos mixed in with the cosmic gamma ray flux. We describe here a possible detector to search for such effects. We utilize the possibility that point sources like Cygnus X-3 can be used to provide a directional time-modulated ''tagged'' high energy photon beam

  7. Ultra high energy cosmic rays above 10 GeV: Hints to new physics ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Ultra high energy cosmic rays; physics beyond standard model. ... The origin of the observed cosmic ray (CR) events above 10ѕј eV — the so-called ex- .... to arise simply from decay of some supermassive particles (of mass> 10ѕЅ eV) ...

  8. Search for high energy cosmic neutrino point sources with ANTARES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Halladjian, G.

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this thesis is the search for high energy cosmic neutrinos emitted by point sources with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. The detection of high energy cosmic neutrinos can bring answers to important questions such as the origin of cosmic rays and the γ-rays emission processes. In the first part of the thesis, the neutrino flux emitted by galactic and extragalactic sources and the number of events which can be detected by ANTARES are estimated. This study uses the measured γ-ray spectra of known sources taking into account the γ-ray absorption by the extragalactic background light. In the second part of the thesis, the absolute pointing of the ANTARES telescope is evaluated. Being located at a depth of 2475 m in sea water, the orientation of the detector is determined by an acoustic positioning system which relies on low and high frequency acoustic waves measurements between the sea surface and the bottom. The third part of the thesis is a search for neutrino point sources in the ANTARES data. The search algorithm is based on a likelihood ratio maximization method. It is used in two search strategies; 'the candidate sources list strategy' and 'the all sky search strategy'. Analysing 2007+2008 data, no discovery is made and the world's best upper limits on neutrino fluxes from various sources in the Southern sky are established. (author)

  9. 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.

  10. New detection technologies for ultra-high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Böser Sebastian

    2013-06-01

    in dense media provides another promising approachfor the identification of the sources of cosmic rays. The low event rates and large required target volumes limit the experimental methods to far-ranging signatures .from the cascade, such as acoustic emission from the quasi-instantaneous energy deposit or Cherenkov emission from the charged particles in the cascade. Searching for optical Cherenkov photons in a cubic-kilometer of Antarctic ice, the IceCube experiment has recently found an excess of high-energy neutrinos in the TeV-PeV range.Yet its effective volume is too small to detect the GZK flux predicted from interaction of the highest-energy cosmic rays with the ambient cosmic microwave background. Seeking to increase the observed target volume, radio observations of the rim of the moon have energy thresholds well beyond the EeV scale and thus are more likely to find interactions of charged cosmic rays than GZK neutrinos. The currently best sensitivity to this flux is provided from searches for GHz radio emission of neutrino-induced cascades in the antarctic ice from the ANITA ballon experiment. While no high-energy neutrinos have been found, a geomagnetic emission component from air-showers

  11. Search for correlated high energy cosmic ray events with CHICOS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, B E; Brobeck, E; Jillings, C J; Larson, M B; Lynn, T W; McKeown, R D; Hill, James E; Falkowski, B J; Seki, R; Sepikas, J; Yodh, G B

    2005-01-01

    We present the results of a search for time correlations in high energy cosmic ray data (primary E > 10 14 eV) collected by the California HIgh school Cosmic ray ObServatory (CHICOS) array. Data from 60 detector sites spread over an area of 400 km 2 were studied for evidence of isolated events separated by more than 1 km with coincidence times ranging from 1 μs up to 1 s. The results are consistent with the absence of excess coincidences except for a 2.9σ excess observed for coincidence times less than 10 μs. We report upper limits for the coincidence probability as a function of coincidence time

  12. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays: Setting the stage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokolsky, P.

    2013-06-01

    The history of ultra-high energy cosmic ray physics is reviewed from the post-war era of arrays such as Volcano Ranch, Haverah Park and Akeno to the development of air-fluorescence and current hybrid arrays. The aim of this paper is to present the background information needed for a better understanding of the current issues in this field that are discussed in much greater depth in the rest of this conference.

  13. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays: Setting the stage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sokolsky P.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The history of ultra-high energy cosmic ray physics is reviewed from the post-war era of arrays such as Volcano Ranch, Haverah Park and Akeno to the development of air-fluorescence and current hybrid arrays. The aim of this paper is to present the background information needed for a better understanding of the current issues in this field that are discussed in much greater depth in the rest of this conference.

  14. 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.

  15. 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...

  16. 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.

  17. Response of spherical gravitational wave antenna modes to high-energy cosmic ray particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jr, R M Marinho; Magalhaes, N S; Aguiar, O D; Frajuca, C

    2002-01-01

    High-energy cosmic ray particles are expected to be a significant source of noise in resonant mass gravitational wave detectors close to the quantum limit. The spherical, fourth generation antennas have been designed to attain such a limit. In this work we will show how the energy of a cosmic ray particle interacting with such an antenna is distributed over its eigenmodes. We will then make some comments on the relevant consequences of such a distribution for gravitational wave detection

  18. Response of spherical gravitational wave antenna modes to high-energy cosmic ray particles

    CERN Document Server

    Marinho, R M; Aguiar, O D; Frajuca, C

    2002-01-01

    High-energy cosmic ray particles are expected to be a significant source of noise in resonant mass gravitational wave detectors close to the quantum limit. The spherical, fourth generation antennas have been designed to attain such a limit. In this work we will show how the energy of a cosmic ray particle interacting with such an antenna is distributed over its eigenmodes. We will then make some comments on the relevant consequences of such a distribution for gravitational wave detection.

  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. High energy physics above 10 TeV: a review of recent cosmic ray results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yodh, G.B.

    In cosmic rays the very high energy events and their interpretation are reviewed in a critical fashion so as to bring into focus the interesting aspects related to the behavior of high energy interactions

  1. Energy and flux measurements of ultra-high energy cosmic rays observed during the first ANITA flight

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schoorlemmer, H.; Belov, K.; Romero-Wolf, A.; García-Fernández, D.; Bugaev, V.; Wissel, S. A.; Allison, P.; Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Barwick, S. W.; Beatty, J. J.; Besson, D. Z.; Binns, W. R.; Carvalho Jr., W. R.; Chen, C.; Chen, P.; Clem, J. M.; Connolly, A.; Dowkontt, P. F.; DuVernois, M. A.; Field, R. C.; Goldstein, D.; Gorham, P. W.; Hast, C.; Huege, T.; Heber, C. L.; Hoover, S.; Israel, M. H.; Javaid, A.; Kowalski, J.; Lam, J.; Learned, J. G.; Link, J. T.; Lusczek, E.; Matsuno, S.; Mercurio, B. C.; Miki, C.; Miočinović, P.; Mulrey, K.; Nam, J.; Naudet, C. J.; Ng, J.; Nichol, R. J.; Palladino, K.; Rauch, B. F.; Roberts, J.; Reil, K.; Rotter, B.; Rosen, M.; Ruckman, L.; Saltzberg, D.; Seckel, D.; Urdaneta, D.; Varner, G. S.; Vieregg, A. G.; Walz, D.; Wu, F.; Zas, E.

    2016-04-01

    The first flight of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment recorded 16 radio signals that were emitted by cosmic-ray induced air showers. The dominant contribution to the radiation comes from the deflection of positrons and electrons in the geomagnetic field, which is beamed in the direction of motion of the air shower. For 14 of these events, this radiation is reflected from the ice and subsequently detected by the ANITA experiment at a flight altitude of ~36 km. In this paper, we estimate the energy of the 14 individual events and find that the mean energy of the cosmic-ray sample is 2.9 × 1018 eV, which is significantly lower than the previous estimate. By simulating the ANITA flight, we calculate its exposure for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We estimate for the first time the cosmic-ray flux derived only from radio observations and find agreement with measurements performed at other observatories. In addition, we find that the ANITA data set is consistent with Monte Carlo simulations for the total number of observed events and with the properties of those events.

  2. Cosmic gamma radiation of ultra high energy of primordial origin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aquino Filho, F.G. de.

    1984-01-01

    The quantum mechanical effects near a collapsing black hole as shown by Stephen W.Hawking in 1974 to produce streaming particles through tunneling effect was explored in the context of cosmic gamma ray production. In this thesis, we show the possible production of gamma rays of high energies (ν approx 10 41 Hz) in the initial stages of the formation of the Universe by the explosion of primordial mini black holes. These mini black hole explosions happening at 10 -43 s to 10 -37 s after the start perhaps may account for the existing universal cosmic background radiation of 2.7 0 K. (Author) [pt

  3. Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (2/3)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with energies above 1000 TeV, is still unknown. The discovery of their sources will reveal the engines of the most energetic astrophysical accelerators in the universe. In these lectures we present the recent observational results from HiRes, Telescope Array and Pierre Auger Observatory as well as (some of) the possible astrophysical origins of UHECR. These experiments deal with particle interactions at energies orders of magnitude higher than achieved in terrestrial accelerators.

  4. Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (1/3)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with energies above 1000 TeV, is still unknown. The discovery of their sources will reveal the engines of the most energetic astrophysical accelerators in the universe. In these lectures we present the recent observational results from HiRes, Telescope Array and Pierre Auger Observatory as well as (some of) the possible astrophysical origins of UHECR. These experiments deal with particle interactions at energies orders of magnitude higher than achieved in terrestrial accelerators.

  5. Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (3/3)

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2012-01-01

    The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with energies above 1000 TeV, is still unknown. The discovery of their sources will reveal the engines of the most energetic astrophysical accelerators in the universe. In these lectures we present the recent observational results from HiRes, Telescope Array and Pierre Auger Observatory as well as (some of) the possible astrophysical origins of UHECR. These experiments deal with particle interactions at energies orders of magnitude higher than achieved in terrestrial accelerators.

  6. Neutrinos and ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray nuclei from blazars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodrigues, Xavier; Fedynitch, Anatoli; Gao, Shan; Boncioli, Denise; Winter, Walter

    2017-11-01

    We discuss the production of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) nuclei and neutrinos from blazars. We compute the nuclear cascade in the jet for both BL Lac objects and flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), and in the ambient radiation zones for FSRQs as well. By modeling representative spectral energy distributions along the blazar sequence, two distinct regimes are identified, which we call ''nuclear survival'' - typically found in low-luminosity BL Lacs, and ''nuclear cascade'' - typically found in high-luminosity FSRQs. We quantify how the neutrino and cosmic-ray (CR) emission efficiencies evolve over the blazar sequence, and demonstrate that neutrinos and CRs come from very different object classes. For example, high-frequency peaked BL Lacs (HBLs) tend to produce CRs, and HL-FSRQs are the more efficient neutrino emitters. This conclusion does not depend on the CR escape mechanism, for which we discuss two alternatives (diffusive and advective escape). Finally, the neutrino spectrum from blazars is shown to significantly depend on the injection composition into the jet, especially in the nuclear cascade case: Injection compositions heavier than protons lead to reduced neutrino production at the peak, which moves at the same time to lower energies. Thus, these sources will exhibit better compatibility with the observed IceCube and UHECR data.

  7. Neutrinos and ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray nuclei from blazars

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodrigues, Xavier; Fedynitch, Anatoli; Gao, Shan; Boncioli, Denise; Winter, Walter

    2017-11-15

    We discuss the production of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) nuclei and neutrinos from blazars. We compute the nuclear cascade in the jet for both BL Lac objects and flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), and in the ambient radiation zones for FSRQs as well. By modeling representative spectral energy distributions along the blazar sequence, two distinct regimes are identified, which we call ''nuclear survival'' - typically found in low-luminosity BL Lacs, and ''nuclear cascade'' - typically found in high-luminosity FSRQs. We quantify how the neutrino and cosmic-ray (CR) emission efficiencies evolve over the blazar sequence, and demonstrate that neutrinos and CRs come from very different object classes. For example, high-frequency peaked BL Lacs (HBLs) tend to produce CRs, and HL-FSRQs are the more efficient neutrino emitters. This conclusion does not depend on the CR escape mechanism, for which we discuss two alternatives (diffusive and advective escape). Finally, the neutrino spectrum from blazars is shown to significantly depend on the injection composition into the jet, especially in the nuclear cascade case: Injection compositions heavier than protons lead to reduced neutrino production at the peak, which moves at the same time to lower energies. Thus, these sources will exhibit better compatibility with the observed IceCube and UHECR data.

  8. Development and data analysis of a radio-detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belletoile, A.

    2007-10-01

    The radio-detection of cosmic rays was first attempted in the sixties. Unfortunately at that time, the results suffered from poor reproducibility and the technique was abandoned in favour of direct particle and fluorescence detection. Taking advantage of recent technological improvements the radio-detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays is being reinvestigated. In this document, first, we remind the reader of the global problematic of cosmic rays. Then, the several mechanisms involved in the emission of an electric field associated with extensive air showers are discussed. The CODALEMA (cosmic detection array with logarithmic electro magnetic antenna) experiment that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of cosmic ray radio-detection, is extensively described along with the first experimental results. A radio-detection test experiment implanted at the giant detector Pierre Auger is presented. It should provide inputs to design the future detector using this technique at extreme energies. (author)

  9. High energy radiation from black holes gamma rays, cosmic rays, and neutrinos

    CERN Document Server

    Dermer, Charles D

    2009-01-01

    Bright gamma-ray flares observed from sources far beyond our Milky Way Galaxy are best explained if enormous amounts of energy are liberated by black holes. The highest- energy particles in nature--the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays--cannot be confined by the Milky Way's magnetic field, and must originate from sources outside our Galaxy. Understanding these energetic radiations requires an extensive theoretical framework involving the radiation physics and strong-field gravity of black holes. In High Energy Radiation from Black Holes, Charles Dermer and Govind Menon present a systemat

  10. Detection of ultra-high energy cosmic ray showers with a single-pixel fluorescence telescope

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Fujii, T.; Malacari, M.; Bertaina, M.; Casolino, E.; Dawson, B.; Horváth, P.; Hrabovský, M.; Jiang, J.; Mandát, Dušan; Matalon, A.; Matthews, J.N.; Motloch, P.; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Privitera, P.; Schovánek, Petr; Takizawa, Y.; Thomas, S.B.; Trávníček, Petr; Yamazaki, K.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 74, Feb (2016), s. 64-72 ISSN 0927-6505 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13007 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : ultra-high energy cosmic rays * fluorescence detector * extensive air shower Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 3.257, year: 2016

  11. High energy cosmic neutrinos and the equivalence principle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minakata, H.

    1996-01-01

    Observation of ultra-high energy neutrinos, in particular detection of ν τ , from cosmologically distant sources like active galactic nuclei (AGN) opens new possibilities to search for neutrino flavor conversion. We consider the effects of violation of the equivalence principle (VEP) on propagation of these cosmic neutrinos. In particular, we discuss two effects: (1) the oscillations of neutrinos due to VEP in the gravitational field of our Galaxy and in the intergalactic space; (2) resonance flavor conversion driven by the gravitational potential of AGN. We show that ultra-high energies of the neutrinos as well as cosmological distances to AGN, or strong AGN gravitational potential allow to improve the accuracy of testing of the equivalence principle by 25 orders of magnitude for massless neutrinos (Δf ∼ 10 -41 ) and by 11 orders of magnitude for massive neutrinos (Δf ∼ 10 -28 x (Δm 2 /1eV 2 )). The experimental signatures of the transitions induced by VEP are discussed. (author). 17 refs

  12. Telescope Array Radar (TARA) observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abbasi, R.; Othman, M. Abou Bakr [University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E #201 JFB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Allen, C. [University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Beard, L. [Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States); Belz, J. [University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E #201 JFB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Besson, D. [University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute, 31 Kashirskaya Shosse, Moscow 115409 (Russian Federation); Byrne, M.; Farhang-Boroujeny, B.; Gardner, A. [University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E #201 JFB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Gillman, W.H. [Gillman and Associates, Salt Lake City, UT 84106 (United States); Hanlon, W. [University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E #201 JFB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Hanson, J. [University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Jayanthmurthy, C. [University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E #201 JFB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Kunwar, S. [University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Larson, S.L. [Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322 (United States); Myers, I., E-mail: isaac@cosmic.utah.edu [University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E #201 JFB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Prohira, S.; Ratzlaff, K. [University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Sokolsky, P. [University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E #201 JFB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Takai, H. [Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973 (United States); and others

    2014-12-11

    Construction was completed during summer 2013 on the Telescope Array RAdar (TARA) bi-static radar observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR). TARA is co-located with the Telescope Array, the largest “conventional” cosmic ray detector in the Northern Hemisphere, in radio-quiet Western Utah. TARA employs an 8 MW Effective Radiated Power (ERP) VHF transmitter and smart receiver system based on a 250 MS/s data acquisition system in an effort to detect the scatter of sounding radiation by UHECR-induced atmospheric ionization. TARA seeks to demonstrate bi-static radar as a useful new remote sensing technique for UHECRs. In this report, we describe the design and performance of the TARA transmitter and receiver systems.

  13. Telescope Array Radar (TARA) observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abbasi, R.; Othman, M. Abou Bakr; Allen, C.; Beard, L.; Belz, J.; Besson, D.; Byrne, M.; Farhang-Boroujeny, B.; Gardner, A.; Gillman, W.H.; Hanlon, W.; Hanson, J.; Jayanthmurthy, C.; Kunwar, S.; Larson, S.L.; Myers, I.; Prohira, S.; Ratzlaff, K.; Sokolsky, P.; Takai, H.

    2014-01-01

    Construction was completed during summer 2013 on the Telescope Array RAdar (TARA) bi-static radar observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR). TARA is co-located with the Telescope Array, the largest “conventional” cosmic ray detector in the Northern Hemisphere, in radio-quiet Western Utah. TARA employs an 8 MW Effective Radiated Power (ERP) VHF transmitter and smart receiver system based on a 250 MS/s data acquisition system in an effort to detect the scatter of sounding radiation by UHECR-induced atmospheric ionization. TARA seeks to demonstrate bi-static radar as a useful new remote sensing technique for UHECRs. In this report, we describe the design and performance of the TARA transmitter and receiver systems

  14. Telescope Array Radar (TARA) observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbasi, R.; Othman, M. Abou Bakr; Allen, C.; Beard, L.; Belz, J.; Besson, D.; Byrne, M.; Farhang-Boroujeny, B.; Gardner, A.; Gillman, W. H.; Hanlon, W.; Hanson, J.; Jayanthmurthy, C.; Kunwar, S.; Larson, S. L.; Myers, I.; Prohira, S.; Ratzlaff, K.; Sokolsky, P.; Takai, H.; Thomson, G. B.; Von Maluski, D.

    2014-12-01

    Construction was completed during summer 2013 on the Telescope Array RAdar (TARA) bi-static radar observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR). TARA is co-located with the Telescope Array, the largest "conventional" cosmic ray detector in the Northern Hemisphere, in radio-quiet Western Utah. TARA employs an 8 MW Effective Radiated Power (ERP) VHF transmitter and smart receiver system based on a 250 MS/s data acquisition system in an effort to detect the scatter of sounding radiation by UHECR-induced atmospheric ionization. TARA seeks to demonstrate bi-static radar as a useful new remote sensing technique for UHECRs. In this report, we describe the design and performance of the TARA transmitter and receiver systems.

  15. 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).

  16. Features of the galactic magnetic field regarding deflections of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wirtz, Marcus; Erdmann, Martin; Mueller, Gero; Urban, Martin [III. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    Most recent models of the galactic magnetic field have been derived from Faraday rotation measurements and imply strong deflections even for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We investigate the characteristics of the different field parametrizations and point out similarities and interesting features. Among them are extragalactic regions which are invisible for an Earth bound observation and the transition from diffuse to ballistic behaviour in the 1 EeV energy regime. Applying this knowledge to a directional analysis, there are indications for deflection patterns by the galactic magnetic field in cosmic ray arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory.

  17. Intermittency in super-high energy cosmic ray events

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gladysz-Dziadus, E.

    1988-12-01

    The factorial moments method described by Bialas and Peschanski was used for investigations of fluctuations in pseudorapidity distributions of nine cosmic-ray events at energy of about 1000 TeV. Both electromagnetic and hadronic components of these events reveal very strong intermittent behaviour. 8 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs. (author)

  18. Imaging Galactic Dark Matter with High-Energy Cosmic Neutrinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Argüelles, Carlos A; Kheirandish, Ali; Vincent, Aaron C

    2017-11-17

    We show that the high-energy cosmic neutrinos seen by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory can be used to probe interactions between neutrinos and the dark sector that cannot be reached by current cosmological methods. The origin of the observed neutrinos is still unknown, and their arrival directions are compatible with an isotropic distribution. This observation, together with dedicated studies of Galactic plane correlations, suggests a predominantly extragalactic origin. Interactions between this isotropic extragalactic flux and the dense dark matter (DM) bulge of the Milky Way would thus lead to an observable imprint on the distribution, which would be seen by IceCube as (i) slightly suppressed fluxes at energies below a PeV and (ii) a deficit of events in the direction of the Galactic center. We perform an extended unbinned likelihood analysis using the four-year high-energy starting event data set to constrain the strength of DM-neutrino interactions for two model classes. We find that, in spite of low statistics, IceCube can probe regions of the parameter space inaccessible to current cosmological methods.

  19. Study of the high energy Cosmic Rays large scale anisotropies with the ANTARES neutrino telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Illuminati, Giulia

    2016-01-01

    We present the analysis method used to search for an anisotropy in the high energy Cosmic Rays arrival distribution using data collected by the ANTARES telescope. ANTARES is a neutrino detector, where the collected data are dominated by a large background of cosmic ray muons. Therefore, the background data are suitable for high-statistics studies of cosmic rays in the Northern sky. The main challenge for this analysis is accounting for those effects which can mimic an apparent anisotropy in the muon arrival direction: the detector exposure asymmetries, non-uniform time coverage, diurnal and seasonal variation of the atmospheric temperature. Once all these effects have been corrected, a study of the anisotropy profiles along the right ascension can be performed. (paper)

  20. 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.

  1. Experimental techniques for the detection of the high energy gamma rays of cosmic origin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dumitrescu, Gh.; Angelescu, T.; Radu, A.A.

    2002-01-01

    The observation of high energy gamma rays of cosmic origin in the early 90 by Volcano Ranch experiment opened a new direction of study in astrophysics. The very high energy and the very low flux of these gamma rays, posed numerous detection problems which in turn were the object of a very intense research activity. The present article tries to review the detection techniques for the high energy gamma rays of cosmic origin. In the 'Introduction' we summarize the specific problems involved in the detection of this type of radiation. 'Chapter 1' presents the classic technique based on the use of scintillation detectors. 'Chapter 2' includes the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique (IACT) and the sampling wavefront technique. 'Chapter 3' is dedicated to the detection of the atmospheric nitrogen. 'Chapter 4' describes issues related to the calibration of the detectors, the cross checking of the experimental data, the use of the Monte Carlo simulations and the use of the density observed at a distance of 600 m S(600), in order to estimate the primary energy. The characteristics of some future developments of the above presented techniques are included in the last chapter. (authors)

  2. 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.

  3. Linking high-energy cosmic particles by black-hole jets embedded in large-scale structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Ke; Murase, Kohta

    2018-04-01

    The origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is a half-century-old enigma1. The mystery has been deepened by an intriguing coincidence: over ten orders of magnitude in energy, the energy generation rates of UHECRs, PeV neutrinos and isotropic sub-TeV γ-rays are comparable, which hints at a grand unified picture2. Here we report that powerful black hole jets in aggregates of galaxies can supply the common origin for all of these phenomena. Once accelerated by a jet, low-energy cosmic rays confined in the radio lobe are adiabatically cooled; higher-energy cosmic rays leaving the source interact with the magnetized cluster environment and produce neutrinos and γ-rays; the highest-energy particles escape from the host cluster and contribute to the observed cosmic rays above 100 PeV. The model is consistent with the spectrum, composition and isotropy of the observed UHECRs, and also explains the IceCube neutrinos and the non-blazar component of the Fermi γ-ray background, assuming a reasonable energy output from black hole jets in clusters.

  4. Towards a large scale high energy cosmic neutrino undersea detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Azoulay, R.; Berthier, R. [CEA Centre d`Etudes de Cadarache, 13 - Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France). Direction des Sciences de la Matiere; Arpesella, C. [Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 13 - Marseille (France). Centre de Physique Theorique] [and others

    1997-06-01

    ANTARES collaboration proposes to study high energy cosmic neutrinos by using a deep sea Cherenkov detector. The potential interest of such a study for astrophysicists and particle physicists is developed. The different origins of cosmic neutrinos are reviewed. In order to observe with relevant statistic the flux of neutrinos from extra-galactic sources, a km-scale detector is necessary. The feasibility of such a detector is studied. A variety of technical problems have been solved. Some of them are standard for particle physicists: choice of photo-multipliers, monitoring, trigger, electronics, data acquisition, detector optimization. Others are more specific of sea science engineering particularly: detector deployment in deep sea, data transmission through optical cables, bio-fouling, effect of sea current. The solutions are presented and the sea engineering part involving detector installation will be tested near French coasts. It is scheduled to build a reduced-scale demonstrator within the next 2 years. (A.C.) 50 refs.

  5. Towards a large scale high energy cosmic neutrino undersea detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azoulay, R.; Berthier, R.; Arpesella, C.

    1997-06-01

    ANTARES collaboration proposes to study high energy cosmic neutrinos by using a deep sea Cherenkov detector. The potential interest of such a study for astrophysicists and particle physicists is developed. The different origins of cosmic neutrinos are reviewed. In order to observe with relevant statistic the flux of neutrinos from extra-galactic sources, a km-scale detector is necessary. The feasibility of such a detector is studied. A variety of technical problems have been solved. Some of them are standard for particle physicists: choice of photo-multipliers, monitoring, trigger, electronics, data acquisition, detector optimization. Others are more specific of sea science engineering particularly: detector deployment in deep sea, data transmission through optical cables, bio-fouling, effect of sea current. The solutions are presented and the sea engineering part involving detector installation will be tested near French coasts. It is scheduled to build a reduced-scale demonstrator within the next 2 years. (A.C.)

  6. Can diffusive shock acceleration in supernova remnants account for high-energy galactic cosmic rays?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hillas, A M

    2005-01-01

    Diffusive shock acceleration at the outer front of expanding supernova remnants has provided by far the most popular model for the origin of galactic cosmic rays, and has been the subject of intensive theoretical investigation. But several problems loomed at high energies-how to explain the smooth continuation of the cosmic-ray spectrum far beyond 10 14 eV, the very low level of TeV gamma-ray emission from several supernova remnants, and the very low anisotropy of cosmic rays (seeming to conflict with the short trapping times needed to convert a E -2 source spectrum into the observed E -2.7 spectrum of cosmic rays). However, recent work on the cosmic ray spectrum (especially at KASCADE) strongly indicates that about half of the flux does turn down rather sharply near 3 x 10 15 V rigidity, with a distinct tail extending to just beyond 10 17 V rigidity; whilst a plausible description (Bell and Lucek) of the level of self-generated magnetic fields at the shock fronts of young supernova remnants implies that many SNRs in varying environments might very well generate spectra extending smoothly to just this 'knee' position, and a portion of the exploding red supergiants could extend the spectrum approximately as needed. At low energies, recent progress in relating cosmic ray compositional details to modified shock structure also adds weight to the belief that the model is working on the right lines, converting energy into cosmic rays very efficiently where injection can occur. The low level of TeV gamma-ray flux from many young SNRs is a serious challenge, though it may relate to variations in particle injection efficiency with time. The clear detection of TeV gamma rays from SNRs has now just begun, and predictions of a characteristic curved particle spectrum give a target for new tests by TeV observations. However, the isotropy seriously challenges the assumed cosmic-ray trapping time and hence the shape of the spectrum of particles released from SNRs. There is

  7. 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.

  8. Influence of hadronic interaction models and the cosmic ray spectrum on the high energy atmospheric muon and neutrino flux

    OpenAIRE

    Fedynitch, Anatoli; Tjus, Julia Becker; Desiati, Paolo

    2012-01-01

    The recent observations of muon charge ratio up to about 10 TeV and of atmospheric neutrinos up to energies of about 400 TeV has triggered a renewed interest into the high-energy interaction models and cosmic ray primary composition. A reviewed calculation of lepton spectra produced in cosmic ray induced extensive air showers is carried out with a primary cosmic ray spectrum that fits the latest direct measurements below the knee. In order to achieve this, we used a full Monte Carlo method to...

  9. Cosmic ray acceleration by shock waves in a diffusion medium. Research of high energies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lagage, P.O.

    1982-06-01

    The problem of galactic cosmic-ray acceleration is presented with the study of a new acceleration mechanism by supernova shock waves in a diffusive medium. The question is: do supernova shocks have enough time to accelerate cosmic rays beyond 10 4 -10 5 GeV. A firm upper limit to the energy that can be acquired by particles is established and it is considered that the mean free path of the particle has its lowest possible value and the most favorable model of supernova evolution. The diffusion coefficients which are relevant for the determination of the high energy cut off are investigated. The effect of the spatial dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the rate of acceleration of particles is examined. A more realistic cut off energy is calculated. We find E max = 2 10 4 GeV [fr

  10. The MIDAS telescope for microwave detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alvarez-Muñiz, J. [Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Departamento de Física de Partículas, Campus Sur, Universidad, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Amaral Soares, E. [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Física, Cidade Universitaria, Caixa Postal 68528, 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Berlin, A.; Bogdan, M. [University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Boháčová, M. [University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, CZ-182 21 Praha 8 (Czech Republic); Bonifazi, C. [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Física, Cidade Universitaria, Caixa Postal 68528, 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Carvalho, W.R. [Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Departamento de Física de Partículas, Campus Sur, Universidad, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Mello Neto, J.R.T. de [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Física, Cidade Universitaria, Caixa Postal 68528, 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Facal San Luis, P., E-mail: facal@kicp.uchicago.edu [University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Genat, J.F.; Hollon, N.; Mills, E.; Monasor, M.; Privitera, P. [University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); and others

    2013-08-11

    We present the design, implementation and data taking performance of the MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers (MIDAS) experiment, a large field of view imaging telescope designed to detect microwave radiation from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This novel technique may bring a tenfold increase in detector duty cycle when compared to the standard fluorescence technique based on detection of ultraviolet photons. The MIDAS telescope consists of a 4.5 m diameter dish with a 53-pixel receiver camera, instrumented with feed horns operating in the commercial extended C-Band (3.4–4.2 GHz). A self-trigger capability is implemented in the digital electronics. The main objectives of this first prototype of the MIDAS telescope – to validate the telescope design, and to demonstrate a large detector duty cycle – were successfully accomplished in a dedicated data taking run at the University of Chicago campus prior to installation at the Pierre Auger Observatory. -- Highlights: • The MIDAS objective is to detect ultra high energy cosmic rays using microwaves. • GHz radiation could provide a powerful alternative to current detection methods. • The MIDAS prototype explores the potential of the microwave technique.

  11. The MIDAS telescope for microwave detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Amaral Soares, E.; Berlin, A.; Bogdan, M.; Boháčová, M.; Bonifazi, C.; Carvalho, W.R.; Mello Neto, J.R.T. de; Facal San Luis, P.; Genat, J.F.; Hollon, N.; Mills, E.; Monasor, M.; Privitera, P.

    2013-01-01

    We present the design, implementation and data taking performance of the MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers (MIDAS) experiment, a large field of view imaging telescope designed to detect microwave radiation from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This novel technique may bring a tenfold increase in detector duty cycle when compared to the standard fluorescence technique based on detection of ultraviolet photons. The MIDAS telescope consists of a 4.5 m diameter dish with a 53-pixel receiver camera, instrumented with feed horns operating in the commercial extended C-Band (3.4–4.2 GHz). A self-trigger capability is implemented in the digital electronics. The main objectives of this first prototype of the MIDAS telescope – to validate the telescope design, and to demonstrate a large detector duty cycle – were successfully accomplished in a dedicated data taking run at the University of Chicago campus prior to installation at the Pierre Auger Observatory. -- Highlights: • The MIDAS objective is to detect ultra high energy cosmic rays using microwaves. • GHz radiation could provide a powerful alternative to current detection methods. • The MIDAS prototype explores the potential of the microwave technique

  12. Cosmic Visions Dark Energy: Technology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dodelson, Scott [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Heitmann, Katrin [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Hirata, Chris [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Honscheid, Klaus [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Roodman, Aaron [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Seljak, Uroš [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Slosar, Anže [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Trodden, Mark [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

    2016-04-26

    A strong instrumentation and detector R&D program has enabled the current generation of cosmic frontier surveys. A small investment in R&D will continue to pay dividends and enable new probes to investigate the accelerated expansion of the universe. Instrumentation and detector R&D provide critical training opportunities for future generations of experimentalists, skills that are important across the entire Department of Energy High Energy Physics program.

  13. Measurement of the ultra high energy cosmic ray flux from data of very inclined showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dembinski, Hans Peter

    2009-01-01

    This work describes the derivation of the energy dependent flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays from data of very inclined air showers observed with the Pierre Auger Observatory. It focuses on the event class of very inclined air showers with zenith angles larger than 60 . The lateral ground profile of these showers is muon dominated and not radially symmetric around the shower axis due to geomagnetic deflections and other effects. The dependency of this profile on the direction, energy and mass of the cosmic ray is discussed with a mixture of detailed Monte-Carlo simulations and a simplified analytical model of the air shower cascade. It is found in agreement with other studies that the normalized shape of the muon density profile is approximately universal over the range of cosmic ray energies and masses measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory, that the amplitude of the profile is almost proportional to the cosmic ray energy, and that its shower-to-shower fluctuations are sensitive to the mass composition of the cosmic rays. (orig.)

  14. Measurement of the ultra high energy cosmic ray flux from data of very inclined showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dembinski, Hans Peter

    2009-12-03

    This work describes the derivation of the energy dependent flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays from data of very inclined air showers observed with the Pierre Auger Observatory. It focuses on the event class of very inclined air showers with zenith angles larger than 60 . The lateral ground profile of these showers is muon dominated and not radially symmetric around the shower axis due to geomagnetic deflections and other effects. The dependency of this profile on the direction, energy and mass of the cosmic ray is discussed with a mixture of detailed Monte-Carlo simulations and a simplified analytical model of the air shower cascade. It is found in agreement with other studies that the normalized shape of the muon density profile is approximately universal over the range of cosmic ray energies and masses measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory, that the amplitude of the profile is almost proportional to the cosmic ray energy, and that its shower-to-shower fluctuations are sensitive to the mass composition of the cosmic rays. (orig.)

  15. A common origin of all the species of high energy cosmic rays?

    CERN Document Server

    Dar, Arnon; Antoniou, Nikos; Dar, Arnon; Antoniou, Nikos

    2000-01-01

    The cosmic ray nuclei with energy above a few GeV, the cosmic ray electrons of energy above a few MeV and the diffuse gamma-ray background above a few MeV, could all predominantly originate from our galaxy {\\it and its halo}. The mechanism accelerating hadrons and electrons is the same, the electron spectrum is modulated by inverse Compton scattering on the microwave background radiation, and the $\\gamma$-rays are the resulting recoiling photons. The spectra calculated on this basis agree with observations.

  16. Studying the high energy cosmic radiation: contributions to its detection and to the exploration of its origin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lamanna, Giovanni

    2009-01-01

    The Astro-particle Physics is a discipline where scientists from both the astrophysics and the particle physics communities meets to investigate the Universe aiming to answer to fundamental questions in the field of physics, cosmology and astrophysics. The high energy astrophysics domain, which explores the extremes sources where the larger collective transfer of energy take place, studies the most energetic cosmic radiation as privileged messengers of the history of the Universe. My research path, summarized in this work, is made of personal contributions in the development of new detection technologies, in the data analysis, perspectives and phenomenological studies about the scientific purposes of large experiments: e.g. AMS, ANTARES, HESS, CTA, POLAR. My contributions are the results of research activities in coherence with two main scientific goals in the context of the astro-particle physics domain: - The implication of the high energy cosmic radiation measurement for the investigation on the nature and distribution of the dark matter; - The investigation of the origin of the galactic cosmic radiation for the understanding of the most energetic processes in the Universe. (author)

  17. 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.

  18. Cosmic ray anisotropies at high energies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinic, N. J.; Alarcon, A.; Teran, F.

    1986-01-01

    The directional anisotropies of the energetic cosmic ray gas due to the relative motion between the observers frame and the one where the relativistic gas can be assumed isotropic is analyzed. The radiation fluxes formula in the former frame must follow as the Lorentz invariance of dp/E, where p, E are the 4-vector momentum-energy components; dp is the 3-volume element in the momentum space. The anisotropic flux shows in such a case an amplitude, in a rotating earth, smaller than the experimental measurements from say, EAS-arrays for primary particle energies larger than 1.E(14) eV. Further, it is shown that two consecutive Lorentz transformations among three inertial frames exhibit the violation of dp/E invariance between the first and the third systems of reference, due to the Wigner rotation. A discussion of this result in the context of the experimental anisotropic fluxes and its current interpretation is given.

  19. Probing the origin of cosmic-rays with extremely high energy neutrinos using the IceCube Observatory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aartsen, M.G.; Abbasi, R.; Ackermann, M.

    2013-01-01

    originate from cosmogenic neutrinos produced in the interactions of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays with ambient photons while propagating through intergalactic space. Exploiting IceCube’s large exposure for extremely high energy neutrinos and the lack of observed events above 100 PeV, we can rule out...

  20. 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...

  1. 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.

  2. High energy nucleonic component of cosmic rays at mountain altitudes

    CERN Document Server

    Stora, Raymond Félix

    The diffusion equations describing the unidimensional propagation of .the high energy nucleonic component of cosmic rays throughout the atmosphere are sol"V'ed under two assumptions: (l) The nucleon-nucleon collisions are described according to Fermi's therlnOdynamical model involving completely inelastic pion and.nucleon-antinucleon pair production. (2) A somewhat opposite assumption is made assuming partially elastic collisions without nucleon-anti.nucleon pair production. Due to the present inaccuracy of experiments, we are able to derive only tentati v.e conclusions. The values computed under both hypotheses for the absorption mean free path and the charged to neutral particles ratio are found in acceptable ranges when compared to experimental data. The diffeential energy spectrum at a given depth is always found steeper than the primary, and steeper than indicated by experimental values if the primary is taken proportional to the 2.5 inverse power of energy.

  3. 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.)

  4. Nuclear interactions of super high energy cosmic-rays observed by mountain emulsion chambers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1981-01-01

    Here is presented a summary of joint discussions on the results of three mountain experiments with large-scale emulsion chambers, at Pamir, Mt. Fuji and Chacaltaya. The observation covers gamma-quanta, hadrons and their clusters (called ''families''). Following topics are covered concerning on characteristics of nuclear interactions in energy region of 10 14 - 10 16 eV: 1) rapid dissipation seen in atmospheric diffusion of high energy cosmic-rays, 2) multiplicity and p sub(t) increase in produced pimesons in the fragmentation region, 3) existence of large p sub(t) jets, 4) extremely-hadron-rich family of Centauro type, 5) exotic phenomena at extremely high energy region beyond 10 16 eV. (author)

  5. Energy determination of trans-EeV cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshida, S.

    2004-01-01

    This article gives a summary of the primary energy estimation by observing ultra-high energy cosmic ray induced extensive air showers (down to the EeV energies - the energy range of the Japanese AGASA experiment). The shower cascade in air initiated by cosmic rays is called Extensive Air Shower (EAS) which has been playing a key role in the detection of cosmic ray particles. There are two types of detection techniques available to measure the energy (as well as the arrival directions and mass composition) of the primary UHECR (ultra high energy cosmic rays) particles: the Ground Arrays and the Fluorescence Detectors. The two methods are highly complementary: the ground array method measures the lateral development of EAS cascades. The dynamics to determine the behavior of the lateral spread of particle distributions in EAS is well understood and rather reliable, regardless of the mass of the primary cosmic rays, but some uncertainties remain due to our incomplete knowledge concerning the hadronic interactions and the multiple scattering of secondary electrons. The fluorescence method observes the longitudinal development of cascades. It is similar to the concept of calorimetric detectors in high energy physics, since the fluorescence light generated by the charged particles in the shower is proportional to the energy deposited in the atmosphere. These two methods are complementary since they view different components of the EAS. The ground array observes the particles at ∼ 1 km away from the EAS axis while the fluorescence method is sensitive to particle energy distributions very close to the shower axis, typically less than 100 m. Therefore, both methods have their own advantage and disadvantage as far as the energy estimation is concerned. In the following sections, we discuss how to deduce the primary energy and the possible sources of the systematic uncertainties. The energy spectrum of UHECRs is a key clue for the understanding of the origin of UHE particle

  6. Cosmic Visions Dark Energy: Small Projects Portfolio

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dawson, Kyle; Frieman, Josh; Heitmann, Katrin; Jain, Bhuvnesh; Kahn, Steve; Mandelbaum, Rachel; Perlmutter, Saul; Slosar, Anže

    2018-02-20

    Understanding cosmic acceleration is one of the key science drivers for astrophysics and high-energy physics in the coming decade (2014 P5 Report). With the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and other new facilities beginning operations soon, we are entering an exciting phase during which we expect an order of magnitude improvement in constraints on dark energy and the physics of the accelerating Universe. This is a key moment for a matching Small Projects portfolio that can (1) greatly enhance the science reach of these flagship projects, (2) have immediate scientific impact, and (3) lay the groundwork for the next stages of the Cosmic Frontier Dark Energy program. In this White Paper, we outline a balanced portfolio that can accomplish these goals through a combination of observational, experimental, and theory and simulation efforts.

  7. Magnetic diffusion effects on the ultra-high energy cosmic ray spectrum and composition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mollerach, Silvia; Roulet, Esteban, E-mail: mollerach@cab.cnea.gov.ar, E-mail: roulet@cab.cnea.gov.ar [CONICET, Centro Atómico Bariloche, Av. Bustillo 9500 (8400) (Argentina)

    2013-10-01

    We discuss the effects of diffusion of high energy cosmic rays in turbulent extra-galactic magnetic fields. We find an approximate expression for the low energy suppression of the spectrum of the different mass components (with charge Z) in the case in which this suppression happens at energies below ∼ Z EeV, so that energy losses are dominated by the adiabatic ones. The low energy suppression appears when cosmic rays from the closest sources take a time comparable to the age of the Universe to reach the Earth. This occurs for energies E < Z EeV (B/nG)√(l{sub c}/Mpc)(d{sub s}/70Mpc) in terms of the magnetic field RMS strength B, its coherence length l{sub c} and the typical separation between sources d{sub s}. We apply this to scenarios in which the sources produce a mixed composition and have a relatively low maximum rigidity (E{sub max} ∼ (2–10)Z EeV), finding that diffusion has a significant effect on the resulting spectrum, the average mass and on its spread, in particular reducing this last one. For reasonable values of B and l{sub c} these effects can help to reproduce the composition trends observed by the Auger Collaboration for source spectra compatible with Fermi acceleration.

  8. From high energy gamma sources to cosmic rays, one century after their discovery. Summary of the SciNeGHE2012 workshop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longo, Francesco

    2013-01-01

    The interplay between studies and measurements concerning high energy gamma ray sources and cosmic rays was the main focus of the 2012 edition of the Science with the New Generation of High Energy Gamma-ray Experiments (SciNeGHE) workshop. The workshop started with a special session devoted to the history of the cosmic radiation research in the centenary of its discovery, with a special attention also to the history of very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. The main results and the current status from space-borne and ground-based gamma and cosmic ray experiments were presented, together with the state of the art theoretical scenarios. The future of the field was studied through the presentation of many new experiment concepts, as well as through the analysis of new observational techniques and R and D programs

  9. Active Galactic Nuclei: Sources for ultra high energy cosmic rays?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biermann, Peter L. [MPI for Radioastronomy, Bonn (Germany); Dept. of Phys. and Astron., Univ. of Bonn (Germany); Dept. of Phys. and Astr., Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States); Dept. of Phys., Univ. of Alabama at Huntsville, AL (United States); Inst. Nucl. Phys. FZ, Karlsruhe Inst. of Techn. (KIT) (Germany); Becker, Julia K. [Institution foer Fysik, Goeteborgs Univ. (Sweden); Dept. of Phys., Univ. Dortmund, Dortmund (Germany); Caramete, Laurentiu [MPI for Radioastronomy, Bonn (Germany); Institute for Space Studies, Bucharest (Romania); Curutiu, Alex [MPI for Radioastronomy, Bonn (Germany); Engel, Ralph [Inst. Nucl. Phys. FZ, Karlsruhe Inst. of Techn. (KIT) (Germany); Falcke, Heino [Dept. of Astrophys., IMAP, Radboud Univ., Nijmegen (Netherlands); ASTRON, Dwingeloo (Netherlands); Gergely, Laszlo A. [Dept. Appl. Sci., London South Bank University (United Kingdom); Dept. of Theoret. and Exp. Phys., Univ. of Szeged, Szeged (Hungary); Isar, P. Gina [Inst. Nucl. Phys. FZ, Karlsruhe Inst. of Techn. (KIT) (Germany); Institute for Space Studies, Bucharest (Romania); Maris, Ioana C. [Inst. Nucl. Phys. FZ, Karlsruhe Inst. of Techn. (KIT) (Germany); Meli, Athina [Physik. Inst. Univ. Erlangen-Nuernberg (Germany); Kampert, Karl-Heinz [Phys. Dept., Univ. Wuppertal (Germany); Stanev, Todor [Bartol Research Inst., Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States); Tascau, Oana [Phys. Dept., Univ. Wuppertal (Germany); Zier, Christian [MPI for Radioastronomy, Bonn (Germany); Raman Res. Inst., Bangalore (India)

    2009-05-15

    The origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays promises to lead us to a deeper understanding of the structure of matter. This is possible through the study of particle collisions at center-of-mass energies in interactions far larger than anything possible with the Large Hadron Collider, albeit at the substantial cost of no control over the sources and interaction sites. For the extreme energies we have to identify and understand the sources first, before trying to use them as physics laboratories. Here we describe the current stage of this exploration. The most promising contenders as sources are radio galaxies and gamma ray bursts. The sky distribution of observed events yields a hint favoring radio galaxies. Key in this quest are the intergalactic and galactic magnetic fields, whose strength and structure are not yet fully understood. Current data and statistics do not yet allow a final judgement. We outline how we may progress in the near future.

  10. Active Galactic Nuclei: Sources for ultra high energy cosmic rays?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Biermann, Peter L.; Becker, Julia K.; Caramete, Laurentiu; Curutiu, Alex; Engel, Ralph; Falcke, Heino; Gergely, Laszlo A.; Isar, P. Gina; Maris, Ioana C.; Meli, Athina; Kampert, Karl-Heinz; Stanev, Todor; Tascau, Oana; Zier, Christian

    2009-01-01

    The origin of ultra high energy cosmic rays promises to lead us to a deeper understanding of the structure of matter. This is possible through the study of particle collisions at center-of-mass energies in interactions far larger than anything possible with the Large Hadron Collider, albeit at the substantial cost of no control over the sources and interaction sites. For the extreme energies we have to identify and understand the sources first, before trying to use them as physics laboratories. Here we describe the current stage of this exploration. The most promising contenders as sources are radio galaxies and gamma ray bursts. The sky distribution of observed events yields a hint favoring radio galaxies. Key in this quest are the intergalactic and galactic magnetic fields, whose strength and structure are not yet fully understood. Current data and statistics do not yet allow a final judgement. We outline how we may progress in the near future.

  11. Ultrahigh-energy particles from cosmic strings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhattacharjee, P.

    1991-02-01

    The idea of production of ultrahigh-energy particles in the present universe due to annihilation or collapse of topological defects is discussed. Topological defects, formed in symmetry-breaking phase transitions in the early universe, can survive till today owing to their topological stability. However, under certain circumstances, topological defects may be physically destroyed. When topological defects are destroyed, the energy contained in the defects can be released in the form of massive gauge- and Higgs bosons of the underlying spontaneously broken gauge theory. Subsequent decay of these massive particles can give rise to energetic particles ranging up to an energy on the order of the mass of the original particles released from the defects. This may give us a ''natural'' mechanism of production of extremely energetic cosmic ray particles in the universe today, without the need for any acceleration mechanism. To illustrate this idea, I describe in detail the calculation of the expected ultrahigh-energy proton spectrum due to a specific process which involves collapse or multiple self-intersections of a class of closed cosmic string loops formed in a phase transition at a grand unification energy scale. I discuss the possibility that some of the highest-energy cosmic ray particles are of this origin. By comparing with the observational results on the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, we derive an upper limit to the average fraction of the total energy in all ''primary'' cosmic string loops that may be released in the form of particles due to collapse or multiple self-intersections of these loops. No nuclei such as α's or Fe's are in the spectrum. 43 refs., 3 figs

  12. The Effect of a Non-Isotropic Flux of Very High Energy Cosmic Rays on the values of Mean Shower Maxima

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davoudifar, Pantea; Tabari, Keihanak Rowshan

    2015-01-01

    In our previous works we described a statistical method to interpret the results of extensive air shower simulations. For an isotropically distributed flux of cosmic rays, we used this method to deduce diagrams of mean values of shower maxima versus energy decades. To have a more realistic result, we considered the effect of a non-isotropic flux of cosmic rays at different energy ranges. This effect was considered as a weight factor deduced from a set of observed data. We discussed about the effect of this weight factor on our final resulted diagrams of mean shower maxima and for different interaction models compared the resulted distributions of very high energy cosmic ray's mass composition

  13. 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)

  14. 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)

  15. Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from radio galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eichmann, B.; Rachen, J. P.; Merten, L.; van Vliet, A.; Becker Tjus, J.

    2018-02-01

    Radio galaxies are intensively discussed as the sources of cosmic rays observed above about 3 × 1018 eV, called ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We present a first, systematic approach that takes the individual characteristics of these sources into account, as well as the impact of the extragalactic magnetic-field structures up to a distance of 120 Mpc. We use a mixed simulation setup, based on 3D simulations of UHECRs ejected by observed, individual radio galaxies taken out to a distance of 120 Mpc, and on 1D simulations over a continuous source distribution contributing from beyond 120 Mpc. Additionally, we include the ultra-luminous radio galaxy Cygnus A at a distance of about 250 Mpc, as its contribution is so strong that it must be considered as an individual point source. The implementation of the UHECR ejection in our simulation setup, both that of individual radio galaxies and the continuous source function, is based on a detailed consideration of the physics of radio jets and standard first-order Fermi acceleration. This allows to derive the spectrum of ejected UHECR as a function of radio luminosity, and at the same time provides an absolute normalization of the problem involving only a small set of parameters adjustable within narrow constraints. We show that the average contribution of radio galaxies taken over a very large volume cannot explain the observed features of UHECRs measured at Earth. However, we obtain excellent agreement with the spectrum, composition, and arrival-direction distribution of UHECRs measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory, if we assume that most UHECRs observed arise from only two sources: the ultra-luminous radio galaxy Cygnus A, providing a mostly light composition of nuclear species dominating up to about 6 × 1019 eV, and the nearest radio galaxy Centaurus A, providing a heavy composition dominating above 6 × 1019 eV . Here we have to assume that extragalactic magnetic fields out to 250 Mpc, which we did not

  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. Measurement of ultra-high energy cosmic rays: An experimental summary and prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fukushima M.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Measurements of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays achieved remarkable progress in the last 10 years. Physicists, gathered from around the world in the symposium UHECR-2012 held at CERN on February 13-16 2012, reported their most up-to-date observations, discussed the meaning of their findings, and identified remaining problems and future challenges in this field. This paper is a part of the symposium proceedings on the experimental summary and future prospects of the UHECR study.

  18. ON ULTRA-HIGH-ENERGY COSMIC RAYS AND THEIR RESULTANT GAMMA-RAYS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gavish, Eyal; Eichler, David [Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University, Be’er-Sheva 84105 (Israel)

    2016-05-01

    The Fermi Large Area Telescope collaboration has recently reported on 50 months of measurements of the isotropic extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB) spectrum between 100 MeV and 820 GeV. Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) protons interact with the cosmic microwave background photons and produce cascade photons of energies 10 MeV–1 TeV that contribute to the EGRB flux. We examine seven possible evolution models for UHECRs and find that UHECR sources that evolve as the star formation rate (SFR), medium low luminosity active galactic nuclei type-1 ( L = 10{sup 43.5} erg s{sup −1} in the [0.5–2] KeV band), and BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) are the most acceptable given the constraints imposed by the observed EGRB. Other possibilities produce too much secondary γ -radiation. In all cases, the decaying dark matter (DM) contribution improves the fit at high energy, but the contribution of still unresolved blazars, which would leave the smallest role for decaying DM, may yet provide an alternative improvement. The possibility that the entire EGRB can be fitted with resolvable but not-yet-resolved blazars, as recently claimed by Ajello et al., would leave little room in the EGRB to accommodate γ -rays from extragalactic UHECR production, even for many source evolution rates that would otherwise be acceptable. We find that under the assumption of UHECRs being mostly protons, there is not enough room for producing extragalactic UHECRs with active galactic nucleus, gamma-ray burst, or even SFR source evolution. Sources that evolve as BL Lacs, on the other hand, would produce much less secondary γ -radiation and would remain a viable source of UHECRs, provided that they dominate.

  19. Influence of hadronic interaction models and the cosmic ray spectrum on the high-energy atmospheric muon and neutrino flux

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Desiati Paolo

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The recent observations of muon charge ratio up to about 10 TeV and of atmospheric neutrinos up to energies of about 400 TeV has triggered a renewed interest into the high-energy interaction models and cosmic ray primary composition. A reviewed calculation of lepton spectra produced in cosmic ray induced extensive air showers is carried out with a primary cosmic ray spectrum that fits the latest direct measurements below the knee. In order to achieve this, we used a full Monte Carlo method to derive the inclusive differential spectra (yields of muons, muon neutrinos and electron neutrinos at the surface for energies between 80 GeV and hundreds of PeV. Using these results the differential flux and the flavor ratios of leptons were calculated. The air shower simulator CORSIKA 6.990 was used for showering and propagation of the secondary particles through the atmosphere, employing the established high energy hadronic interaction models SIBYLL 2.1, QGSJet-01 and QGSJet-II-03. We show that the performance of the interaction models allows makes it possible to predict the spectra within experimental uncertainties, while SIBYLL generally yields a higher flux at the surface than the QGSJet models. The calculation of the flavor and charge ratios has lead to inconsistent results, mainly influenced by the different representations of the K/π ratio within the models. The influence of the knee of cosmic rays is reflected in the secondary spectra at energies between 100 and 200 TeV. Furthermore, we could quantify systematic uncertainties of atmospheric muon- and neutrino fluxes, associated to the models of the primary cosmic ray spectrum and the interaction models. For most recent parametrizations of the cosmic ray primary spectrum, atmospheric muons can be determined with an uncertainty smaller than +15/-13% of the average flux. Uncertainties of the muon and electron neutrino fluxes can be calculated within an average error of +32/-22% and +25

  20. University of Arizona High Energy Physics Program at the Cosmic Frontier 2014-2016

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    abate, alex [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); cheu, elliott [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

    2016-10-24

    This is the final technical report from the University of Arizona High Energy Physics program at the Cosmic Frontier covering the period 2014-2016. The work aims to advance the understanding of dark energy using the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Progress on the engineering design of the power supplies for the LSST camera is discussed. A variety of contributions to photometric redshift measurement uncertainties were studied. The effect of the intergalactic medium on the photometric redshift of very distant galaxies was evaluated. Computer code was developed realizing the full chain of calculations needed to accurately and efficiently run large-scale simulations.

  1. University of Arizona High Energy Physics Program at the Cosmic Frontier 2014-2016

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abate, Alex; Cheu, Elliott

    2016-01-01

    This is the final technical report from the University of Arizona High Energy Physics program at the Cosmic Frontier covering the period 2014-2016. The work aims to advance the understanding of dark energy using the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Progress on the engineering design of the power supplies for the LSST camera is discussed. A variety of contributions to photometric redshift measurement uncertainties were studied. The effect of the intergalactic medium on the photometric redshift of very distant galaxies was evaluated. Computer code was developed realizing the full chain of calculations needed to accurately and efficiently run large-scale simulations.

  2. High-energy cosmic ray nuclei from tidal disruption events: Origin, survival, and implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, B. Theodore; Murase, Kohta; Oikonomou, Foteini; Li, Zhuo

    2017-09-01

    Tidal disruption events (TDEs) by supermassive or intermediate mass black holes have been suggested as candidate sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and high-energy neutrinos. Motivated by the recent measurements from the Pierre Auger Observatory, which indicates a metal-rich cosmic-ray composition at ultrahigh energies, we investigate the fate of UHECR nuclei loaded in TDE jets. First, we consider the production and survival of UHECR nuclei at internal shocks, external forward and reverse shocks, and nonrelativistic winds. Based on the observations of Swift J 1644 +57 , we show that the UHECRs can survive for external reverse and forward shocks, and disk winds. On the other hand, UHECR nuclei are significantly disintegrated in internal shocks, although they could survive for low-luminosity TDE jets. Assuming that UHECR nuclei can survive, we consider implications of different composition models of TDEs. We find that the tidal disruption of main sequence stars or carbon-oxygen white dwarfs does not successfully reproduce UHECR observations, namely the observed composition or spectrum. The observed mean depth of the shower maximum and its deviation could be explained by oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarfs, although they may be too rare to be the sources of UHECRs.

  3. Measurement of the Shadowing of High-Energy Cosmic Rays by the Moon A Search for TeV-Energy Antiprotons

    CERN Document Server

    Achard, P; Aguilar-Benítez, M; Alcaraz, J; Alemanni, G; Allaby, James V; Aloisio, A; Alviggi, M G; Anderhub, H; Andreev, V P; Anselmo, F; Arefev, A; Azemoon, T; Aziz, T; Bagnaia, P; Bajo, A; Baksay, G; Baksay, L; Baldew, S V; Banerjee, S; Barczyk, A; Barillère, R; Bartalini, P; Basile, M; Batalova, N; Battiston, R; Bay, A; Becattini, F; Becker, U; Behner, F; Bellucci, L; Berbeco, R; Berdugo, J; Berges, P; Bertucci, B; Betev, B L; Biasini, M; Biglietti, M; Biland, A; Blaising, J J; Blyth, S C; Bobbink, G J; Böhm, A; Boldizsar, L; Borgia, B; Bottai, S; Bourilkov, D; Bourquin, Maurice; Braccini, S; Branson, J G; Brochu, F; Burger, J D; Burger, W J; Cai, X D; Capell, M; Cara Romeo, G; Carlino, G; Cartacci, A; Casaus, J; Cavallari, F; Cavallo, N; Cecchi, C; Cerrada, M; Chamizo-Llatas, M; Chang, Y H; Chemarin, M; Chen, A; Chen, G; Chen, G M; Chen, H F; Chen, H S; Chiefari, G; Cifarelli, Luisa; Cindolo, F; Clare, I; Clare, R; Coignet, G; Colino, N; Costantini, S; de la Cruz, B; Cucciarelli, S; van Dalen, J A; De Asmundis, R; Déglon, P L; Debreczeni, J; Degré, A; Dehmelt, K; Deiters, K; Della Volpe, D; Delmeire, E; Denes, P; De Notaristefani, F; De Salvo, A; Diemoz, M; Dierckxsens, M; Dionisi, C; Dittmar, M; Doria, A; Dova, M T; Duchesneau, D; Duda, M; Echenard, B; Eline, A; El-Hage, A; El-Mamouni, H; Engler, A; Eppling, F J; Extermann, P; Falagán, M A; Falciano, S; Favara, A; Fay, J; Fedin, O; Felcini, M; Ferguson, T; Fesefeldt, H S; Fiandrini, E; Field, J H; Filthaut, F; Fisher, P H; Fisher, W; Fisk, I; Forconi, G; Freudenreich, Klaus; Furetta, C; Galaktionov, Yu; Ganguli, S N; García-Abia, P; Gataullin, M; Gentile, S; Giagu, S; Gong, Z F; Grenier, G; Grimm, O; Grünewald, M W; Guida, M; Gupta, V K; Gurtu, A; Gutay, L J; Haas, D; Hatzifotiadou, D; Hebbeker, T; Hervé, A; Hirschfelder, J; Hofer, H; Hohlmann, M; Holzner, G; Hou, S R; Hu, Y; Jin, B N; Jones, L W; de Jong, P; Josa-Mutuberria, I; Kaur, M; Kienzle-Focacci, M N; Kim, J K; Kirkby, Jasper; Kittel, E W; Klimentov, A; König, A C; Kopal, M; Koutsenko, V F; Kraber, M; Krämer, R W; Krüger, A; Kunin, A; Ladrón de Guevara, P; Laktineh, I; Landi, G; Lebeau, M; Lebedev, A; Lebrun, P; Lecomte, P; Lecoq, P; Le Coultre, P; Le Goff, J M; Leiste, R; Levtchenko, M; Levchenko, P M; Li, C; Likhoded, S; Lin, C H; Lin, W T; Linde, Frank L; Lista, L; Liu, Z A; Lohmann, W; Longo, E; Lü, Y S; Luci, C; Luminari, L; Lustermann, W; Ma Wen Gan; Malgeri, L; Malinin, A; Maña, C; Mans, J; Martin, J P; Marzano, F; Mazumdar, K; McNeil, R R; Mele, S; Merola, L; Meschini, M; Metzger, W J; Mihul, A; Milcent, H; Mirabelli, G; Mnich, J; Mohanty, G B; Muanza, G S; Muijs, A J M; Musicar, B; Musy, M; Nagy, S; Natale, S; Napolitano, M; Nessi-Tedaldi, F; Newman, H; Nisati, A; Novák, T; Nowak, H; Ofierzynski, R A; Organtini, G; Pal, I; Palomares, C; Paolucci, P; Paramatti, R; Passaleva, G; Patricelli, S; Paul, T; Pauluzzi, M; Paus, C; Pauss, Felicitas; Pedace, M; Pensotti, S; Perret-Gallix, D; Petersen, B; Piccolo, D; Pierella, F; Pioppi, M; Piroué, P A; Pistolesi, E; Plyaskin, V; Pohl, M; Pozhidaev, V; Pothier, J; Prokofev, D; Prokofiev, D O; Quartieri, J; Rahal-Callot, G; Rahaman, M A; Raics, P; Raja, N; Ramelli, R; Rancoita, P G; Ranieri, R; Raspereza, A V; Razis, P; Ren, D; Rescigno, M; Reucroft, S; Riemann, S; Riles, K; Roe, B P; Romero, L; Rosca, A; Rosemann, C; Rosenbleck, C; Rosier-Lees, S; Roth, S; Rubio, J A; Ruggiero, G; Rykaczewski, H; Sakharov, A; Saremi, S; Sarkar, S; Salicio, J; Sánchez, E; Schäfer, C; Shchegelskii, V; Schopper, Herwig Franz; Schotanus, D J; Sciacca, C; Servoli, L; Shevchenko, S; Shivarov, N; Shoutko, V; Shumilov, E; Shvorob, A; Son, D; Souga, C; Spillantini, P; Steuer, M; Stickland, D P; Stoyanov, B; Strässner, A; Sudhakar, K; Sultanov, G G; Sun, L Z; Sushkov, S; Suter, H; Swain, J D; Szillási, Z; Tang, X W; Tarjan, P; Tauscher, L; Taylor, L; Tellili, B; Teyssier, D; Timmermans, C; Ting, Samuel C C; Ting, S M; Tonwar, S C; Tóth, J; Tully, C; Tung, K L; Ulbricht, J; Valente, E; Van de Walle, R T; Vásquez, R; Veszpremi, V; Vesztergombi, G; Vetlitskii, I; Vicinanza, D; Viertel, Gert M; Villa, S; Vivargent, M; Vlachos, S; Vodopyanov, I; Vogel, H; Vogt, H; Vorobev, I; Vorobyov, A A; Wadhwa, M; Wang, Q; Wang, X L; Wang, Z M; Weber, M; Wilkens, H; Wynhoff, S; Xia, L; Xu, Z Z; Yamamoto, J; Yang, B Z; Yang, C G; Yang, H J; Yang, M; Yeh, S C; Zalite, A; Zalite, Yu; Zhang, Z P; Zhao, J; Zhu, G Y; Zhu, R Y; Zhuang, H L; Zichichi, A; Zimmermann, B; Zöller, M

    2005-01-01

    The shadowing of high-energy cosmic rays by the Moon has been observed with a significance of 9.4 standard deviations with the L3+C muon spectrometer at CERN. A significant effect of the Earth magnetic field is observed. Since no event deficit on the east side of the Moon has been observed, an upper limit at 90% confidence level on the antiproton to proton ratio of 0.11 is obtained for primary energies around 1 TeV.

  4. Mass composition studies of Ultra High Energy cosmic rays through the measurement of the Muon Production Depths at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Collica, Laura [Univ. of Milan (Italy); Paris Diderot Univ. (France)

    2014-01-01

    The Pierre Auger Observatory (Auger) in Argentina studies Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) physics. The flux of cosmic rays at these energies (above 1018 eV) is very low (less than 100 particle/km2-year) and UHECR properties must be inferred from the measurements of the secondary particles that the cosmic ray primary produces in the atmosphere. These particles cascades are called Extensive Air Showers (EAS) and can be studied at ground by deploying detectors covering large areas. The EAS physics is complex, and the properties of secondary particles depend strongly on the first interaction, which takes place at an energy beyond the ones reached at accelerators. As a consequence, the analysis of UHECRs is subject to large uncertainties and hence many of their properties, in particular their composition, are still unclear. Two complementary techniques are used at Auger to detect EAS initiated by UHE- CRs: a 3000 km2 surface detector (SD) array of water Cherenkov tanks which samples particles at ground level and fluorescence detectors (FD) which collect the ultraviolet light emitted by the de-excitation of nitrogen nuclei in the atmosphere, and can operate only in clear, moonless nights. Auger is the largest cosmic rays detector ever built and it provides high-quality data together with unprecedented statistics. The main goal of this thesis is the measurement of UHECR mass composition using data from the SD of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Measuring the cosmic ray composition at the highest energies is of fundamental importance from the astrophysical point of view, since it could discriminate between different scenarios of origin and propagation of cosmic rays. Moreover, mass composition studies are of utmost importance for particle physics. As a matter of fact, knowing the composition helps in exploring the hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies, inaccessible to present accelerator experiments.

  5. Average Anisotropy Characteristics of High Energy Cosmic Ray ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Further Shrivastava & Shukla (1996) reported that there is a high correlation between solar wind velocity and Ap index. As we know from convection diffusion approximate theory, solar wind velocity plays an important role in cosmic ray modulation. In the absence of solar wind data, one can use the daily values of Ap index.

  6. Fornax A, Centaurus A other radio galaxies as sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthews, J. H.; Bell, A. R.; Blundell, K. M.; Araudo, A. T.

    2018-06-01

    The origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is still unknown. It has recently been proposed that UHECR anisotropies can be attributed to starburst galaxies or active galactic nuclei. We suggest that the latter is more likely and that giant-lobed radio galaxies such as Centaurus A and Fornax A can explain the data.

  7. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays from white dwarf pulsars and the Hillas criterion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lobato, Ronaldo V.; Coelho, Jaziel G.; Malheiro, M.

    2017-01-01

    The origins of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays ( E ≳ 10 19 eV) are a mystery and still under debate in astroparticle physics. In recent years some efforts were made to understand their nature. In this contribution we consider the possibility of Some Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) beeing white dwarf pulsars, and show that these sources can achieve large electromagnetic potentials on their surface that accelerate particle almost at the speed of light, with energies E ∼ 10 20-21 eV. The sources SGRs/AXPs considered as highly magnetized white dwarfs are well described in the Hillas diagram, lying close to the AR Sorpii and AE Aquarii which are understood as white dwarf pulsars. (paper)

  8. Probing Very High Energy Prompt Muon and Neutrino fluxes and the cosmic ray knee via Underground Muons

    OpenAIRE

    Gandhi, Raj; Panda, Sukanta

    2005-01-01

    We calculate event rate and demonstrate the observational feasibility of very high energy muons (1-1000 TeV) in a large mass underground detector operating as a pair-meter. This energy range corresponds to surface muon energies of $\\sim$(5 TeV - 5000 TeV) and primary cosmic ray energies of $\\sim$ (50 TeV - 5 $\\times 10^4$ TeV). Such measurements would significantly assist in an improved understanding of the prompt contribution to $\

  9. High Energy Galactic Cosmic Rays Observed by RUNJOB Experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hareyama, Makoto [Advanced Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555 (Japan)

    2006-03-21

    Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) from proton to iron with the energy of 10{sup 13} - 10{sup 15} eV were observed by RUssia-Nippon JOint Balloon (RUNJOB) experiments. Each energy spectrum of the primary nuclear components except for helium is in agreement with the results obtained by other observations in the same energy region as the RUNJOB observation within statistical errors, while the intensity of the helium component is nearly half that obtained by the JACEE and the SOKOL observations. The spectrum slopes seem to be almost parallel or become gradually harder as mass becomes heavier. The power indices of the spectra are nearly -2.75 in the energy range of 20-500 TeV/nucleous. These our results support the acceleration mechanism and the propagation process in Galaxy of GCRs depend on its rigidity.

  10. Cosmic PeV neutrinos and the sources of ultrahigh energy protons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kistler, Matthew D.; Stanev, Todor; Yüksel, Hasan

    2014-12-01

    The IceCube experiment recently detected the first flux of high-energy neutrinos in excess of atmospheric backgrounds. We examine whether these neutrinos originate from within the same extragalactic sources as ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. Starting from rather general assumptions about spectra and flavors, we find that producing a neutrino flux at the requisite level through pion photoproduction leads to a flux of protons well below the cosmic-ray data at ˜1 018 eV , where the composition is light, unless pions/muons cool before decaying. This suggests a dominant class of accelerator that allows for cosmic rays to escape without significant neutrino yields.

  11. 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 ...

  12. 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)

  13. CaloCube: a novel calorimeter for high-energy cosmic rays in space

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rappoldi A.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available CaloCube is an R&D project borne to develop a novel calorimeter design, optimized for high-energy cosmic ray measurements in space. A small prototype made of CsI(Tl elements has been built and tested on particle beams. A final version, made of 5×5×18 crystals and with dual readout (two photodiodes for each crystal, to cover the full required dynamic range, is under construction and will be tested at CERN SPS in Summer 2016. The dual readout compensation technique were developed and the feasibility to extract Čerenkov signals from CsI crystals verified.

  14. QCD suggested high-energy asymptotics of the diffraction proton-proton scattering and the cosmic ray data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopeliovich, V.Z.; Nikolaev, N.N.; Potashnikova, I.K.

    1986-01-01

    Asymptotics of nucleon-nucleon crosss sections is discussed within the perturbation quantum chromodynamics representations. At moderately high energies the perturbative two-gluon exchange satisfactorily reproduces the constant part of the total cross section. As the energy goes up, a series of the j-plane poles at Δ = j-1>0, dominates, the higher the energy, the bigger Δsub(eff). It is shown that the data on absorption of cosmic rays in atmosphere within the 10 5 - 10 6 TeV energy range need σsub(tot)sup(pp) approximately = 160-200 mbn which could be reproduced quantitatively, if only in asymptotics Δ approximately = 0.25-0.35. Standard one-pole description gives at these energies a sufficiently smaller cross section, approximately 100 mbn, and does not reproduce the cosmic ray data. The quoted in literature determinations from σsub(abs)(pAir) to σsub(tot)(pp) are erroneous. An important observation is that violation of the scaling of the fragment spectra is strongly correlated with the value of σsub(abs)(pAir). Making allowance for this dependence should essentially increase the reliability of σsub(abs)(pAir) determination

  15. Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray fluxes and cosmogenic neutrinos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor

    2013-04-15

    We discuss the possible origin of the two neutrino shower events reported by the IceCube Collaboration at the Neutrino 2012 conference in Kyoto, Japan. The suspicion early on was that these two events are due to cosmogenic neutrinos and possibly by electron antineutrinos generating the Glashow resonance. The difference of the energy of the W{sup −} in the resonance and the energy estimates of the detected cascade events makes this assumption unlikely. The conclusion then may be that these high energy neutrinos are produced at sources of high energy cosmic rays such as Active Galactic Nuclei.

  16. Recent Results on Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays from the Telescope Array

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2015-01-01

    TA's recent results on Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) are reported. The energy spectrum based on 20k events above 10^18.2 eV demonstrates a clear dip at 10^18.7 eV and a cutoff at 10^19.7 eV , the shape and the energies of which are well described by the GZK process: energy loss of extra-galactic protons by the interaction with the CMB and IR background. The primary composition obtained from the shower maximum analysis using the hybrid technique is consistent with 100% proton or light nuclei, and inconsistent with 100% iron up to 10^19.3 eV. Above the GZK cutoff energy, a large flux enhancement of medium size (radius=20deg) is observed in the direction of Ursa-Major. The chance probability of this hotspot appearing from the isotropic flux is 4.0sigma. The center of the hotspot is 19 deg off from the Super-Galactic Plane, and no obvious candidate of UHECRs is known in this direction.

  17. Effect of energy deposited by cosmic-ray particles on interferometric gravitational wave detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamamoto, Kazuhiro; Hayakawa, Hideaki; Okada, Atsushi; Uchiyama, Takashi; Miyoki, Shinji; Ohashi, Masatake; Kuroda, Kazuaki; Kanda, Nobuyuki; Tatsumi, Daisuke; Tsunesada, Yoshiki

    2008-01-01

    We investigated the noise of interferometric gravitational wave detectors due to heat energy deposited by cosmic-ray particles. We derived a general formula that describes the response of a mirror against a cosmic-ray passage. We found that there are differences in the comic-ray responses (the dependence of temperature and cosmic-ray track position) in cases of interferometric and resonant gravitational wave detectors. The power spectral density of vibrations caused by low-energy secondary muons is 100 times smaller than the goal sensitivity of future second-generation interferometer projects, such as LCGT and Advanced LIGO. The arrival frequency of high-energy cosmic-ray muons that generate enough large showers inside mirrors of LCGT and Advanced LIGO is one per a millennium. We also discuss the probability of exotic-particle detection with interferometers.

  18. On the Non-Thermal Energy Content of Cosmic Structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franco Vazza

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available (1 Background: the budget of non-thermal energy in galaxy clusters is not well constrained, owing to the observational and theoretical difficulties in studying these diluted plasmas on large scales; (2 Method: we use recent cosmological simulations with complex physics in order to connect the emergence of non-thermal energy to the underlying evolution of gas and dark matter; (3 Results: the impact of non-thermal energy (e.g., cosmic rays, magnetic fields and turbulent motions is found to increase in the outer region of galaxy clusters. Within numerical and theoretical uncertainties, turbulent motions dominate the budget of non-thermal energy in most of the cosmic volume; (4 Conclusion: assessing the distribution non-thermal energy in galaxy clusters is crucial to perform high-precision cosmology in the future. Constraining the level of non-thermal energy in cluster outskirts will improve our understanding of the acceleration of relativistic particles and of the origin of extragalactic magnetic fields.

  19. 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.

  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. High Energy Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Untitled Document [Argonne Logo] [DOE Logo] High Energy Physics Home Division ES&H Personnel Collider Physics Cosmic Frontier Cosmic Frontier Theory & Computing Detector R&D Electronic Design Mechanical Design Neutrino Physics Theoretical Physics Seminars HEP Division Seminar HEP Lunch Seminar HEP

  2. Radio detection of high-energy cosmic rays with the Auger Engineering Radio Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schröder, Frank G.; Pierre Auger Collaboration

    2016-07-01

    The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is an enhancement of the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. Covering about 17km2, AERA is the world-largest antenna array for cosmic-ray observation. It consists of more than 150 antenna stations detecting the radio signal emitted by air showers, i.e., cascades of secondary particles caused by primary cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere. At the beginning, technical goals had been in focus: first of all, the successful demonstration that a large-scale antenna array consisting of autonomous stations is feasible. Moreover, techniques for calibration of the antennas and time calibration of the array have been developed, as well as special software for the data analysis. Meanwhile physics goals come into focus. At the Pierre Auger Observatory air showers are simultaneously detected by several detector systems, in particular water-Cherenkov detectors at the surface, underground muon detectors, and fluorescence telescopes, which enables cross-calibration of different detection techniques. For the direction and energy of air showers, the precision achieved by AERA is already competitive; for the type of primary particle, several methods are tested and optimized. By combining AERA with the particle detectors we aim for a better understanding of cosmic rays in the energy range from approximately 0.3 to 10 EeV, i.e., significantly higher energies than preceding radio arrays.

  3. 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.

  4. Observational constraints on dark energy and cosmic curvature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Yun; Mukherjee, Pia

    2007-01-01

    Current observational bounds on dark energy depend on our assumptions about the curvature of the universe. We present a simple and efficient method for incorporating constraints from cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data and use it to derive constraints on cosmic curvature and dark energy density as a free function of cosmic time using current CMB, Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), and baryon acoustic oscillation data. We show that there are two CMB shift parameters, R≡√(Ω m H 0 2 )r(z CMB ) (the scaled distance to recombination) and l a ≡πr(z CMB )/r s (z CMB ) (the angular scale of the sound horizon at recombination), with measured values that are nearly uncorrelated with each other. Allowing nonzero cosmic curvature, the three-year WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) data give R=1.71±0.03, l a =302.5±1.2, and Ω b h 2 =0.02173±0.00082, independent of the dark energy model. The corresponding bounds for a flat universe are R=1.70±0.03, l a =302.2±1.2, and Ω b h 2 =0.022±0.00082. We give the covariance matrix of (R,l a ,Ω b h 2 ) from the three-year WMAP data. We find that (R,l a ,Ω b h 2 ) provide an efficient and intuitive summary of CMB data as far as dark energy constraints are concerned. Assuming the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) prior of H 0 =72±8 (km/s) Mpc -1 , using 182 SNe Ia (from the HST/GOODS program, the first year Supernova Legacy Survey, and nearby SN Ia surveys), (R,l a ,Ω b h 2 ) from WMAP three-year data, and SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation scale, we find that dark energy density is consistent with a constant in cosmic time, with marginal deviations from a cosmological constant that may reflect current systematic uncertainties or true evolution in dark energy. A flat universe is allowed by current data: Ω k =-0.006 -0.012-0.025 +0.013+0.025 for assuming that the dark energy equation of state w X (z) is constant, and Ω k =-0.002 -0.018-0.032 +0.018+0.041 for w X (z

  5. Ultra high energy cosmic rays: clustering, GUT scale and neutrino masses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fodor, Z.

    2002-01-01

    The clustering of ultra high energy (above 5 · 10 19 eV) cosmic rays (UHECR) suggests that they might be emitted by compact sources. We present a statistical analysis on the source density based on the multiplicities. The propagation of UHECR protons is studied in detail. The UHECR spectrum is consistent with the decay of GUT scale particles and/or with the Z-burst. The predicted GUT mass is m x = 10 b GeV, where b 14.6 -1.7 +1.6 . Our neutrino mass prediction depends on the origin of the power part of the spectrum: m ν = 2.75 -0.97 +1.28 eV for halo and 0.26 -0.14 +0.20 eV for extragalactic (EG) origin

  6. Lorentz invariance violation and chemical composition of ultra high energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saveliev, Andrey; Sigl, Guenter [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). II. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Maccione, Luca [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Theory Group

    2010-12-15

    Motivated by experimental indications of a significant presence of heavy nuclei in the cosmic ray flux at ultra high energies (>or similar 10{sup 19} eV), we consider the effects of Planck scale suppressed Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) on the propagation of cosmic ray nuclei. In particular we focus on LIV effects on the photodisintegration of nuclei onto the background radiation fields. After a general discussion of the behavior of the relevant quantities, we apply our formalism to a simplified model where the LIV parameters of the various nuclei are assumed to kinematically result from a single LIV parameter for the constituent nucleons, {eta}, and we derive constraints on {eta}. Assuming a nucleus of a particular species to be actually present at 10{sup 20} eV the following constraints can be placed: -3 x 10{sup -2}

  7. 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.

  8. HIGH-ENERGY COSMIC-RAY DIFFUSION IN MOLECULAR CLOUDS: A NUMERICAL APPROACH

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fatuzzo, M.; Melia, F.; Todd, E.; Adams, F. C.

    2010-01-01

    The propagation of high-energy cosmic rays (CRs) through giant molecular clouds constitutes a fundamental process in astronomy and astrophysics. The diffusion of CRs through these magnetically turbulent environments is often studied through the use of energy-dependent diffusion coefficients, although these are not always well motivated theoretically. Now, however, it is feasible to perform detailed numerical simulations of the diffusion process computationally. While the general problem depends upon both the field structure and particle energy, the analysis may be greatly simplified by dimensionless analysis. That is, for a specified purely turbulent field, the analysis depends almost exclusively on a single parameter-the ratio of the maximum wavelength of the turbulent field cells to the particle gyration radius. For turbulent magnetic fluctuations superimposed over an underlying uniform magnetic field, particle diffusion depends on a second dimensionless parameter that characterizes the ratio of the turbulent to uniform magnetic field energy densities. We consider both of these possibilities and parametrize our results to provide simple quantitative expressions that suitably characterize the diffusion process within molecular cloud environments. Doing so, we find that the simple scaling laws often invoked by the high-energy astrophysics community to model CR diffusion through such regions appear to be fairly robust for the case of a uniform magnetic field with a strong turbulent component, but are only valid up to ∼50 TeV particle energies for a purely turbulent field. These results have important consequences for the analysis of CR processes based on TeV emission spectra associated with dense molecular clouds.

  9. 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

  10. Dark energy constraints from the cosmic age and supernova

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Bo; Wang Xiulian; Zhang Xinmin

    2005-01-01

    Using the low limit of cosmic ages from globular cluster and the white dwarfs: t 0 >12Gyr, together with recent new high redshift supernova observations from the HST/GOODS program and previous supernova data, we give a considerable estimation of the equation of state for dark energy, with uniform priors as weak as 0.2 m m h 2 <0.16. We find cosmic age limit plays a significant role in lowering the upper bound on the variation amplitude of dark energy equation of state. We propose in this Letter a new scenario of dark energy dubbed quintom, which gives rise to the equation of state larger than -1 in the past and less than -1 today, satisfying current observations. In addition we have also considered the implications of recent X-ray gas mass fraction data on dark energy, which favors a negative running of the equation of state

  11. Studying High pT muons in Cosmic-Ray Air Showers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein, Spencer R.

    2006-01-01

    Most cosmic-ray air shower arrays have focused on detecting electromagnetic shower particles and low energy muons. A few groups (most notably MACRO + EASTOP and SPASE + AMANDA) have studied the high energy muon component of showers. However, these experiments had small solid angles, and did not study muons far from the core. The IceTop + IceCube combination, with its 1 km 2 muon detection area can study muons far from the shower core. IceCube can measure their energy loss (dE/dx), and hence their energy. With the energy, and the known distribution of production heights, the transverse momentum (p T ) spectrum of high p T muons can be determined. The production of the semuons is calculable in perturbative QCD, so the measured muon spectra can be used to probe the composition of incident cosmic-rays

  12. On the Energy Spectra of GeV/TeV Cosmic Ray Leptons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stawarz, Lukasz; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Jagiellonian U., Astron. Observ.; Petrosian, Vahe; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., Appl. Phys. Dept.; Blandford, Roger D.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park

    2011-08-19

    protons. The second source discussed here is due to the annihilation of the diffuse Galactic {gamma}-rays on the stellar photon field. We find that high positron fraction increasing with energy, as claimed by the PAMELA experiment, cannot be explained in our model with the conservative set of the model parameters. We are able, however, to reproduce the PAMELA (as well as Fermi and HESS) results assuming high values of the starlight and interstellar gas densities, which would be more appropriate for vicinities of supernova remnants. A possible solution to this problem may be that cosmic rays undergo most of their interactions near their sources due to the efficient trapping in the far upstream of supernova shocks by self-generated, cosmic ray-driven turbulence.

  13. Development of the radio astronomical method of cosmic particle detection for extremely high-energy cosmic ray physics and neutrino astronomy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheleznykh Igor

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The proposal to use ground based radio telescopes for detection of Askaryan radio pulses from particle cascades arising when extremely high-energy (EHE > 1020 eV cosmic rays (including neutrinos interact with the lunar regolith of multi gigaton mass was made at the end of 1980s in the framework of the Russian (Soviet DUMAND Program. During more than a quarter of century a number of lunar experiments were carried out mainly in the 1–3 GHz frequency range using the large radio telescopes of Australia, USA, Russia and other countries but these experiments only put upper limits to the EHE cosmic rays fluxes. For this reason, it would be of great interest to search for nanosecond radio pulses from the Moon in a wider interval of frequencies (including lower ones of 100–350 MHz with larger radio detectors – for example the giant radio telescope SKA (Square Kilometer Array which is constructed in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In this paper possibilities are discussed to use one of the most sensitive meter-wavelength (∼ 110 MHz Large Phased Array (LPA of 187 × 384 m2 and the wide field of view meter-wavelength array of the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory as prototypes of low frequency radio detectors for lunar experiments. The new scheme for fast simulation of ultrahigh and extremely high-energy cascades in dense media is also suggested. This scheme will be used later for calculations of radio emission of cascades in the lunar regolith with energies up to 1020 eV and higher in the wide frequency band of 0.1− a few GHz.

  14. Constraining sources of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and shear acceleration mechanism of particles in relativistic jets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Ruoyu

    2015-06-10

    Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are extreme energetic particles from outer space. They have aroused great interest among scientists for more than fifty years. However, due to the rarity of the events and complexity of the process of their propagation to Earth, they are still one of the biggest puzzles in modern high energy astrophysics. This dissertation is dedicated to study the origin of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays from various aspects. Firstly, we discuss a possible link between recently discovered sub-PeV/PeV neutrinos and ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. If these two kinds of particles share the same origin, the observation of neutrinos may provide additional and non-trivial constraints on the sources of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. Secondly, we jointly employ the chemical composition measurement and the arrival directions of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, and find a robust upper limit for distances of sources of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays above ∝55 EeV, as well as a lower limit for their metallicities. Finally, we study the shear acceleration mechanism in relativistic jets, which is a more efficient mechanism for the acceleration of higher energy particle. We compute the acceleration efficiency and the time-dependent particle energy spectrum, and explore the feature of synchrotron radiation of the accelerated particles. The possible realizations of this mechanism for acceleration of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays in different astrophysical environments is also discussed.

  15. Ultra high energy gamma-ray astronomy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wdowczyk, J.

    1986-01-01

    The experimental data on ultra high energy γ-rays are reviewed and a comparison of the properties of photon and proton initiated shower is made. The consequences of the existence of the strong ultra high energy γ-ray sources for other observations is analysed and possible mechanisms for the production of ultra high energy γ-rays in the sources are discussed. It is demonstrated that if the γ-rays are produced via cosmic ray interactions the sources have to produce very high fluxes of cosmic ray particles. In fact it is possible that a small number of such sources can supply the whole Galactic cosmic ray flux

  16. Detection of ultraviolet Cherenkov light from high energy cosmic ray atmospheric showers: A field test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartoli, B.; Peruzzo, L.; Sartori, G.; Bedeschi, F.; Bertolucci, E.; Mariotti, M.; Menzione, A.; Ristori, L.; Stefanini, A.; Zetti, F.; Scribano, A.; Budinich, M.; Liello, F.

    1991-01-01

    We present the results of a test with a prototype apparatus aimed to detect the ultraviolet Cherenkov light in the wavelenght range 2000-2300A, emitted by high energy cosmic ray showers. The system consists of a gas proportional chamber, with TMAE vapour as the photosensitive element, placed on the focal plane of a 1.5 m diameter parabolic mirror. The test was done during the summer of 1989 with cosmic ray showers seen in coincidence with the EAS-TOP experiment, an extended atmospheric shower charged particle array now being exploited at Campo Imperatore, 1900 m above sea level, on top of the Gran Sasso underground Laboratory of INFN. The results were positive and show that a full scale ultraviolet Cherenkov experiment with good sensitivity, angular resolution and virtually no background from moonlight or even daylight can be envisaged. (orig.)

  17. 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

  18. Composition of cosmic rays in the knee region of the primary energy spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Das Gupta, U.

    1989-01-01

    The Soudan Surface-Underground Cosmic Ray Telescope is located at the Soudan iron mine in northern Minnesota. It consists of a coincidence arrangement of two detectors-one installed at the surface of the mine and the other located underground, at a vertical depth of 600 meters. Using such an arrangement, the energy and composition of a primary cosmic ray particle can be determined independently of one another. When a high energy cosmic ray enters the Earth's atmosphere, secondary particles are produced in successive interactions, creating an extensive air shower. Using the surface detector, the number of particles in the shower at the surface of the Earth can be counted and the energy of the primary particle estimated. Of all the particles that are created in a cosmic ray air shower, only the energetic muons are able to penetrate underground. The separations of the muons below ground are measured by the Soudan 1 detector and this serves as an indicator of the type of nucleus that initiated the shower. The Soudan surface-underground detector is sensitive to primary cosmic rays of energies between 10 14 and 10 18 eV. The data from the experiment were compared to the predictions of various cosmic ray composition models, within this energy range. The data supported a composition model that was proton dominated up to the highest energies measured. There was no indication of a shift in the composition towards heavier primaries as would be expected on the basis of some models

  19. A search for anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultra high energy cosmic rays recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abreu, P.

    2012-01-01

    Observations of cosmic ray arrival directions made with the Pierre Auger Observatory have previously provided evidence of anisotropy at the 99% CL using the correlation of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with objects drawn from the Veron-Cetty Veron catalog. In this paper we report on the use of three catalog independent methods to search for anisotropy. The 2pt-L, 2pt+ and 3pt methods, each giving a different measure of self-clustering in arrival directions, were tested on mock cosmic ray data sets to study the impacts of sample size and magnetic smearing on their results, accounting for both angular and energy resolutions. If the sources of UHECRs follow the same large scale structure as ordinary galaxies in the local Universe and if UHECRs are deflected no more than a few degrees, a study of mock maps suggests that these three methods can efficiently respond to the resulting anisotropy with a P-value = 1.0% or smaller with data sets as few as 100 events. Using data taken from January 1, 2004 to July 31, 2010 we examined the 20, 30, ..., 110 highest energy events with a corresponding minimum energy threshold of about 51 EeV. The minimum P-values found were 13.5% using the 2pt-L method, 1.0% using the 2pt+ method and 1.1% using the 3pt method for the highest 100 energy events. In view of the multiple (correlated) scans performed on the data set, these catalog-independent methods do not yield strong evidence of anisotropy in the highest energy cosmic rays.

  20. Multichannel readout ASIC design flow for high energy physics and cosmic rays experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voronin, A; Malankin, E

    2016-01-01

    In the large-scale high energy physics and astrophysics experiments multi-channel readout application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are widely used. The ASICs for such experiments are complicated systems, which usually include both analog and digital building blocks. The complexity and large number of channels in such ASICs require the proper methodological approach to their design. The paper represents the mixed-signal design flow of the ASICs for high energy physics and cosmic rays experiments. This flow was successfully embedded to the development of the read-out ASIC prototype for the muon chambers of the CBM experiment. The approach was approved in UMC CMOS MMRF 180 nm process. The design flow enable to analyse the mixed-signal system operation on the different levels: functional, behavioural, schematic and post layout including parasitic elements. The proposed design flow allows reducing the simulation period and eliminating the functionality mismatches on the very early stage of the design. (paper)

  1. Cosmic-ray energy densities in star-forming galaxies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Persic Massimo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The energy density of cosmic ray protons in star forming galaxies can be estimated from π0-decay γ-ray emission, synchrotron radio emission, and supernova rates. To galaxies for which these methods can be applied, the three methods yield consistent energy densities ranging from Up ~ 0.1 − 1 eV cm−3 to Up ~ 102 − 103 eV cm−3 in galaxies with low to high star-formation rates, respectively.

  2. Multi-resolution anisotropy studies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Blažek, Jiří; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Ebr, Jan; Mandát, Dušan; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovánek, Petr; Trávníček, Petr; Vícha, Jakub

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 2017, č. 6 (2017), 1-26, č. článku 026. ISSN 1475-7516 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LM2015038; GA MŠk LG15014; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : cosmic ray experiments * ultra high energy cosmic rays Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics OBOR OECD: Particles and field physics Impact factor: 4.734, year: 2016

  3. At what particle energy do extragalactic cosmic rays start to predominate?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wibig, Tadeusz; Wolfendale, Arnold W

    2005-01-01

    We have previously argued (e.g. Szabelski et al 2002 Astropart. Phys. 17 125) that the well-known 'ankle' in the cosmic ray energy spectrum, at log E (eV) ∼ 18.7-19.0, marks the transition from mainly galactic sources at lower energies to mainly extragalactic above. Recently, however, there have been claims for lower transitional energies, specifically from log E (eV) ∼ 17.0 (Thompson et al 2004 Proc. Catania Cosmic Ray Conf.) via 17.2-17.8 (Berezinsky et al 2004 Astropart. Phys. 21 617) to 18.0 (Hillas 2004 Proc. Leeds Cosmic Ray Conf.). In our model the ankle arises naturally from the sum of simple power law-spectra with slopes differing by Δγ ∼ 1.8; from differential slope γ = -3.8 for galactic particles (near log E = 19) to γ ∼ -2.0 for extragalactic sources. In the other models, on the other hand, the ankle is intrinsic to the extragalactic component alone, and arises from the shape of the rate of energy loss versus energy for the (assumed) protons interacting with the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our detailed analysis of the world's data on the ultra-high energy spectrum shows that taken together, or separately, the resulting mean sharpness of the ankle (second derivative of the log(intensity x E 3 ) with respect to log E) is consistent with our 'mixed' model. For explanation in terms of extragalactic particles alone, however, the ankle will be at the wrong energy-for reasonable production models and of insufficient magnitude if, as seems likely, there is still a significant fraction of heavy nuclei at the ankle energy

  4. Propagation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and their secondaries with CRPropa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vliet, Arjen Rene van

    2015-04-01

    Due to experiments like the Pierre Auger Observatory (Auger) and the Telescope Array (TA), high-statistics data is becoming available on the energy spectrum, the composition and the arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs, cosmic rays with energies above ∝ 10 17 eV). To interpret this data in terms of actual astrophysical parameters, or to test astrophysical models against the measured data, dedicated simulations of the propagation of UHECRs from their sources to Earth are needed. To this end, the UHECR propagation code called CRPropa has been developed. It can take into account all relevant interactions with ambient photon backgrounds (pair production, photodisintegration and photopion production) as well as nuclear decay, cosmological evolution effects and deflections in extragalactic and galactic magnetic fields. CRPropa, including its newest features, is described in this thesis. When considering the propagation of ultra-high-energy nuclei, the dominant interaction for most isotopes and energies is photodisintegration. Photodisintegration has been implemented in CRPropa for all relevant isotopes (up to iron) and all relevant photodisintegration channels using cross-section calculations with the publicly-available code called TALYS, including extensions for the low mass numbers. This photodisintegration setup is compared here extensively with the photodisintegration scheme developed by Puget, Stecker and Bredekamp, leading to several improvements on the cross sections implemented in CRPropa. In the interactions of UHECRs with background photon fields, secondary neutrinos and photons, so-called cosmogenic neutrinos and photons, can be created. CRPropa can simulate the production and propagation of these secondary particles as well. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube) has recently reported the first observation of extraterrestrial neutrinos in the PeV energy range. In this work is investigated whether these neutrinos could have

  5. Cerenkov-ΔE-Cerenkov detector for high-energy cosmic-ray isotopes and an accelerator study of 40Ar and 56Fe fragmentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lau, K.H.

    1985-01-01

    This thesis has two major parts. The first part of the thesis will describe a high energy cosmic ray detector - the High Energy Isotope Spectrometer Telescope (HEIST). HEIST is a large area (0.25 m 2 sr) balloon-borne isotope spectrometer designed to make high-resolution measurements of isotopes in the element range from neon to nickel (10 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 28) at energies of about 2 GeV/nucleon. The instrument consists of a stack of 12 NaI(Tl) scintillators, two Cerenkov counters, and two plastic scintillators. The second part of this thesis presents an experimental measurement of the isotopic composition of the fragments from the breakup of high energy 40 Ar and 56 Fe nuclei. Cosmic ray composition studies rely heavily on semi-empirical estimates of the cross-sections for the nuclear fragmentation reactions which alter the composition during propagation through the interstellar medium. Experimentally measured yields of isotopes from the fragmentation of 40 Ar and 56 Fe are compared with calculated yields based on semi-empirical cross-section formulae

  6. Development and data analysis of a radio-detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays experiment; Developpement et analyse des donnees d'une experience de radiodetection des rayons cosmiques d'ultra haute energie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belletoile, A

    2007-10-15

    The radio-detection of cosmic rays was first attempted in the sixties. Unfortunately at that time, the results suffered from poor reproducibility and the technique was abandoned in favour of direct particle and fluorescence detection. Taking advantage of recent technological improvements the radio-detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays is being reinvestigated. In this document, first, we remind the reader of the global problematic of cosmic rays. Then, the several mechanisms involved in the emission of an electric field associated with extensive air showers are discussed. The CODALEMA (cosmic detection array with logarithmic electro magnetic antenna) experiment that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of cosmic ray radio-detection, is extensively described along with the first experimental results. A radio-detection test experiment implanted at the giant detector Pierre Auger is presented. It should provide inputs to design the future detector using this technique at extreme energies. (author)

  7. 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

  8. Department of Cosmic Radiation Physics: Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gawin, J.

    1999-01-01

    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: - Studies of asymptotic properties of hadronic interactions based on the analysis of cosmic ray propagation in the atmosphere. - Experimental and phenomenological studies of Extensive Air Showers induced by cosmic ray particles. - Search for point sources of high energy cosmic rays. - Studies of cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy and mechanisms of particle acceleration. - Studies of mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 - 10 17 eV. 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 analysed nearly 100,000 events of energies above 10 15 eV registered by the Lodz hodoscope. We have developed the method of data analysis which allows us to verify different models of cosmic ray mass composition. In our research in high energy cosmic rays we also used experimental data from other collaborating experiments in Karlsruhe, Baksan and THEMISTOCLE. The Lodz group collaborates with many foreign institutes and laboratories in construction and data interpretation of cosmic ray experiments. Our most important partners are: Forschungszentrum in Karlsruhe (Germany), College de France, Institute for Nuclear Studies of the Russian Academy of Science, University of Perpignan and Uppsala University (Sweden). (author)

  9. Air shower array designed for cosmic ray variation measurements and high energy gamma ray astronomy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morello, C; Navarra, G [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Turin (Italy). Lab. di Cosmo-Geofisica

    1981-08-15

    We describe an array for performing measurements of counting rates and arrival directions of extensive air showers at primary energy E/sub 0/ approx. equal to 3 x 10/sup 9/ eV. The aim of the research is to study the time variations and the anisotropies of cosmic rays and the observable gamma ray sources in the high energy region. The installation, composed of four large area scintillation counters and completely controlled by a microcomputer system, operates at mountain altitude (3500 m a.s.l.). The preanalysis of data, stability tests and periodic calibrations are performed by on-line programs. The method for obtaining the required stability and the corrections on temperature and gain variations are also described.

  10. 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

  11. Prospects of High Energy Laboratory Astrophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ng, Johnny S.T.; SLAC

    2006-01-01

    Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) have been observed but their sources and production mechanisms are yet to be understood. We envision a laboratory astrophysics program that will contribute to the understanding of cosmic accelerators with efforts to: (1) test and calibrate UHECR observational techniques, and (2) elucidate the underlying physics of cosmic acceleration through laboratory experiments and computer simulations. Innovative experiments belonging to the first category have already been done at the SLAC FFTB. Results on air fluorescence yields from the FLASH experiment are reviewed. Proposed future accelerator facilities can provided unprecedented high-energy-densities in a regime relevant to cosmic acceleration studies and accessible in a terrestrial environment for the first time. We review recent simulation studies of nonlinear plasma dynamics that could give rise to cosmic acceleration, and discuss prospects for experimental investigation of the underlying mechanisms

  12. 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

  13. Extragalactic Ultra-High Energy Cosmic-Rays - Part One - Contribution from Hot Spots in Fr-II Radio Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rachen, J. P.; Biermann, P. L.

    1993-05-01

    The hot spots of Fanaroff-Riley class II radio galaxies, considered as working surfaces of highly collimated plasma jets, are proposed to be the dominant sources of the cosmic rays at energies above 1 EeV^a^. We apply the model of first order Fermi acceleration at strong, nonrelativistic shock waves to the hot spot region. The strength of the model has been demonstrated by Biermann & Strittmatter (1987) and by Meisenheimer et al. (1989), who explain their radio-to optical spectra and infer the physical conditions of the radiating plasma. Using synchrotron radiating electrons as a trace, we can calculate the spectrum and the maximum energy of protons accelerated under the same conditions. For simplicity, we disregard heavy nuclei, but their probable role is discussed. The normalization of proton flux injected in extragalactic space is performed by using estimates from Rawlings & Saunders (1991) for the total energy stored in relativistic particles inside the jets and radio galaxy evolution models given by Peacock (1985). We calculate the spectral modifications due to interactions of the protons with the microwave background photons in an evolving universe, following Berezinsky & Grigor'eva (1988). Constraints on the extragalactic magnetic field can be imposed, since it must permit an almost homogeneous filling of the universe with energetic protons. The observed ultra-high energy cosmic ray spectrum is reproduced in slope and flux, limited at high energies by the Greisen-cutoff at about 80 EeV. The requirements on the content of relativistic protons in jets and the constraints to the extragalactic magnetic field are consistent with common estimates. The data beyond the Greisen cutoff for protons may be explained by including heavy nuclei in our model, since they can propagate over cosmological distances up to more than 100 EeV.

  14. ULTRAHIGH ENERGY COSMIC RAYS: REVIEW OF THE CURRENT SITUATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Todor Stanev

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available We describe the current situation of the data on the highest energy particles in the Universe – the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. The new results in the field come from the Telescope Array experiment in Utah, U.S.A. For this reason we concentrate on the results from these experiments and compare them to the measurements of the other two recent experiments, the High Resolution Fly’sEye and the Southern Auger Observatory.

  15. Department of Cosmic Radiation Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gawin, J.

    1997-01-01

    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: -Studies of the asymptotic properties of hadronic interactions from the analysis of cosmic ray propagation in the atmosphere. -Studies of structure and properties of Extensive Air Showers induced by cosmic ray particles. -Search for point sources of high energy cosmic rays. -Studies of cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy and mechanisms of particle acceleration. -Studies of the mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 -10 17 eV. Theoretical and experimental studies of nuclear interactions for energies exceeding those obtained by modern particle accelerators are performed employing results obtained by the Lodz Extensive Air Shower Array. The Lodz hodoscope can register electromagnetic components of cosmic ray showers in the atmosphere as well as muons at two energy thresholds. Data collected by the Lodz array are also used to study mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 - 10 17 eV. The Lodz group collaborates with foreign institutes and laboratories on construction and data interpretation of cosmic ray experiments. Our most important partners are: Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Germany), College de France, the Institute for Nuclear Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the University of Durham, and the University of Perpignan. (author)

  16. Measuring the low-energy cosmic ray spectrum with the AFIS detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Losekamm, Martin [Physics Department E18, Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany); Institute of Astronautics, Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany); Gaisbauer, Dominic; Greenwald, Daniel; Hahn, Alexander; Hauptmann, Philipp; Konorov, Igor; Meng, Lingxin; Paul, Stephan; Poeschl, Thomas [Physics Department E18, Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany); Renker, Dieter [Physics Department E17, Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany)

    2014-07-01

    High-energy cosmic rays interact with Earth's upper atmosphere and produce antiprotons, which can be trapped in Earth's magnetic field. The Antiproton Flux in Space (AFIS) Mission will measure the flux of trapped antiprotons with energies less than 100 MeV aboard the nanosatellite MOVE 2. An active-target tracking detector comprised of scintillating plastic fibers and silicon photomultipliers is already under construction at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen. As a precursor to the space-bound mission, a prototype version of the detector will be launched aboard a balloon from Kiruna, Sweden as part of the REXUS/BEXUS student program by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Named AFIS-P, it will be used to measure the low-energy part of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies less than 100 MeV-per-nucleon. Spectrometers in previous balloon missions were not sensitive in this low-energy region. Thus AFIS-P will deliver unprecedented data, while simultaneously allowing us to field-test the AFIS detector.

  17. NEEDS for LHC experiment planning from results of very high energy cosmic ray Investigations (NEEDS-2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petrukhin A.A.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available 12 years ago, at 12th ISVHECRI, a special NEEDS workshop was held to discuss future LHC data required for interpretation of cosmic ray experiments. Now, when the main task of LHC is solved – the Higgs boson is discovered – the question “What will be the next?” is very actual. In this paper the results of cosmic ray experiments at LHC energies are considered. Their possible explanation in the frame of a new model of production of quark-gluon matter blobs is discussed. The necessity to pass in LHC experiments from investigations of pp-interactions to investigations of nucleus-nucleus interactions is underlined since cosmic rays consist mainly of nuclei (≈ 60% which interact with nuclei of air. But namely in these nucleus-nucleus interactions many unusual results were obtained in cosmic ray investigations. Corresponding tasks for future LHC experiments are proposed.

  18. Development and data analysis of a radio-detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays experiment; Developpement et analyse des donnees d'une experience de radiodetection des rayons cosmiques d'ultra haute energie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belletoile, A

    2007-10-15

    The radio-detection of cosmic rays was first attempted in the sixties. Unfortunately at that time, the results suffered from poor reproducibility and the technique was abandoned in favour of direct particle and fluorescence detection. Taking advantage of recent technological improvements the radio-detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays is being reinvestigated. In this document, first, we remind the reader of the global problematic of cosmic rays. Then, the several mechanisms involved in the emission of an electric field associated with extensive air showers are discussed. The CODALEMA (cosmic detection array with logarithmic electro magnetic antenna) experiment that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of cosmic ray radio-detection, is extensively described along with the first experimental results. A radio-detection test experiment implanted at the giant detector Pierre Auger is presented. It should provide inputs to design the future detector using this technique at extreme energies. (author)

  19. Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic Rays from Fanaroff Riley class II radio galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rachen, Joerg; Biermann, Peter L.

    1992-08-01

    The hot spots of very powerful radio galaxies (Fanaroff Riley class II) are argued to be the sources of the ultrahigh energy component in Cosmic Rays. We present calculations of Cosmic Ray transport in an evolving universe, taking the losses against the microwave background properly into account. As input we use the models for the cosmological radio source evolution derived by radioastronomers (mainly Peacock 1985). The model we adopt for the acceleration in the radio hot spots has been introduced by Biermann and Strittmatter (1987), and Meisenheimer et al. (1989) and is based on first order Fermi theory of particle acceleration at shocks (see, e.g., Drury 1983). As an unknown the actual proportion of energy density in protons enters, which together with structural uncertainties in the hot spots should introduce no more than one order of magnitude in uncertainty: We easily reproduce the observed spectra of high energy cosmic rays. It follows that scattering of charged energetic particles in intergalactic space must be sufficiently small in order to obtain contributions from sources as far away as even the nearest Fanaroff Riley class II radio galaxies. This implies a strong constraint on the turbulent magnetic field in intergalactic space.

  20. Department of Cosmic Ray Physics - Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2010-01-01

    Full text: The 31 st International Cosmic Ray Conference (31.ICRC) was held in Lodz on 7-15 July 2009. The Conference was organized by the University of Lodz (Department of High Energy Astrophysics and Department of Astrophysics) and IPJ (Department of Cosmic Ray Physics). ICRCs are held every two years and are the largest forums to present and discuss the current status of Cosmic Ray studies. The Conference we co-organized gathered about 750 scientists (including about 50 from Poland). This was a remarkable event. The Department of Cosmic Ray Physics in Lodz is involved in basic research in the field of high energy Cosmic Rays. Cosmic Rays are energetic panicles from outside the Solar System. Most studies of Cosmic Rays address fundamental problems: - the nature of the physical and astrophysical processes responsible for the high energies of the particles. - experimental search for sources of Cosmic Rays, - studies of the astrophysical conditions at the acceleration sites, - properties of particle interactions at very high energies. Presentation of Cosmic Ray registration to high school students has become a popular way to introduce panicle physics detectors and elementary particle detection techniques to young people, in Lodz and Poznan we organize workshops on particle physics for high school students. This is part of the European activity: EPPOG Masterclass - Hands on CERN. Energetic Cosmic Ray particles produce cascades of panicles in the atmosphere, called Extensive Air Showers (EAS). Registering EASs and their properties is the main means of studying experimentally high energy Cosmic Rays: · The satellite experiment JEM-EUSO will observe EASs from the International Space Station. The main target is to find Cosmic Ray Sources for the highest energy Cosmic Rays. JEM-EUSO will collect a large number of events since it will observe a large area of the atmosphere. We are participating in the preparation of this mission. · The KASCADE-Grande addresses

  1. The MIDAS experiment: A prototype for the microwave emission of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monasor, M.; Alekotte, I.; Alvarez-Muniz, J.; Berlin, A.; Bertou, X.; Bodgan, M.; Bohacova, M.; Bonifazi, C.; Carvalho, W.; Mello Neto, J.R.T. de; Genat, J.F.; Facal San Luis, P.; Mills, E.; Rouille d'Orfeuil, B.; Wayne, S.; Reyes, L.C.; Santos, E.M.; Privitera, P.; Williams, C.; Zas, E.

    2011-01-01

    Recent measurements suggest that extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) emit signals in the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum caused by the collisions of the free-electrons with the atmospheric neutral molecules in the plasma produced by the passage of the shower. Such emission is isotropic and could allow the detection of air showers with 100% duty cycle and a calorimetric-like energy measurement, a significant improvement over current detection techniques. We have built MIDAS (MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers), a prototype of microwave detector, which consists of a 4.5 m diameter antenna with a cluster of 53 feed-horns in the 4 GHz range. The details of the prototype and first results will be presented.

  2. Workshop on Hadron-Hadron & Cosmic-Ray Interactions at multi-TeV Energies

    CERN Document Server

    Alessandro, B; Bergman, D; Bongi, M; Bunyatyan, A; Cazon, L; d'Enterria, D; de Mitri, I; Doll, P; Engel, R; Eggert, K; Garzelli, M; Gerhardt, L; Gieseke, S; Godbole, R; Grosse-Oetringhaus, J F; Gustafson, G; Hebbeker, T; Kheyn, L; Kiryluk, J; Lipari, P; Ostapchenko, S; Pierog, T; Piskounova, O; Ranft, J; Rezaeian, A; Rostovtsev, A; Sakurai, N; Sapeta, S; Schleich, S; Schulz, H; Sjostrand, T; Sonnenschein, L; Sutton, M; Ulrich, R; Werner, K; Zapp, K; CRLHC10; CRLHC 10

    2011-01-01

    The workshop on "Hadron-Hadron and Cosmic-Ray Interactions at multi-TeV Energies" held at the ECT* centre (Trento) in Nov.-Dec. 2010 gathered together both theorists and experimentalists to discuss issues of the physics of high-energy hadronic interactions of common interest for the particle, nuclear and cosmic-ray communities. QCD results from collider experiments -- mostly from the LHC but also from the Tevatron, RHIC and HERA -- were discussed and compared to various hadronic Monte Carlo generators, aiming at an improvement of our theoretical understanding of soft, semi-hard and hard parton dynamics. The latest cosmic-ray results from various ground-based observatories were also presented with an emphasis on the phenomenological modeling of the first hadronic interactions of the extended air-showers generated in the Earth atmosphere. These mini-proceedings consist of an introduction and short summaries of the talks presented at the meeting.

  3. A cosmic microwave background feature consistent with a cosmic texture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruz, M; Turok, N; Vielva, P; Martínez-González, E; Hobson, M

    2007-12-07

    The Cosmic Microwave Background provides our most ancient image of the universe and our best tool for studying its early evolution. Theories of high-energy physics predict the formation of various types of topological defects in the very early universe, including cosmic texture, which would generate hot and cold spots in the Cosmic Microwave Background. We show through a Bayesian statistical analysis that the most prominent 5 degrees -radius cold spot observed in all-sky images, which is otherwise hard to explain, is compatible with having being caused by a texture. From this model, we constrain the fundamental symmetry-breaking energy scale to be (0) approximately 8.7 x 10(15) gigaelectron volts. If confirmed, this detection of a cosmic defect will probe physics at energies exceeding any conceivable terrestrial experiment.

  4. Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and neutrinos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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

    2008-04-01

    We discuss the relation between the highest energy cosmic rays (UHECR) and UHE neutrinos. The neutrinos produced in the sources of optically thin astrophysical sources have been linked to the UHECR emissivity of the Universe. The fluxes of cosmogenic neutrinos, generated in propagation by UHECR, also reflect the acceleration of these particles, the maximum acceleration energy, and the cosmological evolution of their sources.

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. Department of Cosmic Radiation Physics: Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gawin, J.

    1998-01-01

    (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: -Studies of asymptotic properties of hadronic interactions based on the analysis of cosmic ray propagation in the atmosphere. -Studies of the structure and properties of Extensive Air Showers induced by cosmic ray particles. - Search for point sources of high energy cosmic rays. - Studies of cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy and mechanisms of particle acceleration. - Studies of mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range l0 15 -10 17 eV. Theoretical and experimental studies of nuclear interactions for energies exceeding those obtained by modern particle accelerators are performed based on the results obtained by the Lodz Extensive Air Shower Array. The Lodz hodoscope can register the electromagnetic component of cosmic ray showers developing in the atmosphere as well as muons of two energy thresholds. Data collected by the Lodz array are also used to study the mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 -10 17 eV. The Lodz group collaborates with many foreign institutes and laboratories in construction and data interpretation of cosmic ray experiments. Our most important partners are: Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Germany), College de' France, the Institute for Nuclear Studies of the Russian Academy of Science, the University of Perpignan (France) and Uppsala University (Sweden). (author)

  8. Planck-scale Lorentz violation constrained by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maccione, L. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Univ. Hamburg, II. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik (Germany); Taylor, A.M. [Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Mattingly, D.M.; Liberati, S. [Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati SISSA, Trieste (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare INFN, Sezione di Trieste (Italy)

    2009-09-15

    We investigate the consequences of higher dimension Lorentz violating, CPT even kinetic operators that couple standard model fields to a non-zero vector field in an Effective Field Theory framework. Comparing the ultra-high energy cosmic ray spectrum reconstructed in the presence of such terms with data from the Pierre Auger observatory allows us to establish two sided bounds on the coefficients of the mass dimension five and six operators for the proton and pion. Our bounds imply that for both protons and pions, the energy scale of Lorentz symmetry breaking must be well above the Planck scale. In particular, the dimension five operators are constrained at the level of 10{sup -3}M{sup -1}{sub Planck}. The magnitude of the dimension six proton coefficient is bounded at the level of 10{sup -6}M{sup -2}{sub Planck} except in a narrow range where the pion and proton coefficients are both negative and nearly equal. In this small area, the magnitude of the dimension six proton coefficient must only be below 10{sup -3}M{sup -2}{sub Planck}. Constraints on the dimension six pion coefficient are found to be much weaker, but still below M{sup -2}{sub Planck}. (orig.)

  9. 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

  10. Study of dispersion of mass distribution of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using a surface array of muon and electromagnetic detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vícha, Jakub; Trávníček, Petr; Nosek, Dalibor; Ebr, Jan

    2015-09-01

    We consider a hypothetical observatory of ultra-high energy cosmic rays consisting of two surface detector arrays that measure independently electromagnetic and muon signals induced by air showers. Using the constant intensity cut method, sets of events ordered according to each of both signal sizes are compared giving the number of matched events. Based on its dependence on the zenith angle, a parameter sensitive to the dispersion of the distribution of the logarithmic mass of cosmic rays is introduced. The results obtained using two post-LHC models of hadronic interactions are very similar and indicate a weak dependence on details of these interactions.

  11. Department of Cosmic Radiation Physics: Overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabelski, J.

    2000-01-01

    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: -Studies of asymptotic properties of hadronic interactions based on the analysis of cosmic ray propagation through the atmosphere. -Experimental and phenomenological studies of Extensive Air Showers induced by cosmic ray particles. - Search for high-energy cosmic ray point sources. - Studies of cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy and particle acceleration mechanisms. -Studies of mass composition of cosmic rays in the energy range 10 15 -10 17 eV. Theoretical and experimental studies of Extensive Air Shower properties are performed mainly on the basis of the results obtained by the Lodz Extensive Air Shower Array. We have analysed nearly 100,000 events of energies above 10 15 eV registered in the Lodz hodoscope. We have developed a method to verify different models of cosmic ray mass composition. The Lodz group collaborates with many foreign institutes and laboratories in construction and data interpretation of cosmic ray experiments. Our most important partners are: Forschungszentrum in Karlsruhe (Germany), College de France, Institute for Nuclear Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Uppsala University (Sweden). (author)

  12. Observation of high-energy cosmic rays by very inclined muon bundles in the NEVOD-DECOR experiment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saavedra O.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The Russian-Italian NEVOD-DECOR experiment on measurements of the local muon density spectra at various zenith angles gave the possibility to obtain important information on the primary cosmic ray flux and interaction characteristics in a wide energy range from 1015 to more than 1018 eV. At large zenith angles and high muon densities, a considerable excess of muon bundles has been found in comparison with expectation. In this paper, an update of these investigations is presented and some new results obtained by the collaboration are discussed.

  13. 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

  14. A search for flaring Very-High-Energy cosmic-ray sources with the L3+C muon spectrometer

    CERN Document Server

    Achard, P; Aguilar-Benítez, M; Van den Akker, M; Alcaraz, J; Alemanni, G; Allaby, James V; Aloisio, A; Alviggi, M G; Anderhub, H; Andreev, V P; Anselmo, F; Arefev, A; Azemoon, T; Aziz, T; Bagnaia, P; Bajo, A; Baksay, G; Baksay, L; Bähr, J; Baldew, S V; Banerjee, S; Banerjee, Sw; Barczyk, A; Barillère, R; Bartalini, P; Basile, M; Batalova, N; Battiston, R; Bay, A; Becattini, F; Becker, U; Behner, F; Bellucci, L; Berbeco, R; Berdugo, J; Berges, P; Bertucci, B; Betev, B L; Biasini, M; Biglietti, M; Biland, A; Blaising, J J; Blyth, S C; Bobbink, G J; Böhm, A; Boldizsar, L; Borgia, B; Bottai, S; Bourilkov, D; Bourquin, M; Braccini, S; Branson, J G; Brochu, F; Burger, J D; Burger, W J; Cai, X D; Capell, M; Cara Romeo, G; Carlino, G; Cartacci, A; Casaus, J; Cavallari, F; Cavallo, N; Cecchi, C; Cerrada, M; Chamizo-Llatas, M; Chang, Y H; Chemarin, M; Chen, A; Chen, G; Chen, G M; Chen, H F; Chen, H S; Chiarusi, T; Chiefari, G; Cifarelli, L; Cindolo, F; Clare, I; Clare, R; Coignet, G; Colino, N; Costantini, S; de la Cruz, B; Cucciarelli, S; De Asmundis, R; Dglon, P; Debreczeni, J; Degré, A; Dehmelt, K; Deiters, K; Della Volpe, D; Delmeire, E; Denes, P; De Notaristefani, F; De Salvo, A; Diemoz, M; Dierckxsens, M; Ding, L K; Dionisi, C; Dittmar, M; Doria, A; Dova, M T; Duchesneau, D; Duda, M; Durán, I; Echenard, B; Eline, A; El-Hage, A; El-Mamouni, H; Engler, A; Eppling, F J; Extermann, P; Faber, G; Falagán, M A; Falciano, S; Favara, A; Fay, J; Fedin, O; Felcini, M; Ferguson, T; Fesefeldt, H S; Fiandrini, E; Field, J H; Filthaut, F; Fisher, P H; Fisher, W; Fisk, I; Forconi, G; Freudenreich, K; Furetta, C; Galaktionov, Yu; Ganguli, S N; García-Abia, P; Gataullin, M; Gentile, S; Giagu, S; Gong, Z F; Grenier, H; Grabosch, G; Grimm, O; Groenstege, H; Grünewald, M W; Guida, M; Guo, Y N; Gupta, S K; Gupta, V K; Gurtu, A; Gutay, L J; Haas, D; Haller, C; Hatzifotiadou, D; Hayashi, Y; He, Z X; Hebbeker, T; Hervé, A; Hirschfelder, J; Hofer, H; Hohlmann, M; Holzner, G; Hou, S R; Huo, A X; Ito, N; Jin, B N; Jindal, P; Jing, C L; Jones, L W; de Jong, P; Josa-Mutuberría, M I; Kantserov, V A; Kaur, i; Kawakami, S; Kienzle-Focacci, M N; Kim, J K; Kirkby, Jasper; Kittel, W; Klimentov, A; König, A C; Kok, E; Korn, A; Kopal, M; Koutsenko, V F; Kräber, M; Kuang, H H; Krämer, R W; Krüger, A; Kuijpers, J; Kunin, A; Ladrón de Guevara, P; Laktineh, I; Landi, G; Lebeau, M; Lebedev, A; Lebrun, P; Lecomte, P; Lecoq, P; Le Coultre, P; Le Goff, J M; Lei, Y; Leich, H; Leiste, R; Levtchenko, M; Levchenko, P M; Li, C; Li, L; Li, Z C; Likhoded, S; Lin, C H; Lin, W T; Linde, Frank L; Lista, L; Liu, Z A; Lohmann, W; Longo, E; Lü, Y S; Luci, C; Luminari, L; Lustermann, W; Ma, W G; Ma, X H; Ma, Y Q; Malgeri, L; Malinin, A; Maña, C; Mans, J; Martin, J P; Marzano, F; Mazumdar, K; McNeil, R R; Mele, S; Meng, X W; Merola, L; Meschini, M; Metzger, W J; Mihul, A; van Mil, A; Milcent, H; Mirabelli, G; Mnich, J; Mohanty, G B; Monteleoni, B; Muanza, G S; Muijs, A J M; Musicar, B; Musy, M; Nagy, S; Nahnhauer, R; Naumov, V A; Natale, S; Napolitano, M; Nessi-Tedaldi, F; Newman, H; Nisati, A; Novák, T; Nowak, H; Ofierzynski, R A; Organtini, G; Pal, I; Palomares, C; Paolucci, P; Paramatti, R; Parriaud, J F; Passaleva, G; Patricelli, S; Paul, T; Pauluzzi, M; Paus, C; Pauss, F; Pedace, M; Pensotti, S; Perret-Gallix, D; Petersen, B; Piccolo, D; Pierella, F; Pieri, M; Pioppi, M; Piroué, P A; Pistolesi, E; Plyaskin, V; Pohl, M; Pozhidaev, V; Pothier, J; Prokofev, D; Prokofiev, D O; Quartieri, J; Qing, C R; Rahal-Callot, G; Rahaman, M A; Raics, P; Raja, N; Ramelli, R; Rancoita, P G; Ranieri, R; Raspereza, A V; Ravindran, K C; Razis, P; Ren, D; Rescigno, M; Reucroft, S; Rewiersma, P A M; Riemann, S; Riles, K; Roe, B P; Rojkov, A; Romero, L; Rosca, A; Rosemann, C; Rosenbleck, C; Rosier-Lees, S; Roth, S; Rubio, J A; Ruggiero, G; Rykaczewski, H; Saidi, R; Sakharov, A; Saremi, S; Sarkar, S; Salicio, J; Sánchez, E; Schäfer, C; Shchegelskii, V; Schmitt, V; Schöneich, B; Schopper, Herwig Franz; Schotanus, D J; Sciacca, C; Servoli, L; Shen, C Q; Shevchenko, S; Shivarov, N; Shoutko, V; Shumilov, E; Shvorob, A; Son, D; Souga, C; Spillantini, P; Steuer, M; Stickland, D P; Stoyanov, B; Strässner, A; Sudhakar, K; Sulanke, H; Sultanov, G G; Sun, L Z; Sushkov, S; Suter, H; Swain, J D; Szillási, Z; Tang, X W; Tarjan, P; Tauscher, L; Taylor, L; Tellili, B; Teyssier, D; Timmermans, C; Ting, Samuel C C; Ting, S M; Tonwar, S C; Tóth, J; Trowitzsch, G; Tully, C; Tung, K L; Ulbricht, J; Unger, M; Valente, E; Verkooijen, H; Van de Walle, R T; Vásquez, R; Veszpremi, V; Vesztergombi, G; Vetlitskii, I; Vicinanza, D; Viertel, G; Villa, S; Vivargent, M; Vlachos, S; Vodopyanov, I; Vogel, H; Vogt, H; Vorobev, I; Vorobyov, A A; Wadhwa, M; Wang, R G; Wang, Q; Wang, X L; Wang, X W; Wang, Z M; Weber, M; Van Wijk, R F; Wijnen, T A M; Wilkens, H; Wynhoff, S; Xia, L; Xu, Y P; Xu, J S; Xu, Z Z; Yang, B Z; Yang, C G; Yang, H J

    2006-01-01

    The L3+C muon detector at the Cern electron-position collider, LEP, is used for the detection of very-high-energy cosmic \\gamma-ray sources through the observation of muons of energies above 20, 30, 50 and 100 GeV. Daily or monthly excesses in the rate of single-muon events pointing to some particular direction in the sky are searched for. The periods from mid July to November 1999, and April to November 2000 are considered. Special attention is also given to a selection of known \\gamma-ray sources. No statistically significant excess is observed for any direction or any particular source.

  15. Highest energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikolskij, S.

    1984-01-01

    Primary particles of cosmic radiation with highest energies cannot in view of their low intensity be recorded directly but for this purpose the phenomenon is used that these particles interact with nuclei in the atmosphere and give rise to what are known as extensive air showers. It was found that 40% of primary particles with an energy of 10 15 to 10 16 eV consist of protons, 12 to 15% of helium nuclei, 15% of iron nuclei, the rest of nuclei of other elements. Radiation intensity with an energy of 10 18 to 10 19 eV depends on the direction of incoming particles. Maximum intensity is in the direction of the centre of the nearest clustre of galaxies, minimal in the direction of the central area of our galaxy. (Ha)

  16. 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

  17. Non-universal spectra of ultra-high energy cosmic ray primaries and secondaries in a structured universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sigl, Guenter

    2007-01-01

    Analytical calculations of extra-galactic cosmic ray spectra above ∼ 10 17 eV are often performed assuming continuous source distributions, giving rise to spectra that depend little on the propagation mode, be it rectilinear or diffusive. We perform trajectory simulations for proton primaries in the probably more realistic case of discrete sources with a density of ∼ 10 -5 Mpc -3 . We find two considerable non-universal effects that depend on source distributions and magnetic fields: First, the primary extra-galactic cosmic ray flux can become strongly suppressed below a few 10 18 eV due to partial confinement in magnetic fields surrounding sources. Second, the secondary photon to primary cosmic ray flux ratio between ≅ 3 x 10 18 eV and ≅ 10 20 eV decreases with decreasing source density and increasing magnetization. As a consequence, in acceleration scenarios for the origin of highest energy cosmic rays the fraction of secondary photons may be difficult to detect even for experiments such as Pierre Auger. The cosmogenic neutrino flux does not significantly depend on source density and magnetization. (author)

  18. 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...

  19. Cosmic Visions Dark Energy. Science

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dodelson, Scott [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Heitmann, Katrin [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Hirata, Chris [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Honscheid, Klaus [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Roodman, Aaron [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Seljak, Uroš [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Slosar, Anže [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Trodden, Mark [Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

    2016-04-26

    Cosmic surveys provide crucial information about high energy physics including strong evidence for dark energy, dark matter, and inflation. Ongoing and upcoming surveys will start to identify the underlying physics of these new phenomena, including tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy, the viability of modified gravity, the existence of extra light species, the masses of the neutrinos, and the potential of the field that drove inflation. Even after the Stage IV experiments, DESI and LSST, complete their surveys, there will still be much information left in the sky. This additional information will enable us to understand the physics underlying the dark universe at an even deeper level and, in case Stage IV surveys find hints for physics beyond the current Standard Model of Cosmology, to revolutionize our current view of the universe. There are many ideas for how best to supplement and aid DESI and LSST in order to access some of this remaining information and how surveys beyond Stage IV can fully exploit this regime. These ideas flow to potential projects that could start construction in the 2020's.

  20. Cosmic Visions Dark Energy: Science

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dodelson, S. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Slosar, A. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Heitmann, K. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Hirata, C. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Honscheid, K. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Roodman, A. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Seljak, U. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Trodden, M. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

    2016-04-26

    Cosmic surveys provide crucial information about high energy physics including strong evidence for dark energy, dark matter, and inflation. Ongoing and upcoming surveys will start to identify the underlying physics of these new phenomena, including tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy, the viability of modified gravity, the existence of extra light species, the masses of the neutrinos, and the potential of the field that drove inflation. Even after the Stage IV experiments, DESI and LSST, complete their surveys, there will still be much information left in the sky. This additional information will enable us to understand the physics underlying the dark universe at an even deeper level and, in case Stage IV surveys find hints for physics beyond the current Standard Model of Cosmology, to revolutionize our current view of the universe. There are many ideas for how best to supplement and aid DESI and LSST in order to access some of this remaining information and how surveys beyond Stage IV can fully exploit this regime. These ideas flow to potential projects that could start construction in the 2020's.

  1. 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.)

  2. Testing the Cosmic Coincidence Problem and the Nature of Dark Energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dalal, Neal; Abazajian, Kevork; Jenkins, Elizabeth; Manohar, Aneesh V.

    2001-01-01

    Dark energy models which alter the relative scaling behavior of dark energy and matter could provide a natural solution to the cosmic coincidence problem -- why the densities of dark energy and dark matter are comparable today. A generalized class of dark energy models is introduced which allows noncanonical scaling of the ratio of dark matter and dark energy with the Robertson-Walker scale factor a(t) . We show that determining whether there is a coincidence problem, and the extent of cosmic coincidence, can be addressed by several forthcoming experiments

  3. Colloquium: Multimessenger astronomy with gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ando, S.; Baret, B.; Bartos, I.; Bouhou, B.; Chassande-Mottin, E.; Corsi, A.; Di Palma, I.; Dietz, A.; Donzaud, C.; Eichler, D.; Finley, C.; Guetta, D.; Halzen, F.; Jones, G.; Kandhasamy, S.; Kotake, K.; Kouchner, A.; Mandic, V.; Márka, S.; Márka, Z.; Moscoso, L.; Papa, M.A.; Piran, T.; Pradier, T.; Romero, G.E.; Sutton, P.; Thrane, E.; van Elewyck, V.; Waxman, E.

    2013-01-01

    Many of the astrophysical sources and violent phenomena observed in our Universe are potential emitters of gravitational waves and high-energy cosmic radiation, including photons, hadrons, and presumably also neutrinos. Both gravitational waves (GW) and high-energy neutrinos (HEN) are cosmic

  4. High energy astrophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engel, A.R.

    1979-01-01

    High energy astrophysical research carried out at the Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London is reviewed. Work considered includes cosmic ray particle detection, x-ray astronomy, gamma-ray astronomy, gamma and x-ray bursts. (U.K.)

  5. The MIDAS telescope for microwave detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Amaral Soares, E.; Berlin, A.; Bogdan, M.; Boháčová, M.; Bonifazi, C.; Carvalho, W. R.; de Mello Neto, J. R. T.; Facal San Luis, P.; Genat, J. F.; Hollon, N.; Mills, E.; Monasor, M.; Privitera, P.; Ramos de Castro, A.; Reyes, L. C.; Richardson, M.; Rouille d'Orfeuil, B.; Santos, E. M.; Wayne, S.; Williams, C.; Zas, E.; Zhou, J.

    2013-08-01

    We present the design, implementation and data taking performance of the MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers (MIDAS) experiment, a large field of view imaging telescope designed to detect microwave radiation from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This novel technique may bring a tenfold increase in detector duty cycle when compared to the standard fluorescence technique based on detection of ultraviolet photons. The MIDAS telescope consists of a 4.5 m diameter dish with a 53-pixel receiver camera, instrumented with feed horns operating in the commercial extended C-Band (3.4-4.2 GHz). A self-trigger capability is implemented in the digital electronics. The main objectives of this first prototype of the MIDAS telescope - to validate the telescope design, and to demonstrate a large detector duty cycle - were successfully accomplished in a dedicated data taking run at the University of Chicago campus prior to installation at the Pierre Auger Observatory.

  6. 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.

  7. The high energy galaxy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cesarsky, C.J.

    1986-08-01

    The galaxy is host to a wide variety of high energy events. I review here recent results on large scale galactic phenomena: cosmic-ray origin and confinement, the connexion to ultra high energy gamma-ray emission from X-ray binaries, gamma ray and synchrotron emission in interstellar space, galactic soft and hard X-ray emission

  8. The energy spectrum of cosmic rays measured with the HEAT extension at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scharf, Nils Sven Sebastian

    2013-01-01

    This thesis describes the calculation of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays, that is the absolute flux of cosmic rays as a function of energy, from data of air showers observed with the HEAT (High Elevation Auger Telescopes) extension and the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest observatory for the study of cosmic rays. The Pierre Auger Observatory observes air showers, that are cascades of particles that were instigated by cosmic rays hitting the Earth's atmosphere, with two different detection concepts. The surface detector samples the secondary particles of air showers that hit the ground with an array of surface detector stations, whereas the fluorescence detector measures the energy loss profile of air showers by detecting fluorescence light, produced by the air showers when they travel through the atmosphere, with optical telescopes. The properties of the cosmic rays are not directly measurable but have to be reconstructed from the observed air shower parameters. Properties of particular interest are the type of the primary cosmic ray particle, its energy and its arrival direction. HEAT is an extension to the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. It is designed to lower the energy threshold by one order of magnitude down to 10 17 eV or lower. HEAT is taking data since 2010. The calculation of the absolute flux of cosmic rays needs two ingredients: the number of detected air showers as a function of shower energy and the exposure of the detector as a function of energy. The studied air shower class are hybrid events, which are events that have been detected by a fluorescence detector and at least one surface detector station. The used air showers were observed in a time period of fifteen month starting from June 2010. A first step of the analysis is the reconstruction of air showers and cosmic ray parameters from raw data. To calculate the exposure, the uptime, that is the integral

  9. Diffusion of cosmic rays at EeV energies in inhomogeneous extragalactic magnetic fields

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Batista, Rafael Alves; Sigl, Günter, E-mail: rafael.alves.batista@desy.de, E-mail: guenter.sigl@desy.de [II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg (Germany)

    2014-11-01

    Ultra-high energy cosmic rays can propagate diffusively in cosmic magnetic fields. When their propagation time is comparable to the age of the universe, a suppression in the flux relative to the case in the absence of magnetic fields will occur. In this work we find an approximate parametrization for this suppression for energies below ∼ Z EeV using several magnetic field distributions obtained from cosmological simulations of the magnetized cosmic web. We assume that the magnetic fields have a Kolmogorov power spectrum with the field strengths distributed according to these simulations. We show that, if magnetic fields are coupled to the matter distribution, low field strengths will fill most of the volume, making the suppression milder compared to the case of a constant magnetic field with strength equal to the mean value of this distribution. We also derive upper limits for this suppression to occur for some models of extragalactic magnetic fields, as a function of the coherence length of these fields.

  10. Solar panels as air Cherenkov detectors for extremely high energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cecchini, S.; D'Antone, I.; Degli Esposti, L.; Giacomelli, G.; Guerra, M.; Lax, I.; Mandrioli, G.; Parretta, A.; Sarno, A.; Schioppo, R.; Sorel, M.; Spurio, M.

    2000-01-01

    Increasing interest towards the observation of the highest energy cosmic rays has motivated the development of new detection techniques. The properties of the Cherenkov photon pulse emitted in the atmosphere by these very rare particles indicate low-cost semiconductor detectors as good candidates for their optical read-out. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the viability of solar panels for this purpose. The experimental framework resulting from measurements performed with suitably-designed solar cells and large conventional photovoltaic areas is presented. A discussion on the obtained and achievable sensitivities follows

  11. All-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum measured by the HAWC experiment from 10 to 500 TeV

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfaro, R.; Alvarez, C.; Álvarez, J. D.; Arceo, R.; Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.; Avila Rojas, D.; Ayala Solares, H. A.; Barber, A. S.; Becerril, A.; Belmont-Moreno, E.; BenZvi, S. Y.; Brisbois, C.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Capistrán, T.; Carramiñana, A.; Casanova, S.; Castillo, M.; Cotti, U.; Cotzomi, J.; Coutiño de León, S.; De León, C.; De la Fuente, E.; Diaz Hernandez, R.; Dichiara, S.; Dingus, B. L.; DuVernois, M. A.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Ellsworth, R. W.; Enriquez-Rivera, O.; Fiorino, D. W.; Fleischhack, H.; Fraija, N.; García-González, J. A.; González Muñoz, A.; González, M. M.; Goodman, J. A.; Hampel-Arias, Z.; Harding, J. P.; Hernandez-Almada, A.; Hinton, J.; Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, F.; Hui, C. M.; Hüntemeyer, P.; Iriarte, A.; Jardin-Blicq, A.; Joshi, V.; Kaufmann, S.; Lara, A.; Lauer, R. J.; Lennarz, D.; León Vargas, H.; Linnemann, J. T.; Longinotti, A. L.; Luis Raya, G.; Luna-García, R.; López-Cámara, D.; López-Coto, R.; Malone, K.; Marinelli, S. S.; Martinez, O.; Martinez-Castellanos, I.; Martínez-Castro, J.; Martínez-Huerta, H.; Matthews, J. A.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P.; Moreno, E.; Mostafá, M.; Nellen, L.; Newbold, M.; Nisa, M. U.; Noriega-Papaqui, R.; Pelayo, R.; Pretz, J.; Pérez-Pérez, E. G.; Ren, Z.; Rho, C. D.; Rivière, C.; Rosa-González, D.; Rosenberg, M.; Ruiz-Velasco, E.; Salesa Greus, F.; Sandoval, A.; Schneider, M.; Schoorlemmer, H.; Sinnis, G.; Smith, A. J.; Springer, R. W.; Surajbali, P.; Taboada, I.; Tibolla, O.; Tollefson, K.; Torres, I.; Ukwatta, T. N.; Villaseñor, L.; Weisgarber, T.; Westerhoff, S.; Wood, J.; Yapici, T.; Zepeda, A.; Zhou, H.; HAWC Collaboration

    2017-12-01

    We report on the measurement of the all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory in the energy range 10 to 500 TeV. HAWC is a ground-based air-shower array deployed on the slopes of Volcan Sierra Negra in the state of Puebla, Mexico, and is sensitive to gamma rays and cosmic rays at TeV energies. The data used in this work were taken over 234 days between June 2016 and February 2017. The primary cosmic-ray energy is determined with a maximum likelihood approach using the particle density as a function of distance to the shower core. Introducing quality cuts to isolate events with shower cores landing on the array, the reconstructed energy distribution is unfolded iteratively. The measured all-particle spectrum is consistent with a broken power law with an index of -2.49 ±0.01 prior to a break at (45.7 ±0.1 ) TeV , followed by an index of -2.71 ±0.01 . The spectrum also represents a single measurement that spans the energy range between direct detection and ground-based experiments. As a verification of the detector response, the energy scale and angular resolution are validated by observation of the cosmic ray Moon shadow's dependence on energy.

  12. 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)

  13. The influence of the observatory latitude on the study of ultra high energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anjos, Rita C. dos [Departamento de Engenharias e Exatas, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Pioneiro, 2153, Palotina, PR, 85950-000 Brazil (Brazil); De Souza, Vitor [Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, CP 369, São Carlos, SP, 13560-970 Brazil (Brazil); De Almeida, Rogerio M. [EEIMVR, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Volta Redonda, RJ (Brazil); Santos, Edivaldo M., E-mail: ritacassia@ufpr.br, E-mail: vitor@ifsc.usp.br, E-mail: rmenezes@id.uff.br, E-mail: emoura@if.usp.br [Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão trav. R 187, São Paulo, 05508-090 Brazil (Brazil)

    2017-07-01

    Recent precision measurements of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) arrival directions, spectrum and parameters related to the mass of the primary particle have been done by the HiRes, Pierre Auger and Telescope Array (TA) Observatories. In this paper, distributions of arrival directions of events in the nearby Universe are assumed to correlate with sources in the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS), IRAS 1.2 Jy Survey, Palermo Swift-BAT and Swift-BAT catalogs, and the effect of the latitude of the observatory on the measurement of the energy spectrum and on the capability of measuring anisotropy is studied. The differences between given latitudes on the northern and southern hemispheres are quantified. It is shown that the latitude of the observatory: a) has an influence on the total flux measured and b) imposes an important limitation on the capability of measuring an anisotropic sky.

  14. 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)

  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. ROLE OF LINE-OF-SIGHT COSMIC-RAY INTERACTIONS IN FORMING THE SPECTRA OF DISTANT BLAZARS IN TeV GAMMA RAYS AND HIGH-ENERGY NEUTRINOS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Essey, Warren; Kusenko, Alexander; Kalashev, Oleg; Beacom, John F.

    2011-01-01

    Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can produce both gamma rays and cosmic rays. The observed high-energy gamma-ray signals from distant blazars may be dominated by secondary gamma rays produced along the line of sight by the interactions of cosmic-ray protons with background photons. This explains the surprisingly low attenuation observed for distant blazars, because the production of secondary gamma rays occurs, on average, much closer to Earth than the distance to the source. Thus, the observed spectrum in the TeV range does not depend on the intrinsic gamma-ray spectrum, while it depends on the output of the source in cosmic rays. We apply this hypothesis to a number of sources and, in every case, we obtain an excellent fit, strengthening the interpretation of the observed spectra as being due to secondary gamma rays. We explore the ramifications of this interpretation for limits on the extragalactic background light and for the production of cosmic rays in AGNs. We also make predictions for the neutrino signals, which can help probe the acceleration of cosmic rays in AGNs.

  18. Receiver system for radio observation of high-energy cosmic ray air showers and its behaviour in self trigger mode

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kroemer, Oliver

    2008-04-01

    The observation of high-energy cosmic rays is carried out by indirect measurements. Thereby the primary cosmic particle enters into the earth's atmosphere and generates a cosmic ray air shower by interactions with the air molecules. The secondary particles arriving at ground level are detected with particle detector arrays. The fluorescence light from the exited nitrogen molecules along the shower axis is observed with reflector telescopes in the near-ultraviolet range. In addition to these well-established detection methods, the radio observation of the geosynchrotron emission from cosmic ray air showers is investigated at present as a new observation method. Geosynchrotron emission is generated by the acceleration of the relativistic electron-positron-pairs contained in the air shower by Lorentz forces in the earth's magnetic field. At ground level this causes a single pulse of the electric field strength with a continuous frequency spectrum ranging from a few MHz to above 100 MHz. In this work, a suitable receiver concept is developed based on the signal properties of the geosynchrotron emission and the analysis of the superposed noise and radio frequency interferences. As the required receiver system was not commercially available, it was designed in the framework of this work and realised as system including the antenna, the receiver electronics and suitable data acquisition equipment. In this concept considerations for a large scale radio detector array have already been taken into account, like low power consumption to enable solar power supply and cost effectiveness. The result is a calibrated, multi-channel, digital wideband receiver for the complete range from 40 MHz to 80 MHz. Its inherent noise and RFI suppression essentially results from the antenna directional characteristic and frequency selectivity and allows effective radio observation of cosmic ray air showers also in populated environment. Several units of this receiver station have been deployed

  19. Study of the composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory and analysis of the associated hadronic mechanisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garrido, X.

    2008-01-01

    Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), i.e. E ≥ 1 EeV, raise many questions about their origin and constitute a challenge to modern physics. These cosmic rays entering the atmosphere dissipate their huge energy by generating a shower of secondary particles whose development is significantly different depending on the nature of the primaries. The study of the composition of UHECR is therefore a major interest both in understanding the hadronic processes which govern the evolution of showers and in identifying the sources of this radiation. Given its hybrid structure and the size of its unmatched network of ground detectors, the Pierre Auger Observatory can provide clear answers to the issues raised by UHECR. In this thesis, we are particularly interested in the muon component of air showers. First, we show how the hadronic parameters define the production of muons. Then we present an original method to extract this muon component and deduce the implications on the composition of UHECR. The results of this approach suggest a transition from a heavy composition to a light one when the energy increases. Finally, we address the measurement of cosmic-air cross section and present the first results derived from the Pierre Auger Observatory data. (author)

  20. 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.

  1. LEAP [Low-Energy Antiproton]: A balloon-borne search for low-energy cosmic-ray antiprotons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moats, A.R.M.

    1989-01-01

    The LEAP (Low-Energy Antiproton) experiment is a search for cosmic-ray antiprotons in the 120 MeV to 1.2 GeV kinetic energy range. The motivation for this project was the result announced by Buffington et. al. (1981) that indicated an anomalously high antiproton flux below 300 MeV; this result has compelled theorists to propose sources of primary antiprotons above the small secondary antiproton flux produced by high energy cosmic-ray collisions with nuclei in the interstellar medium. LEAP consisted of the NMSU magnetic spectrometer, a time-of-flight system designed at Goddard Space Flight Center, two scintillation detectors, and a Cherenkov counter designed and built at the University of Arizona. Analysis of flight data performed by the high-energy astrophysics group at Goddard Space Flight Center revealed no antiproton candidates found in the 120 MeV to 360 MeV range; 3 possible antiproton candidate events were found in the 500 MeV to 1.2 GeV range in an analysis done here at the University of Arizona. However, since it will be necessary to sharpen the calibration on all of the LEAP systems in order to positively identify these events as antiprotons, only an upper limit has been determined at present. Thus, combining the analyses performed at the University of Arizona and Goddard Space Flight Center, 90% confidence upper limits of 3.5 x 10 -5 in the 120 MeV to 360 MeV range and 2.3 x 10 -4 in the 500 MeV to 1.2 GeV range for the antiproton/proton ratio is indicated by the LEAP results. LEAP disagrees sharply with the results of the Buffington group, indicating a low antiproton flux at these energies

  2. 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)

  3. Cosmic strings and galaxy formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertschinger, E.

    1989-01-01

    Cosmic strings have become increasingly popular candidates as seeds for the formation of structure in the universe. This scenario, remains a serious cosmogonical model despite close scrutiny. In constrast, magnetic monopoles and domain walls - relic topological defects as are cosmic strings - are disastrous for cosmology if they are left over from the early universe. The production of heavy cosmic strings is speculative, as it depends on the details of ultrahigh energy physics. Fortunately, speculation about cosmic strings is not entirely idle because, if they exist and are heavy enough to seed galaxy formation, cosmic strings can be detected astronomically. Failure to detect cosmic strings would impose some constraints on grand unified theories (GUTs); their discovery would have exciting consequences for high energy physics and cosmology. This article reviews the basic physics of nonsuperconducting cosmic strings, highlighting the field theory aspects, and provides a progress report on calculations of structure formation with cosmic strings

  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. The Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum and Related Measurements with the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abraham, : J.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Aguirre, C.; Ahn, E.J.; Allard, D.; Allekotte, I.; Allen, J.; Alvarez-Muniz, J.; Ambrosio, M.; Anchordoqui, L.

    2009-06-01

    These are presentations to be presented at the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, in Lodz, Poland during July 2009. It consists of the following presentations: (1) Measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum above 10{sup 18} eV with the Pierre Auger Observatory; (2) The cosmic ray flux observed at zenith angles larger than 60 degrees with the Pierre Auger Observatory; (3) Energy calibration of data recorded with the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory; (4) Exposure of the Hybrid Detector of The Pierre Auger Observatory; and (5) Energy scale derived from Fluorescence Telescopes using Cherenkov Light and Shower Universality.

  7. 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...

  8. Evolution of matter and energy on a cosmic and planetary scale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taube, M.

    1985-01-01

    This book covers the following topics: matter and energy; the interplay of elementary particles and elementary forces; the universe; how is it observed here and now; its past and possible future; the origin and nuclear evolution of matter; chemical evolution and the evolution of life; the cosmic phenomena; the eternal cycle of matter on the earth; the flow of energy on the earth; the biosphere; the coupling of matter and the flow of free energy; is the future development of mankind on this planet possible, and the distant future of mankind: terrestrial or cosmic

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. The Large Scale Structure of the Galactic Magnetic Field and High Energy Cosmic Ray Anisotropy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alvarez-Muniz, Jaime [Department de Fisica de PartIculas, University de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago, SPAIN (Spain); Stanev, Todor [Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 (United States)

    2006-10-15

    Measurements of the magnetic field in our Galaxy are complex and usually difficult to interpret. A spiral regular field in the disk is favored by observations, however the number of field reversals is still under debate. Measurements of the parity of the field across the Galactic plane are also very difficult due to the presence of the disk field itself. In this work we demonstrate that cosmic ray protons in the energy range 10{sup 18} to 10{sup 19}eV, if accelerated near the center of the Galaxy, are sensitive to the large scale structure of the Galactic Magnetic Field (GMF). In particular if the field is of even parity, and the spiral field is bi-symmetric (BSS), ultra high energy protons will predominantly come from the Southern Galactic hemisphere, and predominantly from the Northern Galactic hemisphere if the field is of even parity and axi-symmetric (ASS). There is no sensitivity to the BSS or ASS configurations if the field is of odd parity.

  12. Energy spectra and charge composition of galactic cosmic rays measured in ATIC-2 experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zatsepin, V.I.; Bat'kov, K.E.; Bashindzhagyan, G.L.

    2004-01-01

    The ATIC (Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter) balloon experiment is intended for measuring the energy spectra of the galactic cosmic rays with the individual resolution by the charge from protons to iron within the energy range from 50 GeV up to 100 TeV. The silicon detector matrix, making it possible to solve on the inverse current by means of the detector charge high segmentation, was applied for the first time in the high-energy cosmic rays for the charge measurement. The ATIC completed two successful flights in the Antarctica since 28.12.2000 up to 13.01.2001 (the ATIC-1 test flight) and since 29.12.2002 up to 18.01.2003 (the ATIC-2 scientific flight). The current state of the analysis of the spectra, measured in the ATIC-2 scientific flight, are presented in this work and the obtained results are compared with the model forecasts results [ru

  13. Growth of Cosmic Structure: Probing Dark Energy Beyond Expansion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huterer, Dragan; Kirkby, David; Bean, Rachel; Connolly, Andrew; Dawson, Kyle; Dodelson, Scott; Evrard, August; Jain, Bhuvnesh; Jarvis, Michael; Linder, Eric; Mandelbaum, Rachel; May, Morgan; Raccanelli, Alvise; Reid, Beth; Rozo, Eduardo; Schmidt, Fabian; Sehgal, Neelima; Slosar, Anze; Van Engelen, Alex; Wu, Hao-Yi; Zhao, Gongbo

    2014-01-01

    The quantity and quality of cosmic structure observations have greatly accelerated in recent years, and further leaps forward will be facilitated by imminent projects. These will enable us to map the evolution of dark and baryonic matter density fluctuations over cosmic history. The way that these fluctuations vary over space and time is sensitive to several pieces of fundamental physics: the primordial perturbations generated by GUT-scale physics; neutrino masses and interactions; the nature of dark matter and dark energy. We focus on the last of these here: the ways that combining probes of growth with those of the cosmic expansion such as distance-redshift relations will pin down the mechanism driving the acceleration of the Universe

  14. Cosmic antimatter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tarle, G.; Swordy, S.

    1998-01-01

    In 1928 Paul Dirac forecasted the existence of antimatter and 4 years later Carl Anderson detected the first antiparticle: the positron in a cloud chamber while studying cosmic radiation. Antiprotons were more difficult to find but in 1955 physicists from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory got some in a particle accelerator. In 1995 a team from the CERN synthesized atoms of anti-hydrogen by binding positrons to antiprotons in a particle accelerator. Astrophysicists have built more and more complex detectors to study cosmic rays. The detector HEAT (high energy antimatter telescope) has been designed to study positrons above the atmosphere. This detector has been launched for the first time in 1994 and has measured cosmic radiation for 32 hours at an altitude of 37000 meters. The results were challenging: whereas the number of low energy positrons detected agrees with the theory, the number of high energy positrons is too important. It suggests the existence of unknown sources of positrons somewhere in the universe. The massive particles that interact weakly (WIMP) could be such sources. This article draws the history of the quest for antimatter and its implications in cosmology, the detector HEAT is described. (A.C.)

  15. The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons measured with H.E.S.S

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Egberts, Kathrin

    2009-01-01

    The spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons has so far been measured using balloon and satellite-based instruments. At TeV energies, however, the sensitivity of such instruments is very limited due to the low flux of electrons at very high energies and small detection areas of balloon/satellite based experiments. The very large collection area of ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes gives them a substantial advantage over balloon/ satellite based instruments when detecting very-high-energy electrons (> 300 GeV). By analysing data taken by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), this work extends the known electron spectrum up to 4 TeV - a range that is not accessible to direct measurements. However, in contrast to direct measurements, imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes such as H.E.S.S. detect air showers that cosmic-ray electrons initiate in the atmosphere rather than the primary particle. Thus, the main challenge is to differentiate between air showers initiated by electrons and those initiated by the hadronic background. A new analysis technique was developed that determines the background with the support of the machine-learning algorithm Random Forest. It is shown that this analysis technique can also be applied in other areas such as the analysis of diffuse γ rays from the Galactic plane. (orig.)

  16. The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons measured with H.E.S.S.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Egberts, Kathrin

    2009-03-30

    The spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons has so far been measured using balloon and satellite-based instruments. At TeV energies, however, the sensitivity of such instruments is very limited due to the low flux of electrons at very high energies and small detection areas of balloon/satellite based experiments. The very large collection area of ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes gives them a substantial advantage over balloon/ satellite based instruments when detecting very-high-energy electrons (> 300 GeV). By analysing data taken by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), this work extends the known electron spectrum up to 4 TeV - a range that is not accessible to direct measurements. However, in contrast to direct measurements, imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes such as H.E.S.S. detect air showers that cosmic-ray electrons initiate in the atmosphere rather than the primary particle. Thus, the main challenge is to differentiate between air showers initiated by electrons and those initiated by the hadronic background. A new analysis technique was developed that determines the background with the support of the machine-learning algorithm Random Forest. It is shown that this analysis technique can also be applied in other areas such as the analysis of diffuse {gamma} rays from the Galactic plane. (orig.)

  17. Ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, C.T.; Schramm, D.N.

    1985-01-01

    We analyze the evolution of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray spectrum upon traversing the 2.7 0 K microwave background with respect to pion photoproduction, pair-production reactions, and cosmological effects. Our approach employs exact transport equations which manifestly conserve nucleon number and embody the laboratory details of these reactions. A spectrum enhancement appears around 6 x 10 19 eV due to the ''pile-up'' of energy-degraded nucleons, and a ''dip'' occurs around 10 19 eV due to combined effects. Both of these features appear in the observational spectrum. We analyze the resulting neutrino spectrum and the effects of cosmological source distributions. We present a complete model of the ultrahigh-energy spectrum and anisotropy in reasonable agreement with observation and which predicts an observable electron-neutrino spectrum

  18. The galactic magnetic field and propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Prouza, Michael; Šmída, Radomír

    2003-01-01

    Roč. 410, - (2003), s. 1-10 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA1010928; GA MŠk LN00A006; GA MŠk LA 134 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1010920 Keywords : cosmic rays * magnetic fields * Galaxy Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 3.843, year: 2003

  19. 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.

  20. Detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic radiation at the Pierre Auger Observatory, theoretical study of its propagation through extragalactic space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allard, D.

    2004-10-01

    The Pierre Auger observatory's main aim is to observe the ultra-energetic cosmic ray spectrum with high statistics. Indeed, the spectrum around 10 20 eV is so far only poorly known, due to low statistics and the expected GZK (Gneisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin) cut-off is for the time being not clearly observed. The first part will deal with propagation of charged (protons and nuclei) ultra-energetic cosmic rays in the extragalactic medium. We will investigate the influence of physical parameters, such as the composition of cosmic ray fluxes, on the highest energy spectrum shape. The influence of the turbulent extragalactic magnetic fields on the spectrum of the clusters will also be studied. We will also investigate the possibility to observe gamma ray bursts with the Pierre Auger Observatory by using the single particle technique. We will show how galactic gamma ray bursts could become a persistent and quasi-isotropic source due to the 'Compton trail' induced by Compton scattering of the primary photon beam in the interstellar medium. In the section devoted to simulations, we will develop methods to reconstruct air showers and identify primary cosmic rays. We will also study the aperture of the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger observatory. Finally, we will use the methods developed in the previous chapters to analyze the data of the year 2004 and will give preliminary results. (author)

  1. 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.

  2. Cosmic microwave background distortions at high frequencies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peter, W.; Peratt, A.L.

    1988-01-01

    The authors analyze the deviation of the cosmic background radiation spectrum from the 2.76+-0.02 0 Κ blackbody curve. If the cosmic background radiation is due to absorption and re-emission of synchrotron radiation from galactic-width current filaments, higher-order synchrotron modes are less thermalized than lower-order modes, causing a distortion of the blackbody curve at higher frequencies. New observations of the microwave background spectrum at short wavelengths should provide an indication of the number of synchrotron modes thermalized in this process. The deviation of the spectrum from that of a perfect blackbody can thus be correlated with astronomical observations such as filament temperatures and electron energies. The results are discussed and compared with the theoretical predictions of other models which assume the presence of intergalactic superconducting cosmic strings

  3. 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

  4. Particle spectra and mass composition in the ultra-high energy region in the framework of the Galactic origin of cosmic rays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lagutin A.A.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The possibility for a self-consistent description of all the basic features of the observed cosmic ray spectra and primary composition variations in the energy range of 1015 ÷ 1020 eV within the Galactic origin scenario is examined. We assume the existence of Galactic sources that accelerate particles up to ∼ 3 · 1018Z eV and take into account a highly inhomogeneous (fractal-like distribution of matter and magnetic fields in the Galaxy that leads to extremely large free paths of particles (“Lévy flights”, along with an overwhelming contribution to the cosmic ray fluxes observed above ∼1018 eV from particles reaching the Solar System without scattering. Our scenario was refined on the basis of recent experimental results on primary mass composition. Model predictions, which could be verified with the improved high-precision measurements in the nearest future are discussed.

  5. High energy dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruhm, W.

    2010-01-01

    Full text: Currently, quantification of doses from high-energy radiation fields is a topical issue. This is so because high-energy neutrons play an important role for radiation exposure of air crew members and personnel outside the shielding of ion therapy facilities. In an effort to study air crew exposure from cosmic radiation in detail, two Bonner Sphere Spectrometers (BSSs) have recently been installed to measure secondary neutrons from cosmic radiation, one at the environmental research station 'Schneefernerhaus' at an altitude of 2650 m on the Zugspitze mountain, Germany, the other at the Koldewey station close to the North Pole on Spitsbergen. Based on the measured neutron fluence distributions and on fluence-to-dose conversion coefficients, mean ambient dose equivalent rate values of 75.0 ± 2.9 nSv/h and 8.7 ± 0.6 nSv/h were obtained for October 2008, respectively. Neutrons with energies above about 20 MeV contribute about 50% to dose, at 2650 m. Ambient dose equivalent rates measured by means of a standard rem counter and an extended rem counter at the Schneefernerhaus confirm this result. In order to study the response of state-of-the-art radiation instrumentation in such a high-energy radiation field, a benchmark exercise that included both measurements in and simulation of the stray neutron radiation field at the high-energy particle accelerator at GSI, Germany, were performed. This CONRAD (COordinated Network for RAdiation Dosimetry) project was funded by the European Commission, and the organizational framework was provided by the European Radiation Dosimetry Group, EURADOS. The Monte Carlo simulations of the radiation field and the experimental determination of the neutron spectra with various Bonner Sphere Spectrometers suggest the neutron fluence distributions to be very similar to those of secondary neutrons from cosmic radiation. The results of this intercomparison exercise in terms of ambient dose equivalent are also discussed

  6. Role of fluctuations in the primary energy estimation of cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kempa, J.; Malecki, R.

    2008-01-01

    Energy spectrum and chemical composition of primary cosmic ray for energies higher than 1 PeV are obtained mainly from research on the intensity and properties of extensive air showers (EAS). Similar additional information is obtained from research on properties of gamma ray families. A common characteristic of these researches is the fact that we are working in the range of high fluctuation parameters serving us to obtain primary energy spectrum. In this research different probability distributions have been used as well as their convolutions with the power spectrum. The role of the influence of different parameters on measurements of the primary energy spectrum

  7. Cosmic Accelerators: An Introduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanbach, Gottfried

    2005-01-01

    High energy, relativistic, particles are an essential component of the Universe and play a major role in astrophysics. In a few years we will reach the centennial of the discovery of cosmic rays; all through this century the properties, origin, and effects of this radiation have intrigued researchers in astrophysics and elementary particles alike. We briefly review the history, current status, and future perspectives of cosmic ray research. Emphasis will be placed on the multitude of cosmic accelerators, direct observations of these objects, and the effects of cosmic rays in the Galaxy and beyond

  8. Development of an Interferometric Phased Array Trigger for Balloon-Borne Detection of the Highest Energy Cosmic Particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieregg, Abigail

    Through high energy neutrino astrophysics, we explore the structure and evolution of the universe in a unique way and learn about the physics inside of astrophysical sources that drives the acceleration of the highest energy particles. Neutrinos travel virtually unimpeded through the universe, making them unique messenger particles for cosmic sources and carrying information about very distant sources that would otherwise be unavailable. The highest energy neutrinos (E>10^{18} eV), created as a by-product of the interaction of the highest energy cosmic rays with the cosmic microwave background, are an important tool for determining the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays and still await discovery. Balloon-borne and ground-based experiments are poised to discover these ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmogenic neutrinos by looking for radio emission from two different types of neutrino interactions: particle cascades induced by neutrinos in glacial ice, and extensive air showers in the atmosphere induced by the charged-particle by-product of tau neutrinos interacting in the earth. These impulsive radio detectors are also sensitive to radio emission from extensive air showers induced directly by UHE cosmic rays. Balloon-borne experiments are especially well-suited for discovering the highest energy neutrinos, and are the only way to probe the high energy cutoff of the sources themselves to reveal the astrophysics that drives the central engines inside the most energetic accelerators in the universe. Balloon platforms offer the chance to monitor extremely large volumes of ice and atmosphere, but with a higher energy threshold compared to ground-based observatories, since the neutrino interaction happens farther from the detector. This tradeoff means that the sensitivity of balloon-borne experiments, such as the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) or the ExaVolt Antenna, is optimized for discovery of the highest energy neutrinos. We are developing an

  9. Search for patterns by combining cosmic-ray energy and arrival directions at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aab, A.; Buchholz, P.; Erfani, M.; Froehlich, U.; Heimann, P.; Niechciol, M.; Ochilo, L.; Risse, M.; Tepe, A.; Yushkov, A.; Ziolkowski, M.; Abreu, P.; Andringa, S.; Assis, P.; Brogueira, P.; Cazon, L.; Conceicao, R.; Diogo, F.; Espadanal, J.; Goncalves, P.; Oliveira, M.; Pimenta, M.; Santo, C.E.; Sarmento, R.; Tome, B.; Aglietta, M.; Bertaina, M.E.; Bonino, R.; Castellina, A.; Chiavassa, A.; Gorgi, A.; Latronico, L.; Maldera, S.; Morello, C.; Navarra, G.; Ahn, E.J.; Fazzini, N.; Glass, H.; Hojvat, C.; Kasper, P.; Lebrun, P.; Mantsch, P.; Mazur, P.O.; Al Samarai, I.; Deligny, O.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; Martraire, D.; Salamida, F.; Suomijaervi, T.; Albuquerque, I.F.M.; Gouffon, P.; Santos, E.M.; Allekotte, I.; Asorey, H.; Bertou, X.; Berisso, M.G.; Harari, D.; Mollerach, S.; Purrello, V.; Roulet, E.; Sidelnik, I.; Taborda, O.A.; Allen, J.; Awal, N.; Farrar, G.; Zaw, I.; Allison, P.; Beatty, J.J.; Gordon, J.; Griffith, N.; Stapleton, J.; Sutherland, M.S.; Almela, A.; Etchegoyen, A.; Wainberg, O.; Castillo, J.A.; D'Olivo, J.C.; Medina-Tanco, G.; Nellen, L.; Galicia, J.F.V.; Vargas Cardenas, B.; Alvarez-Muniz, J.; Ave, M.; Roca, S.T.G.; Agueera, A.L.; Parente, G.; Parra, A.; Carvalho, W.R. de; Cabo, I.R.; Elipe, G.T.; Tueros, M.; Valino, I.; Vazquez, R.A.; Zas, E.; Batista, R.A.; Schiffer, P.; Sigl, G.; Vliet, A. van; Ambrosio, M.; Aramo, C.; Buscemi, M.; Cilmo, M.; Colalillo, R.; Guarino, F.; Valore, L.; Aminaei, A.; Buitink, S.; Schulz, J.; Aar, G. van; Velzen, S. van; Wykes, S.; Anchordoqui, L.; Aranda, V.M.; Arqueros, F.; Garcia-Pinto, D.; Minaya, I.A.; Rosado, J.; Vazquez, J.R.; Aublin, J.; Billoir, P.; Blanco, M.; Caccianiga, L.; Gaior, R.; Ghia, P.L.; Letessier-Selvon, A.; Muenchmeyer, M.; Settimo, M.; Avenier, M.; Berat, C.; Le Coz, S.; Lebrun, D.; Louedec, K.; Montanet, F.; Stutz, A.; Tartare, M.; Avila, G.; Vitale, P.F.G.; Badescu, A.M.; Fratu, O.; Barber, K.B.; Bellido, J.A.; Blaess, S.; Clay, R.W.; Cooper, M.J.; Dawson, B.R.; Grubb, T.D.; Harrison, T.A.; Hill, G.C.; Malacari, M.; Nguyen, P.; Saffi, S.J.; Sorokin, J.; Bodegom, P. van; Baeuml, J.; Baus, C.; Fuchs, B.; Gonzalez, J.G.; Huber, D.; Kambeitz, O.; Katkov, I.; Link, K.; Ludwig, M.; Maurel, D.; Melissas, M.; Palmieri, N.; Werner, F.; Becker, K.H.; Homola, P.; Jandt, I.; Kaeaepae, A.; Kampert, K.H.; Krohm, N.; Kruppke-Hansen, D.; Mathys, S.; Neuser, J.; Niemietz, L.; Papenbreer, P.; Querchfeld, S.; Rautenberg, J.; Sarkar, B.; Winchen, T.; Wittkowski, D.; Biermann, P.L.; Caramete, L.; Curutiu, A.; Bleve, C.; Cataldi, G.; Cocciolo, G.; Coluccia, M.R.; De Mitri, I.; Marsella, G.; Martello, D.; Perrone, L.; Scherini, V.

    2015-01-01

    Energy-dependent patterns in the arrival directions of cosmic rays are searched for using data of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We investigate local regions around the highest-energy cosmic rays with E ≥ 6 x 10 19 eV by analyzing cosmic rays with energies above E ≥ 5 x 10 18 eVarriving within an angular separation of approximately 15 circle . We characterize the energy distributions inside these regions by two independent methods, one searching for angular dependence of energy-energy correlations and one searching for collimation of energy along the local system of principal axes of the energy distribution. No significant patterns are found with this analysis. The comparison of these measurements with astrophysical scenarios can therefore be used to obtain constraints on related model parameters such as strength of cosmic-ray deflection and density of point sources. (orig.)

  10. LEAP: A balloon-borne search for low-energy cosmic ray antiprotons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moats, Anne Rosalie Myers

    The LEAP (Low Energy Antiproton) experiment is a search for cosmic ray antiprotons in the 120 MeV to 1.2 GeV kinetic energy range. The motivation for this project was the result announced by Buffington et al. (1981) that indicated an anomalously high antiproton flux below 300 MeV; this result has compelled theorists to propose sources of primary antiprotons above the small secondary antiproton flux produced by high energy cosmic ray collisions with nuclei in the interstellar medium. LEAP consisted of the NMSU magnet spectrometer, a time-of-flight system designed at NASA-Goddard, two scintillation detectors, and a Cherenkov counter. Analysis of flight data performed by the high energy astrophysics group at Goddard Space Flight Center revealed no antiproton candidates found in the 120 MeV to 360 MeV range; 3 possible antiproton candidate events were found in the 500 MeV to 1.2 GeV range in an analysis done here at the University of Arizona. However, since it will be necessary to sharpen the calibration on all of the LEAP systems in order to positively identify these events as antiprotons, only an upper limit has been determined at present. Thus, combining the analyses performed at the University of Arizona and NASA-Goddard, 90 percent confidence upper limits of 3.5 x 10-5 in the 120 MeV to 360 MeV range and 2.3 x 10-4 in the 500 MeV to 1.2 GeV range for the antiproton/proton ratio is indicated by the LEAP results. LEAP disagrees sharply with the results of the Buffington group, indicating a low antiproton flux at these energies. Thus, a purely secondary antiproton flux may be adequate at low energies.

  11. Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays with the 26 station configuration of the IceTop detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kislat, Fabian

    2011-01-01

    IceTop is an instrument at the geographic South Pole designed to detect cosmic ray air showers, particle cascades in the atmosphere initiated by high-energy cosmic rays. It is the surface component of the IceCube neutrino telescope. Since its completion in December 2010, IceTop consists of 81 detector stations covering an area of one square kilometer on the ice surface above IceCube. Each IceTop station consists of two ice-filled tanks in which the Cherenkov light emitted by charged air shower particles is measured. In this dissertation, an analysis of data taken in 2007 with 26 IceTop stations operational at that time is presented. First, properties of air showers like core position, direction and shower size were reconstructed from the measured signals. The core position can be determined to an accuracy of up to 6m and a direction resolution of up to 0.3 is achieved. The shower size is a measure of the energy of the primary particle and a resolution of up to 10% is achieved at high energies. In the next step the relation between primary energy and shower size, as well as resolution and efficiency are determined from Monte Carlo simulations of air showers and the IceTop detector. Here, an assumption was made about the chemical composition of cosmic rays. The informations obtained in these simulations are then used to unfold the spectrum of measured shower sizes in order to obtain the all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum. This is done independently for particles from three different zenith angle intervals. The result of the unfolding depends on the assumed primary composition. Due to the isotropy of cosmic rays, results obtained in different zenith angle intervals must agree. While with the chosen analysis technique a simultaneous determination of primary particle mass and energy is limited due to systematic uncertainties, it has already been shown that the requirement of isotropy can be used to constrain the range of possible assumptions on the chemical

  12. Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays with the 26 station configuration of the IceTop detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kislat, Fabian

    2011-09-27

    IceTop is an instrument at the geographic South Pole designed to detect cosmic ray air showers, particle cascades in the atmosphere initiated by high-energy cosmic rays. It is the surface component of the IceCube neutrino telescope. Since its completion in December 2010, IceTop consists of 81 detector stations covering an area of one square kilometer on the ice surface above IceCube. Each IceTop station consists of two ice-filled tanks in which the Cherenkov light emitted by charged air shower particles is measured. In this dissertation, an analysis of data taken in 2007 with 26 IceTop stations operational at that time is presented. First, properties of air showers like core position, direction and shower size were reconstructed from the measured signals. The core position can be determined to an accuracy of up to 6m and a direction resolution of up to 0.3 is achieved. The shower size is a measure of the energy of the primary particle and a resolution of up to 10% is achieved at high energies. In the next step the relation between primary energy and shower size, as well as resolution and efficiency are determined from Monte Carlo simulations of air showers and the IceTop detector. Here, an assumption was made about the chemical composition of cosmic rays. The informations obtained in these simulations are then used to unfold the spectrum of measured shower sizes in order to obtain the all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum. This is done independently for particles from three different zenith angle intervals. The result of the unfolding depends on the assumed primary composition. Due to the isotropy of cosmic rays, results obtained in different zenith angle intervals must agree. While with the chosen analysis technique a simultaneous determination of primary particle mass and energy is limited due to systematic uncertainties, it has already been shown that the requirement of isotropy can be used to constrain the range of possible assumptions on the chemical

  13. Tethered balloons for radio detection of ultra high energy cosmic neutrinos in Antarctica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Besson, D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045, KS (United States); Dagkesamanskii, R.; Kravchenko, E. [Radio Astronomy Observatory LPI RAS, Pushchino 142290, Moscow Region (Russian Federation); Kravchenko, I., E-mail: ikrav@cern.ch [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 68588, NE (United States); Zheleznykh, I. [Institute for Nuclear Research RAS, Moscow 117312 (Russian Federation)

    2012-01-11

    We present a brief overview of experimental efforts in Antarctica to search for radio pulses from electron-hadron cascades produced by cosmic ultrahigh-energy neutrinos in Antarctic ice. Thus far, the essential features (energy thresholds, effective recording volumes, etc.) of Antarctic neutrino radio experiments can be classified according to the deployment scheme employed: either (1) on the surface of the glacier - RAMAND-type, (2) in holes in the ice at depths of several hundred meters - RICE-type or (3) on board of a stratospheric balloon at an altitude of 40 km - ANITA-type. We herein propose an alternative possibility, namely to use tethered balloons for placing the radio antennas at modest (compared to ANITA) altitudes above the ice surface (1-2 km). This configuration of antennas will reduce (as compared to ANITA) the energy threshold for detection of neutrinos and increase the observation time.

  14. Tethered balloons for radio detection of ultra high energy cosmic neutrinos in Antarctica

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Besson, D.; Dagkesamanskii, R.; Kravchenko, E.; Kravchenko, I.; Zheleznykh, I.

    2012-01-01

    We present a brief overview of experimental efforts in Antarctica to search for radio pulses from electron-hadron cascades produced by cosmic ultrahigh-energy neutrinos in Antarctic ice. Thus far, the essential features (energy thresholds, effective recording volumes, etc.) of Antarctic neutrino radio experiments can be classified according to the deployment scheme employed: either (1) on the surface of the glacier - RAMAND-type, (2) in holes in the ice at depths of several hundred meters - RICE-type or (3) on board of a stratospheric balloon at an altitude of 40 km - ANITA-type. We herein propose an alternative possibility, namely to use tethered balloons for placing the radio antennas at modest (compared to ANITA) altitudes above the ice surface (1-2 km). This configuration of antennas will reduce (as compared to ANITA) the energy threshold for detection of neutrinos and increase the observation time.

  15. Large scale distribution of ultra high energy cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger observatory with zenith angles up to 80°

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Ebr, Jan; Mandát, Dušan; Nečesal, Petr; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovánek, Petr; Trávníček, Petr; Vícha, Jakub

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 802, č. 2 (2015), s. 111 ISSN 0004-637X R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13007; GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : astroparticle physics * cosmic rays Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 5.909, year: 2015

  16. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays: analysis of extensive air showers and their associated electromagnetic signal in the MHz domain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Revenu, B.

    2012-01-01

    In this HDR (accreditation to supervise research) report, the author proposes a review of the present results in the field of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. After a presentation of some results about the Fermi mechanism to accelerate cosmic rays, the author more particularly addresses the reconstruction of air showers, and the search for sources. He also addresses the radio signal emitted by air shower secondary positrons and electrons. He proposes an overview of the present knowledge on the basis of present experiments. Data show that the electric field is mainly due to the influence of the Earth magnetic field which acts on electrons and positrons, but more recently, the contribution due to electrons in excess seems to appear in data. The author reports the last advances in the field of simulation of the electric field, with notably the prediction of new signal produced by the disappearance of the air shower during its absorption by the soil [fr

  17. Search for patterns by combining cosmic-ray energy and arrival directions at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aab, A.; Buchholz, P.; Erfani, M.; Froehlich, U.; Heimann, P.; Niechciol, M.; Ochilo, L.; Risse, M.; Tepe, A.; Yushkov, A.; Ziolkowski, M. [Universitaet Siegen, Siegen (Germany); Abreu, P.; Andringa, S.; Assis, P.; Brogueira, P.; Cazon, L.; Conceicao, R.; Diogo, F.; Espadanal, J.; Goncalves, P.; Oliveira, M.; Pimenta, M.; Santo, C.E.; Sarmento, R.; Tome, B. [Universidade de Lisboa - UL, Laboratorio de Instrumentacao e Fisica Experimental de Particulas - LIP and Instituto Superior Tecnico - IST, Lisbon (Portugal); Aglietta, M.; Bertaina, M.E.; Bonino, R.; Castellina, A.; Chiavassa, A.; Gorgi, A.; Latronico, L.; Maldera, S.; Morello, C.; Navarra, G. [Universita di Torino, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (INAF), Torino (Italy); INFN, Torino (Italy); Ahn, E.J.; Fazzini, N.; Glass, H.; Hojvat, C.; Kasper, P.; Lebrun, P.; Mantsch, P.; Mazur, P.O. [Fermilab, Batavia, IL (United States); Al Samarai, I.; Deligny, O.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; Martraire, D.; Salamida, F.; Suomijaervi, T. [Universite Paris 11, CNRS-IN2P3, Institut de Physique Nucleaire d' Orsay (IPNO), Orsay (France); Albuquerque, I.F.M.; Gouffon, P.; Santos, E.M. [Universidade de Sao Paulo, Instituto de Fisica, Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Allekotte, I.; Asorey, H.; Bertou, X.; Berisso, M.G.; Harari, D.; Mollerach, S.; Purrello, V.; Roulet, E.; Sidelnik, I.; Taborda, O.A. [Centro Atomico Bariloche and Instituto Balseiro (CNEA-UNCuyo-CONICET), San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina); Allen, J.; Awal, N.; Farrar, G.; Zaw, I. [New York University, New York, NY (United States); Allison, P.; Beatty, J.J.; Gordon, J.; Griffith, N.; Stapleton, J.; Sutherland, M.S. [Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States); Almela, A.; Etchegoyen, A.; Wainberg, O. [Instituto de Tecnologias en Deteccion y Astroparticulas (CNEA, CONICET, UNSAM), Buenos Aires (Argentina); Universidad Tecnologica Nacional - Facultad Regional Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Castillo, J.A.; D' Olivo, J.C.; Medina-Tanco, G.; Nellen, L.; Galicia, J.F.V.; Vargas Cardenas, B. [Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, D.F. (Mexico); Alvarez-Muniz, J.; Ave, M.; Roca, S.T.G.; Agueera, A.L.; Parente, G.; Parra, A.; Carvalho, W.R. de; Cabo, I.R.; Elipe, G.T.; Tueros, M.; Valino, I.; Vazquez, R.A.; Zas, E. [Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Batista, R.A.; Schiffer, P.; Sigl, G.; Vliet, A. van [Universitaet Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany); Ambrosio, M.; Aramo, C.; Buscemi, M.; Cilmo, M.; Colalillo, R.; Guarino, F.; Valore, L. [Universita di Napoli ' ' Federico II' ' , Napoli (Italy); INFN, Napoli (Italy); Aminaei, A.; Buitink, S.; Schulz, J.; Aar, G. van; Velzen, S. van; Wykes, S. [IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Anchordoqui, L. [City University of New York, Department of Physics and Astronomy, New York (United States); Aranda, V.M.; Arqueros, F.; Garcia-Pinto, D.; Minaya, I.A.; Rosado, J.; Vazquez, J.R. [Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid (Spain); Aublin, J.; Billoir, P.; Blanco, M.; Caccianiga, L.; Gaior, R.; Ghia, P.L.; Letessier-Selvon, A.; Muenchmeyer, M.; Settimo, M. [Universites Paris 6 et Paris 7, CNRS-IN2P3, Laboratoire de Physique Nucleaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), Paris (France); Avenier, M.; Berat, C.; Le Coz, S.; Lebrun, D.; Louedec, K.; Montanet, F.; Stutz, A.; Tartare, M. [Universite Grenoble-Alpes, CNRS/IN2P3, Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), Grenoble (France); Avila, G.; Vitale, P.F.G. [Observatorio Pierre Auger and Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, Malarguee (Argentina); Badescu, A.M.; Fratu, O. [University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest (Romania); Barber, K.B.; Bellido, J.A.; Blaess, S.; Clay, R.W.; Cooper, M.J.; Dawson, B.R.; Grubb, T.D.; Harrison, T.A.; Hill, G.C.; Malacari, M.; Nguyen, P.; Saffi, S.J.; Sorokin, J.; Bodegom, P. van [University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA (Australia); Baeuml, J.; Baus, C.; Fuchs, B.; Gonzalez, J.G.; Huber, D.; Kambeitz, O.; Katkov, I.; Link, K.; Ludwig, M.; Maurel, D.; Melissas, M.; Palmieri, N.; Werner, F. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Campus South - Institut fuer Experimentelle, Kernphysik (IEKP), Karlsruhe (Germany); Becker, K.H.; Homola, P.; Jandt, I.; Kaeaepae, A.; Kampert, K.H.; Krohm, N.; Kruppke-Hansen, D.; Mathys, S.; Neuser, J.; Niemietz, L.; Papenbreer, P.; Querchfeld, S.; Rautenberg, J.; Sarkar, B.; Winchen, T.; Wittkowski, D. [Bergische Universitaet Wuppertal, Wuppertal (Germany); Biermann, P.L.; Caramete, L.; Curutiu, A. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn (Germany); Bleve, C.; Cataldi, G.; Cocciolo, G.; Coluccia, M.R.; De Mitri, I.; Marsella, G.; Martello, D.; Perrone, L.; Scherini, V. [Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica ' ' E. De Giorgi' ' , Universita del Salento, Lecce (Italy); INFN, Lecce (Italy); and others

    2015-06-15

    Energy-dependent patterns in the arrival directions of cosmic rays are searched for using data of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We investigate local regions around the highest-energy cosmic rays with E ≥ 6 x 10{sup 19} eV by analyzing cosmic rays with energies above E ≥ 5 x 10{sup 18} eVarriving within an angular separation of approximately 15 {sup circle}. We characterize the energy distributions inside these regions by two independent methods, one searching for angular dependence of energy-energy correlations and one searching for collimation of energy along the local system of principal axes of the energy distribution. No significant patterns are found with this analysis. The comparison of these measurements with astrophysical scenarios can therefore be used to obtain constraints on related model parameters such as strength of cosmic-ray deflection and density of point sources. (orig.)

  18. ΛGR Centennial: Cosmic Web in Dark Energy Background

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chernin, A. D.

    The basic building blocks of the Cosmic Web are groups and clusters of galaxies, super-clusters (pancakes) and filaments embedded in the universal dark energy background. The background produces antigravity, and the antigravity effect is strong in groups, clusters and superclusters. Antigravity is very weak in filaments where matter (dark matter and baryons) produces gravity dominating in the filament internal dynamics. Gravity-antigravity interplay on the large scales is a grandiose phenomenon predicted by ΛGR theory and seen in modern observations of the Cosmic Web.

  19. High energy emission of supernova sn 1987a. Cosmic rays acceleration in mixed shocks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lehoucq, Roland

    1992-01-01

    In its first part, this research thesis reports the study of the high energy emission of the sn 1987 supernova, based on a Monte Carlo simulation of the transfer of γ photons emitted during disintegration of radioactive elements (such as "5"6Ni, "5"6Co, "5"7Co and "4"4Ti) produced during the explosion. One of the studied problems is the late evolution (beyond 1200 days) of light curvature which is very different when it is powered by the radiation of a central object or by radioactivity. The second part reports the study of acceleration of cosmic rays in two-fluid shock waves in order to understand the different asymmetries noticed in hot spots of extragalactic radio-sources. This work comprises the resolution of structure equations of a shock made of a conventional fluid and a relativistic one, in presence or absence of a magnetic field [fr

  20. Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagataki, Shigehiro

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, simulation of propagation of UHE-protons from nearby galaxies is presented. We found good parameter sets to explain the arrival distribution of UHECRs reported by AGASA and energy spectrum reported by HiRes. Using a good parameter set, we demonstrated how the distribution of arrival direction of UHECRs will be as a function of event numbers. We showed clearly that 1000-10000 events are necessary to see the clear source distribution. We also showed that effects of interactions and trapping of UHE-Nuclei in a galaxy cluster are very important. Especially, when a UHECR source is a bursting source such as GRB/AGN flare, heavy UHE-Nuclei are trapped for a long time in the galaxy cluster, which changes the spectrum and chemical composition of UHECRs coming from the galaxy cluster. We also showed that such effects can be also important when there have been sources of UHE-Nuclei in Milky Way. Since light nuclei escape from Milky Way in a short timescale, the chemical composition of UHECRs observed at the Earth can be heavy at high-energy range. Finally, we showed how much high-energy neutrinos are produced in GRBs. Since GRB neutrinos do not suffer from magnetic field bending, detection of high-energy neutrinos are very important to identify sources of UHECRs. Especially, for the case of GRBs, high-energy neutrinos arrive at the earth with gamma-rays simultaneously, which is very strong feature to identify the sources of UHECRs.

  1. Propagation and sky distribution of ultra-high energy cosmic rays; Propagation et distribution sur le ciel des rayons cosmiques d'ultra-haute energie dans le cadre de l'Observatoire Pierre Auger

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Armengaud, E

    2006-05-15

    The origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays remains an enigma of modern physics, which the Pierre Auger Observatory, a detector with a hybrid detection mode and an unprecedented size, will try to solve. The direct observation of the sources of those particles, or of large-scale structures in the sky associated to the sources, is one of the main goals of the observatory. Such observations should also allow to constrain cosmic ray propagation between their sources and the Earth, which is complicated by interactions with low-energy photon backgrounds and deflections in astrophysical magnetic fields. This thesis is made of two parts, in order to observe and simulate the sources of cosmic rays within the Auger Observatory. We begin with an extensive description of the Pierre Auger Observatory, and study the acceptance of its surface detector in order to build accurate sky exposure maps, an essential tool in order to study anisotropies. Then we present methods to search for anisotropies in the sky, and analyze the first two years of Auger data. After a description of the phenomena that can influence the propagation and observation of ultrahigh energy cosmic ray sources, we present numerical simulations aiming at predicting observables such as the spectrum, anisotropies and composition measurable by Auger as a function of various astrophysical models. We show that extragalactic magnetic fields can play a crucial role in particular if cosmic rays are partly heavy nuclei. Finally, we show that the propagation of these particles from a nearby source generates secondary fluxes of gamma-rays that could be detected by TeV gamma-ray telescopes. (author)

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. High energy neutrinos: sources and fluxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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

    2006-05-15

    We discuss briefly the potential sources of high energy astrophysical neutrinos and show estimates of the neutrino fluxes that they can produce. A special attention is paid to the connection between the highest energy cosmic rays and astrophysical neutrinos.

  5. New measurements and analysis of high-energy muons in cosmic ray extensive air showers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarkar, S.K.; Ghose, B.; Murkherjee, N.; Sanyal, S.; Chaudhuri, N.; Chhetri, R.; Basak, D.K.

    1991-01-01

    Cosmic ray air shower structure measurements and measurement of density and energy of air shower muons of a wide energy range simultaneously in individual air showers by two magnet spectrographs are presented. The measured muon densities have been used to compare with some of the previous measurements on muon densities in air showers of nearly the same size. The measured muon densities have also been applied for distinguishing between various interaction models and between light and heavier air shower primaries. In the air shower size range 10 4 -10 6 particles the present measurements do not provide evidence for iron primaries and the different interaction models seem not to be distinguishable by air shower observations. (Author)

  6. [Experimental and theoretical high energy physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boulware, D.

    1988-01-01

    We are carrying out a research program in high energy experimental particle physics. Studies of high energy hadronic interactions and leptoproduction processes continue using several experimental techniques. Progress has been made on the study of multiparticle production processes in nuclei. Ultra-high energy cosmic ray nucleus-nucleus interactions have been investigated by the Japanese American Cosmic Emulsion Experiment (JACEE) using balloon-borne emulsion chamber detectors. In the area of particle astrophysics, our studies of cosmic ray nuclear interactions have enabled us to make the world's most accurate determination of the composition of the cosmic rays above 10 13 eV. We have the only detector that can observe interaction vertices and identify particles at energies up to 10--15 eV. Our observations are getting close to placing limits on the acceleration mechanisms postulated for pulsars in which the spin and magnetic moment axes are at different angles. In June, 1989 approval was given by NASA for our participation in the Space Station program. The SCINATT experiment will make use of emulsion chamber detectors, similar to the planned JACEE hybrid balloon flight detectors. These detectors will permit precise determination of secondary particle charges, momenta and rapidities, and the accumulation of data will be at least a factor of 10 to 100 greater than in balloon experiments. Emulsion chamber techniques are also employed in an experiment using accelerator heavy ion beams at CERN and Brookhaven National Laboratory to investigate particle production processes in central collisions of nuclei in the energy range 15--200A GeV. Our study of hadroproduction in lepton interactions is continuing with approval of another 8 months run for deep inelastic muon scattering experiment E665 at Fermilab

  7. High energy neutrinos from astrophysical accelerators of cosmic ray nuclei

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anchordoqui, Luis A.; Hooper, Dan; Sarkar, Subir; Taylor, Andrew M.

    2008-02-01

    Ongoing experimental efforts to detect cosmic sources of high energy neutrinos are guided by the expectation that astrophysical accelerators of cosmic ray protons would also generate neutrinos through interactions with ambient matter and/or photons. However, there will be a reduction in the predicted neutrino flux if cosmic ray sources accelerate not only protons but also significant numbers of heavier nuclei, as is indicated by recent air shower data. We consider plausible extragalactic sources such as active galactic nuclei, gamma ray bursts and starburst galaxies and demand consistency with the observed cosmic ray composition and energy spectrum at Earth after allowing for propagation through intergalactic radiation fields. This allows us to calculate the expected neutrino fluxes from the sources, normalized to the observed cosmic ray spectrum. We find that the likely signals are still within reach of next generation neutrino telescopes such as IceCube.PACS95.85.Ry98.70.Rz98.54.Cm98.54.EpReferencesFor a review, see:F.HalzenD.HooperRep. Prog. Phys.6520021025A.AchterbergIceCube CollaborationPhys. Rev. Lett.972006221101A.AchterbergIceCube CollaborationAstropart. Phys.262006282arXiv:astro-ph/0611063arXiv:astro-ph/0702265V.NiessANTARES CollaborationAIP Conf. Proc.8672006217I.KravchenkoPhys. Rev. D732006082002S.W.BarwickANITA CollaborationPhys. Rev. Lett.962006171101V.Van ElewyckPierre Auger CollaborationAIP Conf. Proc.8092006187For a survey of possible sources and event rates in km3 detectors see e.g.,W.BednarekG.F.BurgioT.MontaruliNew Astron. Rev.4920051M.D.KistlerJ.F.BeacomPhys. Rev. D742006063007A. Kappes, J. Hinton, C. Stegmann, F.A. Aharonian, arXiv:astro-ph/0607286.A.LevinsonE.WaxmanPhys. Rev. Lett.872001171101C.DistefanoD.GuettaE.WaxmanA.LevinsonAstrophys. J.5752002378F.A.AharonianL.A.AnchordoquiD.KhangulyanT.MontaruliJ. Phys. Conf. Ser.392006408J.Alvarez-MunizF.HalzenAstrophys. J.5762002L33F.VissaniAstropart. Phys.262006310F

  8. OBSERVATIONS OF HIGH-ENERGY COSMIC-RAY ELECTRONS FROM 30 GeV TO 3 TeV WITH EMULSION CHAMBERS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kobayashi, T. [Department of Physics and Mathematics, Aoyama Gakuin University, Sagamihara 252-5258 (Japan); Komori, Y. [Faculty of Health and Social Services, Kanagawa University of Human Services, Yokosuka 238-0013 (Japan); Yoshida, K.; Yanagisawa, K. [College of Systems Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Saitama 337-8570 (Japan); Nishimura, J.; Yamagami, T.; Saito, Y. [Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara 229-8510 (Japan); Tateyama, N. [Faculty of Engineering, Kanagawa University, Yokohama 221-8686 (Japan); Yuda, T. [Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8582 (Japan); Wilkes, R. J., E-mail: tadasik-112850@jasper.dti.ne.jp, E-mail: komori-y@kuhs.ac.jp, E-mail: yoshida@shibaura-it.ac.jp, E-mail: nisimura@icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp, E-mail: tateyama@n.kanagawa-u.ac.jp, E-mail: yuda@icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp, E-mail: wilkes@u.washington.edu [Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1560 (United States)

    2012-12-01

    We have performed a series of cosmic-ray electron observations using balloon-borne emulsion chambers since 1968. While we previously reported the results from subsets of the exposures, the final results of the total exposures up to 2001 are presented here. Our successive experiments have yielded a total exposure of 8.19 m{sup 2} sr day at altitudes of 4.0-9.4 g cm{sup -2}. The performance of the emulsion chambers was examined by accelerator beam tests and Monte Carlo simulations, and the on-board calibrations were carried out by using the flight data. In this work, we present the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range from 30 GeV to 3 TeV at the top of the atmosphere, which is well represented by a power-law function with an index of -3.28 {+-} 0.10. The observed data can also be interpreted in terms of diffusive propagation models. The evidence of cosmic-ray electrons up to 3 TeV suggests the existence of cosmic-ray electron sources at distances within {approx}1 kpc and times within {approx}1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 5} yr ago.

  9. 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

  10. Cosmic rays Monte Carlo simulations for the Extreme Energy Events Project

    CERN Document Server

    Abbrescia, M; Aiola, S; Antolini, R; Avanzini, C; Baldini Ferroli, R; Bencivenni, G; Bossini, E; Bressan, E; Chiavassa, A; Cicalò, C; Cifarelli, L; Coccia, E; De Gruttola, D; De Pasquale, S; Di Giovanni, A; D'Incecco, M; Dreucci, M; Fabbri, F L; Frolov, V; Garbini, M; Gemme, G; Gnesi, I; Gustavino, C; Hatzifotiadou, D; La Rocca, P; Li, S; Librizzi, F; Maggiora, A; Massai, M; Miozzi, S; Panareo, M; Paoletti, R; Perasso, L; Pilo, F; Piragino, G; Regano, A; Riggi, F; Righini, G C; Sartorelli, G; Scapparone, E; Scribano, A; Selvi, M; Serci, S; Siddi, E; Spandre, G; Squarcia, S; Taiuti, M; Tosello, F; Votano, L; Williams, M C S; Yánez, G; Zichichi, A; Zuyeuski, R

    2014-01-01

    The Extreme Energy Events Project (EEE Project) is an innovative experiment to study very high energy cosmic rays by means of the detection of the associated air shower muon component. It consists of a network of tracking detectors installed inside Italian High Schools. Each tracking detector, called EEE telescope, is composed of three Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs). At present, 43 telescopes are installed and taking data, opening the way for the detection of far away coincidences over a total area of about 3 × 10 5 km 2 . In this paper we present the Monte Carlo simulations that have been performed to predict the expected coincidence rate between distant EEE telescopes.

  11. IceCube constraints on fast-spinning pulsars as high-energy neutrino sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fang, Ke [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742 (United States); Kotera, Kumiko [Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095 – CNRS, Université Pierre $ and $ Marie Curie, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014, Paris (France); Murase, Kohta [Department of Physics, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Center for Particle and Gravitational Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, PA 16802 (United States); Olinto, Angela V., E-mail: kefang@umd.edu, E-mail: kotera@iap.fr, E-mail: murase@psu.edu, E-mail: olinto@kicp.uchicago.edu [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)

    2016-04-01

    Relativistic winds of fast-spinning pulsars have been proposed as a potential site for cosmic-ray acceleration from very high energies (VHE) to ultrahigh energies (UHE). We re-examine conditions for high-energy neutrino production, considering the interaction of accelerated particles with baryons of the expanding supernova ejecta and the radiation fields in the wind nebula. We make use of the current IceCube sensitivity in diffusive high-energy neutrino background, in order to constrain the parameter space of the most extreme neutron stars as sources of VHE and UHE cosmic rays. We demonstrate that the current non-observation of 10{sup 18} eV neutrinos put stringent constraints on the pulsar scenario. For a given model, birthrates, ejecta mass and acceleration efficiency of the magnetar sources can be constrained. When we assume a proton cosmic ray composition and spherical supernovae ejecta, we find that the IceCube limits almost exclude their significant contribution to the observed UHE cosmic-ray flux. Furthermore, we consider scenarios where a fraction of cosmic rays can escape from jet-like structures piercing the ejecta, without significant interactions. Such scenarios would enable the production of UHE cosmic rays and help remove the tension between their EeV neutrino production and the observational data.

  12. Study of high muon multiplicity cosmic ray events with ALICE at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

    CERN Document Server

    Rodriguez Cahuantzi, Mario

    2015-01-01

    ALICE is one of four large experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Located 52 meters undergroundwith 28meters of overburden rock, it has also been used to detect atmosphericmuons produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the upper atmosphere. We present the muon multiplicity distribution of these cosmic-ray events and their comparison with Monte Carlo simulation. This analysis exploits the large size and excellent tracking capability of the ALICE Time Projection Chamber. A special emphasis is given to the study of high multiplicity events containing more than 100 reconstructed muons and corresponding to a muon areal density larger than 5.9 m$^{−2}$. The measured rate of these events shows that they stem from primary cosmic-rays with energies above 10$^{16}$ eV. The frequency of these events can be successfully described by assuming a heavy mass composition of primary cosmic-rays in this energy range and using the most recent hadronic interaction models to simulate the development of the resulting air sh...

  13. High-energy neutrino background: Limitations on models of deuterium production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eichler, D.

    1979-01-01

    It is pointed out that Epstein's model for deuterium production via high-energy spallation reactions produces high-energy neutrinos in sufficient quantity to stand out above those that are produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the Earth's atmosphere. That the Reines experiment detected neutrinos of atmospheric origin without detecting any cosmic component restricts deuterium production by spallation reactions to very high redshifts (z> or approx. =300). Improved neutrino experiments may be able to push these limits back to recombination

  14. Cosmic neutrinos as a probe of TeV-scale physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahlers, M.

    2007-02-15

    Ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos are versatile probes of astrophysics, astronomy, and particle physics. They represent the messengers of hadronic processes in cosmic accelerators and survive the propagation through the interstellar medium practically unscathed. We investigate the neutrino fluxes associated with optically thin proton sources which provide a diagnostic of the transition between galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays. The center of mass energies in collisions of these cosmic neutrinos with atomic nuclei in the atmosphere or the Earth's interior easily exceed those so far reached in man-made accelerators. We discuss the prospects of observing supersymmetric neutrino interactions with Cherenkov telescopes and speculate about a neutrino component in extremely high energy cosmic rays from exotic interactions in the atmosphere. (orig.)

  15. Large scale anisotropy studies of ultra high energy cosmic rays using data taken with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grigat, Marius

    2011-06-10

    The distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays is remarkably uniform over the complete spectrum of energies. At large angular scales only tiny deviations from isotropy have been observed and huge statistics are required to quantify the corresponding amplitudes. The measurement of cosmic rays with energies above 10{sup 15} eV is only feasible with large, earthbound observatories: The cosmic ray primary particles initiate cascades of secondary particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Every aspect of the development of these air showers down to the measurement of the resulting particles at ground level needs to be well understood and controlled in order to precisely reconstruct the properties of the primary particle. The development of air showers is subject to systematic distortions caused by the magnetic field of the Earth. Both this and other local effects are capable of inducing false anisotropy into the distribution of arrival directions. In this thesis, the effect of the geomagnetic field on the energy measurement is modelled and quantified; consequently, a correction of the energy estimator is derived. Furthermore, a method is introduced to fit dipolar patterns to the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays as observed from the field of view of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. After correcting for all relevant local effects the method is applied to data and the parameters of a potentially underlying dipole are determined and evaluated. (orig.)

  16. Large scale anisotropy studies of ultra high energy cosmic rays using data taken with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grigat, Marius

    2011-06-10

    The distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays is remarkably uniform over the complete spectrum of energies. At large angular scales only tiny deviations from isotropy have been observed and huge statistics are required to quantify the corresponding amplitudes. The measurement of cosmic rays with energies above 10{sup 15} eV is only feasible with large, earthbound observatories: The cosmic ray primary particles initiate cascades of secondary particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Every aspect of the development of these air showers down to the measurement of the resulting particles at ground level needs to be well understood and controlled in order to precisely reconstruct the properties of the primary particle. The development of air showers is subject to systematic distortions caused by the magnetic field of the Earth. Both this and other local effects are capable of inducing false anisotropy into the distribution of arrival directions. In this thesis, the effect of the geomagnetic field on the energy measurement is modelled and quantified; consequently, a correction of the energy estimator is derived. Furthermore, a method is introduced to fit dipolar patterns to the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays as observed from the field of view of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. After correcting for all relevant local effects the method is applied to data and the parameters of a potentially underlying dipole are determined and evaluated. (orig.)

  17. Large scale anisotropy studies of ultra high energy cosmic rays using data taken with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grigat, Marius

    2011-01-01

    The distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays is remarkably uniform over the complete spectrum of energies. At large angular scales only tiny deviations from isotropy have been observed and huge statistics are required to quantify the corresponding amplitudes. The measurement of cosmic rays with energies above 10 15 eV is only feasible with large, earthbound observatories: The cosmic ray primary particles initiate cascades of secondary particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Every aspect of the development of these air showers down to the measurement of the resulting particles at ground level needs to be well understood and controlled in order to precisely reconstruct the properties of the primary particle. The development of air showers is subject to systematic distortions caused by the magnetic field of the Earth. Both this and other local effects are capable of inducing false anisotropy into the distribution of arrival directions. In this thesis, the effect of the geomagnetic field on the energy measurement is modelled and quantified; consequently, a correction of the energy estimator is derived. Furthermore, a method is introduced to fit dipolar patterns to the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays as observed from the field of view of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. After correcting for all relevant local effects the method is applied to data and the parameters of a potentially underlying dipole are determined and evaluated. (orig.)

  18. Influence of the atmosphere on the space detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moreggia, S.

    2007-06-01

    EUSO (Extreme Universe Space Observatory) is a project of ultra-high energy (> 10 20 eV) cosmic rays detection from space. Its concept relies on the observation of fluorescence and Cerenkov photons emitted by extensive air showers from a telescope located on the International Space Station. A simulation software has been developed to study the characteristics of this innovative concept of detection. It deals with the different steps of the detection chain: extensive air shower development, emission of fluorescence and Cerenkov light, and radiative transfer to the telescope. A Monte-Carlo code has been implemented to simulate the propagation of photons through the atmosphere, dealing with multiple scattering in clear sky conditions as well as in presence of aerosols and clouds. With this simulation program, the impact of atmospheric conditions on the performance of a space-located detector has been studied. The precise treatment of photons propagation through the atmosphere has permitted to quantify the scattered light contribution to the detected signal. (author)

  19. 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

  20. Dark energy and the cosmic microwave background radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodelson, S.; Knox, L.

    2000-01-01

    We find that current cosmic microwave background anisotropy data strongly constrain the mean spatial curvature of the Universe to be near zero, or, equivalently, the total energy density to be near critical-as predicted by inflation. This result is robust to editing of data sets, and variation of other cosmological parameters (totaling seven, including a cosmological constant). Other lines of argument indicate that the energy density of nonrelativistic matter is much less than critical. Together, these results are evidence, independent of supernovae data, for dark energy in the Universe.

  1. Very high energy emission sources beyond the Galaxy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinitsyna V.G.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN are considered as potential extragalactic sources of very and ultra high energy cosmic rays. According to theoretical predictions cosmic ray acceleration can take place at the shock created by the expanding cocoons around active galactic nuclei as well as at AGN jets. The measurements of AGN TeV spectra, the variability time scale of TeV emission can provide essential information on the dynamics of AGN jets, the localization of acceleration region and an estimation of its size. SHALON observations yielded data on extragalactic sources of different AGN types in the energy range of 800 GeV–100 TeV. The data from SHALON observations are compared with those from other experiments at high and very high energies.

  2. Fiber based hydrophones for ultra-high energy neutrino detection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buis, E.J.; Doppenberg, E.J.J.; Eijk, D. van; Lahmann, R.; Nieuwland, R.A.; Toet, P.M.

    2014-01-01

    It is a well studied process [1, 2] that energy deposition of cosmic ray particles in water that generate thermo-acoustic signals. Hydrophones of sufficient sensitivity could measure this signal and provide a means of detecting ultra-high energetic cosmic neutrinos. We investigate optical

  3. A composition dependent energy scale and the determination of the cosmic ray primary mass in the ankle region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Supanitsky, A. D.; Etchegoyen, A.; Melo, D.; Sanchez, F.

    2015-08-01

    At present there are still several open questions about the origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays. However, great progress in this area has been made in recent years due to the data collected by the present generation of ground based detectors like the Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array. In particular, it is believed that the study of the composition of the cosmic rays as a function of energy can play a fundamental role for the understanding of the origin of the cosmic rays. The observatories belonging to this generation are composed of arrays of surface detectors and fluorescence telescopes. The duty cycle of the fluorescence telescopes is ∼10% in contrast with the ∼100% of the surface detectors. Therefore, the energy calibration of the events observed by the surface detectors is performed by using a calibration curve obtained from a set of high quality events observed in coincidence by both types of detectors. The advantage of this method is that the reconstructed energy of the events observed by the surface detectors becomes almost independent of simulations of the showers because just a small part of the reconstructed energy (the missing energy), obtained from the fluorescence telescopes, comes from simulations. However, the calibration curve obtained in this way depends on the composition of the cosmic rays, which can introduce biases in composition analyses when parameters with a strong dependence on primary energy are considered. In this work we develop an analytical method to study these effects. We consider AMIGA (Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array), the low energy extension of the Pierre Auger Observatory corresponding to the surface detectors, to illustrate the use of the method. In particular, we study the biases introduced by an energy calibration dependent on composition on the determination of the mean value of the number of muons, at a given distance to the showers axis, which is one of the parameters most sensitive to

  4. The TUS Detector of Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays on Board the Lomonosov Satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klimov, P. A.; Panasyuk, M. I.; Khrenov, B. A.; Garipov, G. K.; Kalmykov, N. N.; Petrov, V. L.; Sharakin, S. A.; Shirokov, A. V.; Yashin, I. V.; Zotov, M. Y.; Biktemerova, S. V.; Grinyuk, A. A.; Grebenyuk, V. M.; Lavrova, M. V.; Tkachev, L. G.; Tkachenko, A. V.; Park, I. H.; Lee, J.; Jeong, S.; Martinez, O.; Salazar, H.; Ponce, E.; Saprykin, O. A.; Botvinko, A. A.; Senkovsky, A. N.; Puchkov, A. E.

    2017-11-01

    The origin and nature of extreme energy cosmic rays (EECRs), which have energies above the 5\\cdot10^{19} eV—the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) energy limit, is one of the most interesting and complicated problems in modern cosmic-ray physics. Existing ground-based detectors have helped to obtain remarkable results in studying cosmic rays before and after the GZK limit, but have also produced some contradictions in our understanding of cosmic ray mass composition. Moreover, each of these detectors covers only a part of the celestial sphere, which poses problems for studying the arrival directions of EECRs and identifying their sources. As a new generation of EECR space detectors, TUS (Tracking Ultraviolet Set-up), KLYPVE and JEM-EUSO, are intended to study the most energetic cosmic-ray particles, providing larger, uniform exposures of the entire celestial sphere. The TUS detector, launched on board the Lomonosov satellite on April 28, 2016 from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia, is the first of these. It employs a single-mirror optical system and a photomultiplier tube matrix as a photo-detector and will test the fluorescent method of measuring EECRs from space. Utilizing the Earth's atmosphere as a huge calorimeter, it is expected to detect EECRs with energies above 10^{20} eV. It will also be able to register slower atmospheric transient events: atmospheric fluorescence in electrical discharges of various types including precipitating electrons escaping the magnetosphere and from the radiation of meteors passing through the atmosphere. We describe the design of the TUS detector and present results of different ground-based tests and simulations.

  5. Efficient cold outflows driven by cosmic rays in high-redshift galaxies and their global effects on the IGM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samui, Saumyadip; Subramanian, Kandaswamy; Srianand, Raghunathan

    2018-05-01

    We present semi-analytical models of galactic outflows in high-redshift galaxies driven by both hot thermal gas and non-thermal cosmic rays. Thermal pressure alone may not sustain a large-scale outflow in low-mass galaxies (i.e. M ˜ 108 M⊙), in the presence of supernovae feedback with large mass loading. We show that inclusion of cosmic ray pressure allows outflow solutions even in these galaxies. In massive galaxies for the same energy efficiency, cosmic ray-driven winds can propagate to larger distances compared to pure thermally driven winds. On an average gas in the cosmic ray-driven winds has a lower temperature which could aid detecting it through absorption lines in the spectra of background sources. Using our constrained semi-analytical models of galaxy formation (that explains the observed ultraviolet luminosity functions of galaxies), we study the influence of cosmic ray-driven winds on the properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at different redshifts. In particular, we study the volume filling factor, average metallicity, cosmic ray and magnetic field energy densities for models invoking atomic cooled and molecular cooled haloes. We show that the cosmic rays in the IGM could have enough energy that can be transferred to the thermal gas in presence of magnetic fields to influence the thermal history of the IGM. The significant volume filling and resulting strength of IGM magnetic fields can also account for recent γ-ray observations of blazars.

  6. Isotopic composition of neon in the galactic cosmic rays: a high resolution measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greiner, D.E.; Wiedenbeck, M.E.; Bieser, F.S.; Crawford, H.J.; Heckman, H.H.; Lindstrom, P.J.

    1979-06-01

    A measurement of the isotopic composition of galactic cosmic ray neon in the energy range 70 to 260 MeV/amu has been made using the U.C. Berkeley HKH instrument aboard ISEE-3. A combination of high resolution and good statistical accuracy makes possible a precise determination of the local interplanetary neon composition. We find 22 Ne/ 20 Ne = 0.64 +- 0.07 and 21 Ne/ 20 Ne < 0.30 in local interplanetary space. These ratios, when interpreted in using standard galactic propagation and solar modulation models, yield cosmic ray source abundances which are inconsistent with a solar-like source composition

  7. Calculation of the TeV prompt muon component in very high energy cosmic ray showers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battistoni, G.; Bloise, C.; Forti, C.; Tanzini, A.

    1995-07-01

    HEMAS-DPM is a Monte Carlo for the simulation of very high energy cosmic ray showers, which includes the DPMJET-II code based on the two component Dual Parton Model. DPMJET-II provides also charm production in agreement with data and, for p exceeding 5 GeV/c, with perturbative QCD results in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions. In this respect, a new scheme has been considered for the inclusive production of D mesons at large p in hadronic collisions in the frame work of perturbative fragmentation functions, allowing an analysis at the NLO (next to leading order) level which goes beyond the fixed O(α s 3 ) perturbative theory of open charm production. HEMAS-DPM has been applied to the calculation of the prompt muon component for E μ ≥1 TeV in air showers considering the two extreme cases of primary protons and Fe nuclei

  8. On cosmic censor in high-energy particle collisions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miyamoto, Umpei, E-mail: umpei@rikkyo.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Rikkyo University, Tokyo 171-8501 (Japan)

    2011-09-22

    In the context of large extra-dimension or TeV-scale gravity scenarios, miniature black holes might be produced in collider experiments. In many works the validity of the cosmic censorship hypothesis has been assumed, which means that there is no chance to observe trans-Planckian phenomena in the experiments since such phenomena are veiled behind the horizons. Here, we argue that 'visible borders of spacetime' (as effective naked singularities) would be produced, even dominantly over the black holes, in the collider experiments. Such phenomena will provide us an arena of quantum gravity.

  9. Hardon cross sections at ultra high energies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yodh, G.B.

    1987-01-01

    A review of results on total hadronic cross sections at ultra high energies obtained from a study of longitudinal development of cosmic ray air showers is given. The experimental observations show that proton-air inelastic cross section increases from 275 mb to over 500 mb as the collision energy in the center of mass increases from 20 GeV to 20 TeV. The proton-air inelastic cross section, obtained from cosmic ray data at √s = 30 TeV, is compared with calculations using various different models for the energy variation of the parameters of the elementary proton-proton interaction. Three conclusions are derived

  10. The Cosmic Ray spectrum in the energy region between 1012 and 1016 eV measured by ARGO–YBJ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Montini Paolo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The ARGO-YBJ experiment has been in full and stable data taking at the Yangbajing cosmic ray observatory (Tibet, P.R. China, 4300 m a.s.l. for more than five years. The detector has been designed in order to explore the Cosmic Ray (CR spectrum in an energy range from few TeV up to several PeV. The high segmentation of the detector allows a detailed measurement of the lateral particle distribution which can be exploited on order to identify showers produced by primaries of different mass. The results of the measurement of the all-particle and proton plus helium energy spectra in the energy region between 1012 and 1016 eV are discussed.

  11. Results on the energy dependence of cosmic-ray charge composition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balasubrahmanyan, V. K.; Ormes, J. F.

    1973-01-01

    Results of measurements by a balloon-borne ionization spectrometer of the energy dependence of high-energy cosmic-ray charge composition. The results presented are greatly improved over those obtained earlier by Ormes et al. (1971) by the use of a multidimensional charge analysis with more efficient background rejection, and a more accurate energy determination. Complex couplings between the charge, energy, and trajectory information were taken into account and are discussed. The spectra of individual elements up to oxygen and of groups of nuclei up through iron were measured up to almost 100 GeV per nucleon. The energy spectrum of the secondary nuclei, B + N, is found to be steeper than that of the primary nuclei, C + O, in agreement with Smith et al. (1973). The most dramatic finding is that the spectrum of the iron nuclei is flatter than that of the carbon and oxygen nuclei by 0.57 plus or minus 0.14 of a power.

  12. 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)

  13. High and medium high energy lines in France. The SATURNE case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milleret, G.

    1994-01-01

    Located in the Paris area, the SATURNE accelerator produces high energy charged particles: protons, deuterons, helium 3, helium 4, neutrons. The beams, with very flexible characteristics (linear energy transfer, flexible environment, dimension and intensity) for simulation of cosmic particles or high energy accelerator environments, allow for testing various individual or complete components. The various commercial offers and prices are presented. 5 fig., 2 ref

  14. Big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background anisotropies and dark energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Signore, Monique; Puy, Denis

    2002-01-01

    Over the last decade, cosmological observations have attained a level of precision which allows for very detailed comparison with theoretical predictions. We are beginning to learn the answers to some fundamental questions, using information contained in Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy (CMBA) data. In this talk, we briefly review some studies of the current and prospected constraints imposed by CMBA measurements on the neutrino physics and on the dark energy. As it was already announced by Scott, we present some possible new physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)

  15. Cosmic censorship, area theorem, and self-energy of particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hod, Shahar

    2002-01-01

    The (zeroth-order) energy of a particle in the background of a black hole is given by Carter's integrals. However, exact calculations of a particle's self-energy (first-order corrections) are still beyond our present reach in many situations. In this paper we use Hawking's area theorem in order to derive bounds on the self-energy of a particle in the vicinity of a black hole. Furthermore, we show that self-energy corrections must be taken into account in order to guarantee the validity of Penrose's cosmic censorship conjecture

  16. Cosmic-ray muons as a calibration source for high-energy gamma-ray detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thoerngren Engblom, P.

    1990-09-01

    In this paper a measurement of the directional distribution of cosmic-ray muons, at the latitude of Stockholm, is reported. In fitting the measured flux to a simple analytical expression, the distribution was found to be symmetric around a line approximately to the northwest at 4.2±0.7 degrees from zenith. The east-west asymmetry amounted to a difference in the total intensity of 20±4% at the zenith angle of 45 degrees. The spectra of energies deposited by the muons in a BGO-detector orientated at different angles, are obtained through a Monte Carlo-simulation, where the muon distribution is used as a weight function for sampling muons in different directions. (author)

  17. Cosmic Ray Astrophysics using The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC Observatory in México

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    de la Fuente Eduardo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC TeV gamma–ray Observatory in México is ready to search and study gamma-ray emission regions, extremely high-energy cosmic-ray sources, and to identify transient phenomena. With a better Gamma/Hadron rejection method than other similar experiments, it will play a key role in triggering multi–wavelength and multi–messenger studies of active galaxies (AGN, gamma-ray bursts (GRB, supernova remnants (SNR, pulsar wind nebulae (PWN, Galactic Plane Sources, and Cosmic Ray Anisotropies. It has an instantaneous field-of-view of ∼2 str, equivalent to 15% of the whole sky and continuous operation (24 hours per day. The results obtained by HAWC–111 (111 detectors in operation were presented on the proceedings of the International Cosmic Ray Conference 2015 and in [1]. The results obtained by HAWC–300 (full operation are now under analysis and will be published in forthcoming papers starting in 2017 (see preliminary results on http://www.hawc-observatory.org/news/. Here we present the HAWC contributions on cosmic ray astrophysics via anisotropies studies, summarizing the HAWC detector and its upgrading by the installation of “outriggers”.

  18. Ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Results and status of the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peters, Christine [III. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University (Germany); Collaboration: Pierre-Auger-Collaboration

    2016-07-01

    The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest experiment detecting extensive air showers initiated by cosmic rays at the highest energies. An area of 3000 km{sup 2} is instrumented by 1660 water Cherenkov detector stations, and 27 fluorescence telescopes overlook the atmosphere above the surface detector array. A hybrid detection principle is achieved by utilizing information of both detectors. A major upgrade of the experiment (AugerPrime) has been decided adding a third detector type, scintillator detector stations located on the water Cherenkov tanks. Thereby, the composition sensitivity of the Pierre Auger Observatory is extended by an improved determination of the muonic shower component. Additionally, underground muon detectors (AMIGA) are deployed. The experiment has been further extended by antennas measuring the emission of radio signals from air showers (AERA). An overview about recent results and the current status of the experiment are given in this talk. Highlights are updated results, e.g. on the energy spectrum, chemical composition or proton-air cross section.

  19. The puzzle of the ankle in the Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Ray Spectrum, and composition indicators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrar, Glennys

    2015-08-01

    The sharp change in slope of the ultra-high energy cosmic ray spectrum around 10^18.6 eV (the ankle), combined with evidence of a light but extragalactic component near and below the ankle and intermediate composition above, has proved exceedingly challenging to understand theoretically. In this talk I discuss two possible solutions to the puzzle and how they can be (in)validated.First, I present a new mechanism whereby photo-disintegration of ultra-high energy nuclei in the region surrounding a UHECR accelerator naturally accounts for the observed spectrum and inferred composition (using LHC-tuned models extrapolated to UHE) at Earth. We discuss the conditions required to reproduce the spectrum above 10^17.5 eV and the composition, which -- in our model -- consists below the ankle of extragalactic protons and the high energy tail of Galactic Cosmic Rays, and above the ankle of surviving nuclei from the extended source. Predictions for the spectrum and flavors of neutrinos resulting from this process will be presented, and also implications for candidate sources.The other possible explanation is that in actuality UHECRs are entirely or almost entirely protons, and the cross-section for p-Air scattering increases more rapidly above center-of-mass energy of 70 TeV (10 times the current LHC cm energy) than predicted in conventional models. This gives an equally good fit to the depth-of-shower maximum behavior obverved by Auger, while being an intriguing sign of new state in QCD at extremely high energy density.

  20. The JEM-EUSO mission: a space observatory to study the origin of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bertaina, M. [Department of Physics, University of Torino and INFN, Torino (Italy); Parizot, E. [APC, Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Obs de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité (France)

    2014-11-15

    The Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) onboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EUSO) of the International Space Station (ISS) is an innovative space-based mission with the aim of detecting Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) from the ISS, by using the Earth's atmosphere as a calorimeter viewed by a fluorescence telescope. An observatory able to produce an arrival direction map with more than several hundreds events above 5 × 10{sup 19} eV would give important information on the origin of the UHECRs and identify structures in the sky map that contain information about the source density and/or distribution. This is likely to lead to an understanding of the acceleration mechanisms with a high potential for producing discoveries in astrophysics and/or fundamental physics. The scientific motivations of the mission as well as the current development status of the instrument and its performance are reviewed.

  1. The JEM-EUSO mission: a space observatory to study the origin of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertaina, M.; Parizot, E.

    2014-01-01

    The Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) onboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EUSO) of the International Space Station (ISS) is an innovative space-based mission with the aim of detecting Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) from the ISS, by using the Earth's atmosphere as a calorimeter viewed by a fluorescence telescope. An observatory able to produce an arrival direction map with more than several hundreds events above 5 × 10 19 eV would give important information on the origin of the UHECRs and identify structures in the sky map that contain information about the source density and/or distribution. This is likely to lead to an understanding of the acceleration mechanisms with a high potential for producing discoveries in astrophysics and/or fundamental physics. The scientific motivations of the mission as well as the current development status of the instrument and its performance are reviewed

  2. Systematic Studies of Cosmic-Ray Anisotropy and Energy Spectrum with IceCube and IceTop

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNally, Frank

    Anisotropy in the cosmic-ray arrival direction distribution has been well documented over a large energy range, but its origin remains largely a mystery. In the TeV to PeV energy range, the galactic magnetic field thoroughly scatters cosmic rays, but anisotropy at the part-per-mille level and smaller persists, potentially carrying information about nearby cosmic-ray accelerators and the galactic magnetic field. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory was the first detector to observe anisotropy at these energies in the Southern sky. This work uses 318 billion cosmic-ray induced muon events, collected between May 2009 and May 2015 from both the in-ice component of IceCube as well as the surface component, IceTop. The observed global anisotropy features large regions of relative excess and deficit, with amplitudes on the order of 10-3. While a decomposition of the arrival direction distribution into spherical harmonics shows that most of the power is contained in the low-multipole (ℓ ≤ 4) moments, higher-multipole components are found to be statistically significant down to an angular scale of less than 10°, approaching the angular resolution of the detector. Above 100TeV, a change in the topology of the arrival direction distribution is observed, and the anisotropy is characterized by a wide relative deficit whose amplitude increases with primary energy up to at least 5PeV, the highest energies currently accessible to IceCube with sufficient event statistics. No time dependence of the large- and small-scale structures is observed in the six-year period covered by this analysis within statistical and systematic uncertainties. Analysis of the energy spectrum and composition in the PeV energy range as a function of sky position is performed with IceTop data over a five-year period using a likelihood-based reconstruction. Both the energy spectrum and the composition distribution are found to be consistent with a single source population over declination bands. This work

  3. Energy estimation of cosmic rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Blažek, Jiří; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Ebr, Jan; Mandát, Dušan; Nečesal, Petr; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovánek, Petr; Trávníček, Petr; Vícha, Jakub

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 93, č. 12 (2016), 1-15, č. článku 122005. ISSN 2470-0010 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13007; GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : Pierre Auger Observatory * detector * cosmic rays * energy estimation Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 4.568, year: 2016

  4. 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...

  5. Heavy weak bosons, cosmic antimatter and DUMAND. 2: Looking for cosmic antimatter with DUMAND

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stecker, F. W.; Brown, R. W.

    1980-01-01

    Discussion of various means for using high energy neutrino astronomy to directly test for the existence of cosmic antimatter on a significant cosmological scale is presented. Studies of the ultrahigh energy diffuse neutrino background using acoustic detector and high mass Glashow resonances are reported. Point source studies are also discussed.

  6. High-transverse-momentum secondaries and rising total cross sections in cosmic-ray interactions

    CERN Document Server

    Cline, D; Luthe, J

    1973-01-01

    The authors draw attention to hadron collisions from cosmic-ray data showing evidence for high-transverse-momentum secondaries in substantial excess of the celebrated exponential cutoff, analogous to recent observations at the CERN intersecting storage rings. The data support a composite (parton/quark) picture of the proton in which deep inelastic proton collisions at high energy ( approximately 10/sup 3/ GeV) produce constituents, observed through hadron jets. This phenomenon is possibly connected to the rise of the total cross section observed in the same range of energy. (24 refs).

  7. Calibration of solid state nuclear track detectors at high energy ion beams for cosmic radiation measurements: HAMLET results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabó, J.; Pálfalvi, J.K.

    2012-01-01

    The MATROSHKA experiments and the related HAMLET project funded by the European Commission aimed to study the dose burden of the crew working on the International Space Station (ISS). During these experiments a human phantom equipped with several thousands of radiation detectors was exposed to cosmic rays inside and outside the ISS. Besides the measurements realized in Earth orbit, the HAMLET project included also a ground-based program of calibration and intercomparison of the different detectors applied by the participating groups using high-energy ion beams. The Space Dosimetry Group of the Centre for Energy Research (formerly Atomic Energy Research Institute) participated in these experiments with passive solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs). The paper presents the results of the calibration experiments performed in the years 2008–2011 at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC) of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Chiba, Japan. The data obtained serve as update and improvement for the previous calibration curves which are necessary for the evaluation of the SSNTDs exposed in unknown space radiation fields.

  8. Calibration of solid state nuclear track detectors at high energy ion beams for cosmic radiation measurements: HAMLET results

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szabo, J., E-mail: julianna.szabo@energia.mta.hu [Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Energy Research, Konkoly Thege Miklos ut 29-33, 1525 Budapest 114, P.O. Box 49 (Hungary); Palfalvi, J.K. [Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Energy Research, Konkoly Thege Miklos ut 29-33, 1525 Budapest 114, P.O. Box 49 (Hungary)

    2012-12-01

    The MATROSHKA experiments and the related HAMLET project funded by the European Commission aimed to study the dose burden of the crew working on the International Space Station (ISS). During these experiments a human phantom equipped with several thousands of radiation detectors was exposed to cosmic rays inside and outside the ISS. Besides the measurements realized in Earth orbit, the HAMLET project included also a ground-based program of calibration and intercomparison of the different detectors applied by the participating groups using high-energy ion beams. The Space Dosimetry Group of the Centre for Energy Research (formerly Atomic Energy Research Institute) participated in these experiments with passive solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs). The paper presents the results of the calibration experiments performed in the years 2008-2011 at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC) of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Chiba, Japan. The data obtained serve as update and improvement for the previous calibration curves which are necessary for the evaluation of the SSNTDs exposed in unknown space radiation fields.

  9. 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)

  10. Study of cosmic ray events with high muon multiplicity using the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Adam, J.; Adamová, Dagmar; Bielčík, J.; Bielčíková, Jana; Brož, M.; Čepila, J.; Contreras, J. G.; Eyyubova, G.; Ferencei, Jozef; Křížek, Filip; Kučera, Vít; Kushpil, Svetlana; Mareš, Jiří A.; Petráček, V.; Pospíšil, Jan; Schulc, M.; Špaček, M.; Šumbera, Michal; Vajzer, Michal; Vaňát, Tomáš; Závada, Petr

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 2016, č. 1 (2016), s. 032 ISSN 1475-7516 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13031 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 ; RVO:61389005 Keywords : ALICE collaboration * cosmic ray experiments * cosmic rays detectors Subject RIV: BG - Nuclear, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Colliders; BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics (FZU-D) Impact factor: 4.734, year: 2016

  11. How fast is the growth of Total Cross Section at High Energies?

    CERN Document Server

    Fazal-e-Aleem, M; Sohail-Afzal, Tahir; Ayub-Faridi, M; Qadee-Afzal, M

    2003-01-01

    Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and Large Hadron Colliders have special agenda for the measurements of the total cross sections at high energies giving us an opportunity to touch cosmic ray energies. Recent analyses of the cosmic ray data together with earlier experimental measurements at ISR and SPS gives us an insight about the behaviour of this important parameter at asymptotic energies. We will study the growth of total cross section at high energies in the light of various theoretical approaches with special reference to measurements at RHIC and LHC.

  12. Heavy Ion Testing at the Galactic Cosmic Ray Energy Peak

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pellish, Jonathan A.; Xapsos, M. A.; LaBel, K. A.; Marshall, P. W.; Heidel, D. F.; Rodbell, K. P.; Hakey, M. C.; Dodd, P. E.; Shaneyfelt, M. R.; Schwank, J. R.; hide

    2009-01-01

    A 1 GeV/u Fe-56 Ion beam allows for true 90 deg. tilt irradiations of various microelectronic components and reveals relevant upset trends for an abundant element at the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) flux-energy peak.

  13. 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)

  14. 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.)

  15. Exploring the cosmic rays energy frontier with the Auger Observatory

    CERN Document Server

    CERN. Geneva

    2006-01-01

    The existence of cosmic rays with energies in excess of 1020 eV represents a longstanding scientific mystery. Unveileing the mechanism and source of production/acceleration of particles of such enormous energies is a challenging experimental task due to their minute flux, roughly one km2 century. The Pierre Auger Observatory, now nearing completion in Malargue, Mendoza Province, Argentina, is spread over an area of 3000 km2. Two techniques are employed to observe the cosmic ray showers: detection of the shower particles on the ground and detection of fluorescence light produced as the shower particles pass through the atmosphere. I will describe the status of the Observatory and its detectors, and early results from the data recorded while the observatory is reaching its completion.Organiser(s): L. Alvarez-Gaume / PH-THNote: * Tea & coffee will be served at 16:00.

  16. Search for the end of the cosmic ray energy spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linsley, John

    1998-01-01

    The title I was asked to speak about expresses an idea that occurred rather recently in the history of cosmic ray studies. I argue that the idea of a possible end of the cosmic ray energy spectrum came into being after a sequence of three rapid advances in knowledge which I describe, calling them 'breakthroughs'. I suggest that the present workshop be regarded as a step toward a fourth breakthrough. I argue that this may occur through application of the Space Airwatch concept--the earth atmosphere as target and signal generator--as embodied in the NASA OWL project

  17. High energy particles from {gamma}-ray bursts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Waxman, E [Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel)

    2001-11-15

    A review is presented of the fireball model of {gamma}-ray bursts (GRBs), and of the production in GRB fireballs of high energy protons and neutrinos. Constraints imposed on the model by recent afterglow observations, which support the association of GRB and ultra-high energy cosmic-ray (UHECR) sources, are discussed. Predictions of the GRB model for UHECR production, which can be tested with planned large area UHECR detectors and with planned high energy neutrino telescopes, are reviewed. (author)

  18. 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.

  19. Ultra high energy cosmic rays and magnetic fields

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stanev, Todor; Engel, Ralph; Alvarez-Muniz, Jaime; Seckel, David

    2002-07-01

    We follow the propagation of ultra high energy protons in the presence of random and regular magnetic fields and discuss some of the changes in the angular and energy distributions of these particles introduced by the scattering in the magnetic fields.

  20. Ultra high energy cosmic rays and magnetic fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stanev, Todor; Engel, Ralph; Alvarez-Muniz, Jaime; Seckel, David

    2002-01-01

    We follow the propagation of ultra high energy protons in the presence of random and regular magnetic fields and discuss some of the changes in the angular and energy distributions of these particles introduced by the scattering in the magnetic fields

  1. 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.

  2. Cosmic ray air showers in the knee energy region

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The cosmic ray extensive air showers in the knee energy region have been studied by the North Bengal University array. The differential size spectra at different atmospheric depths show a systematic shift of the knee towards smaller shower size with the increase in atmospheric depth. The measured values of spectral ...

  3. Nuclear reactions induced by high-energy alpha particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, B. S. P.

    1974-01-01

    Experimental and theoretical studies of nuclear reactions induced by high energy protons and heavier ions are included. Fundamental data needed in the shielding, dosimetry, and radiobiology of high energy particles produced by accelerators were generated, along with data on cosmic ray interaction with matter. The mechanism of high energy nucleon-nucleus reactions is also examined, especially for light target nuclei of mass number comparable to that of biological tissue.

  4. 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

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. Effect of Dark Energy Perturbation on Cosmic Voids Formation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Endo, Takao; Nishizawa, Atsushi J.; Ichiki, Kiyotomo

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we present the effects of dark energy perturbation on the formation and abundance of cosmic voids. We consider dark energy to be a fluid with a negative pressure characterised by a constant equation of state w and speed of sound c_s^2. By solving fluid equations for two components, namely, dark matter and dark energy fluids, we quantify the effects of dark energy perturbation on the sizes of top-hat voids. We also explore the effects on the size distribution of voids based on the excursion set theory. We confirm that dark energy perturbation negligibly affects the size evolution of voids; c_s^2=0 varies the size only by 0.1% as compared to the homogeneous dark energy model. We also confirm that dark energy perturbation suppresses the void size when w -1 (Basse et al. 2011). In contrast to the negligible impact on the size, we find that the size distribution function on scales larger than 10 Mpc/h highly depends on dark energy perturbation; compared to the homogeneous dark energy model, the number of large voids of radius 30Mpc is 25% larger for the model with w = -0.9 and c_s^2=0 while they are 20% less abundant for the model with w = -1.3 and c_s^2=0.

  10. Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays from the Pierre Auger Observatory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roth, M.

    2009-01-01

    The large sample of data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory has led to a significant improvement over previous measurements on the energy spectrum of cosmic rays. We observe a suppression of the flux at the highest energy with a significance of more than 6 standard deviations. The spectral index γ of the flux, J∝E -γ , at energies between 4x10 18 eV and 4x10 19 eV is 2.69±0.02 (stat) ±0.06 (syst), steepening to 4.2±0.4 (stat) ±0.06 (syst) at higher energies, consistent with the prediction by Greisen and by Zatsepin and Kuz'min. Observations of cosmic rays by the fluorescence detector allowed the extension of the energy spectrum to lower energies, where the efficiency of the surface detector is less then 100% and a change in the spectral index is expected.

  11. 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

  12. 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.

  13. Explanation of the Knee-like Feature in the DAMPE Cosmic {e}^{-}+{e}^{+} Energy Spectrum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Kun; Bi, Xiao-Jun; Yin, Peng-Fei

    2018-02-01

    The DArk Matter Particle Explorer, a space-based high precision cosmic-ray detector, has just reported the new measurement of the total electron plus positron energy spectrum up to 4.6 TeV. A notable feature in the spectrum is the spectral break at ∼0.9 TeV, with the spectral index softening from ‑3.1 to ‑3.9. Such a feature is very similar to the knee at the cosmic nuclei energy spectrum. In this work, we propose that the knee-like feature can be explained naturally by assuming that the electrons are accelerated at the supernova remnants (SNRs) and released when the SNRs die out with lifetimes around 105 years. The cut-off energy of those electrons have already decreased to several TeV due to radiative cooling, which may induce the observed TeV spectral break. Another possibility is that the break is induced by a single nearby old SNR. Such a scenario may bring a large electron flux anisotropy that may be observable by the future detectors. We also show that a minor part of electrons escaping during the acceleration in young and nearby SNRs is able to contribute to a several TeV or higher energy region of the spectrum.

  14. Search for correlations between the arrival directions of IceCube neutrino events and ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aartsen, M.G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.; Blažek, Jiří; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Ebr, Jan; Mandát, Dušan; Nečesal, Petr; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovánek, Petr; Trávníček, Petr; Vícha, Jakub

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 1, Jan (2016), 1-34, č. článku 037. ISSN 1475-7516 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13007; GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : neutrino experiments * ultra high energy cosmic rays * cosmic ray experiments * neutrino astronomy Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 4.734, year: 2016

  15. On the cosmological propagation of high energy particles in magnetic fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alves Batista, Rafael

    2015-04-01

    In the present work the connection between high energy particles and cosmic magnetic fields is explored. Particularly, the focus lies on the propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and very-high energy gamma rays (VHEGRs) over cosmological distances, under the influence of cosmic magnetic fields. The first part of this work concerns the propagation of UHECRs in the magnetized cosmic web, which was studied both analytically and numerically. A parametrization for the suppression of the UHECR flux at energies ∝ 10 18 eV due to diffusion in extragalactic magnetic fields was found, making it possible to set an upper limit on the energy at which this magnetic horizon effect sets in, which is cosmic ray experiments such as the Pierre Auger Observatory, and at the same time to address the open questions regarding the origin and nature of UHECRs, the CRPropa code was developed. It allows the propagation of UHECRs and secondary gamma rays and neutrinos in the universe including all relevant energy loss and interaction processes as well as effects of galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields. The newest version, CRPropa 3, is discussed in details, including the novel feature of cosmological effects in three-dimensional simulations, which enables time dependent studies considering simultaneously magnetic field effects and the cosmological evolution of the universe. An interesting possibility is to use UHECRs to constrain properties of cosmic magnetic fields, and vice-versa. Numerical simulations of the propagation of UHECRs in the magnetized cosmic web, obtained through magnetohydrodynamical simulations of structure formation, were performed. It was studied the effects of different magnetic field seeds on the distribution of cosmic magnetic fields today, and their impact on the propagation of cosmic rays. Furthermore, the influence of uncertainties of the strength of

  16. Astrophysical Sources of Cosmic Rays and Related Measurements with the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abraham, : J.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Aguirre, C.; Ahn, E.J.; Allard, D.; Allekotte, I.; Allen, J.; Alvarez-Muniz, J.; Ambrosio, M.; Anchordoqui, L.

    2009-06-01

    These are presentations to be presented at the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, in Lodz, Poland during July 2009. It consists of the following presentations: (1) Correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic objects in Pierre Auger Observatory data; (2) Discriminating potential astrophysical sources of the highest energy cosmic rays with the Pierre Auger Observatory; (3) Intrinsic anisotropy of the UHECR from the Pierre Auger Observatory; (4) Ultra-high energy photon studies with the Pierre Auger Observatory; (5) Limits on the flux of diffuse ultra high energy neutrinos set using the Pierre Auger Observatory; (6) Search for sidereal modulation of the arrival directions of events recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory; (7) Cosmic Ray Solar Modulation Studies in the Pierre Auger Observatory; (8) Investigation of the Displacement Angle of the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays Caused by the Galactic Magnetic Field; (9) Search for coincidences with astrophysical transients in Pierre Auger Observatory data; and (10) An alternative method for determining the energy of hybrid events at the Pierre Auger Observatory.

  17. High energy physics in Poland: the first 50 years

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wroblewski, A.K.

    1993-01-01

    High energy physics in Poland started in 1933 when Stanislaw Ziemecki and Konstanty Narkiewicz-Jodko performed measurements of the latitude effect for cosmic rays. Subsequently, experiments with cosmic rays were carried out in balloon flights in a deep salt mine. Other Polish pioneers in this field were Ignacy Adamczewski, Czeslaw Bialobrzeski, Marian Miesowicz, Szczepan Szczeniowski and Jan Wesolowski. The ambitious 'Star of Poland' project of a stratospheric balloon flight to study cosmic rays up to an altitude of 30000 meters was not successful, first because of the fire accident and then of the outbreak of World War II. The destruction of laboratories during the war has slowed down the development of high energy physics in Poland by at least twelve years. However, in the late forties Marian Miesowicz started important cosmic ray studies in Cracow. In 1952 research using nuclear emulsions was initiated in Warsaw by Marian Danysz and Jerzy Pniewski. Two years later Marian Miesowicz and Jerzy Gierula began similar research in Cracow. In the late fifties Aleksander Zawadzki in Lodz started comprehensive studies of extensive air showers. Already in 1963 the number of experimental and theoretical papers on high energy physics published in Poland exceeded 100. Strong experimental and theoretical groups have been established in Cracow, Lodz and Warsaw. To supplement research with emulsions and bubble chambers the construction of electronic detectors for on-line experiments has been instituted. Thus, in the early eighties Polish high energy physicists were ready to participate in large projects such as DELPHI at LEP and ZEUS and H1 at HERA. The discovery of hypernuclei by Danysz and Pniewski in 1952 may be regarded as the most important achievement of physics in post-war Poland. (author). 108 refs, 26 figs, 1 tab

  18. 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.

  19. Measurement Over Large Solid Angle of Low Energy Cosmic Ray Muon Flux

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schreiner, H. F., III; Schwitters, R. F.

    2015-12-01

    Recent advancements in portable muon detectors have made cosmic ray imaging practical for many diverse applications. Working muon attenuation detectors have been built at the University of Texas and are already successfully being used to image tunnels, structures, and Mayan pyramids. Most previous studies have focused on energy measurements of the cosmic ray spectrum from of 1 GeV or higher. We have performed an accurate measurement of the ultra-low energy (muon spectrum down to the acceptance level of our detector, around one hundred MeV. Measurements include angular dependence, with acceptance approaching horizontal. Measurements were made underwater using a custom enclosure in Lake Travis, Austin, TX. This measurement will allow more accurate predictions and simulations of attenuation for small (muon tomography.

  20. 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

  1. Investigation of energy spectrum and nuclear interactions of primary cosmic radiation; Badanie widma energetycznego i oddzialywan jadrowych pierwotnego promieniowania kosmicznego

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wilczynski, H. [Dept. of High Energy Physics, The H. Niewodniczanski Inst. of Nuclear Physics, Cracow (Poland)

    1996-12-31

    In the paper the JACEE experiment data analysis: energy spectra in the energy range 10{sup 12} - 10{sup 15} eV of different nuclides in cosmic radiation and some aspects of nuclear interactions at energy above 10{sup 12} eV/nucleon is presented. The data were compared with results of theory of cosmic radiation acceleration by striking waves arises from supernova stars explosions. In the interactions of cosmic radiation nuclei the short-lived particles production has been observed what agrees with long-distance component of cascades initiated by cosmic radiation interactions. In one case an interaction with asymmetric photons emission were observed 72 refs, 33 figs, 4 tabs

  2. An Indication of Anisotropy in Arrival Directions of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays through Comparison to the Flux Pattern of Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Allekotte, I.; Almela, A.; Castillo, J. Alvarez; Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Anastasi, G. A.; Anchordoqui, L.; Andrada, B.; Andringa, S.; Aramo, C.; Arsene, N.; Asorey, H.; Assis, P.; Avila, G.; Badescu, A. M.; Balaceanu, A.; Barbato, F.; Luz, R. J. Barreira; Beatty, J. J.; Becker, K. H.; Bellido, J. A.; Berat, C.; Bertaina, M. E.; Bertou, X.; Biermann, P. L.; Biteau, J.; Blaess, S. G.; Blanco, A.; Blazek, J.; Bleve, C.; Boháčová, M.; Bonifazi, C.; Borodai, N.; Botti, A. M.; Brack, J.; Brancus, I.; Bretz, T.; Bridgeman, A.; Briechle, F. L.; Buchholz, P.; Bueno, A.; Buitink, S.; Buscemi, M.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Caccianiga, L.; Cancio, A.; Canfora, F.; Caruso, R.; Castellina, A.; Catalani, F.; Cataldi, G.; Cazon, L.; Chavez, A. G.; Chinellato, J. A.; Chudoba, J.; Clay, R. W.; Cerutti, A. C. Cobos; Colalillo, R.; Coleman, A.; Collica, L.; Coluccia, M. R.; Conceição, R.; Consolati, G.; Contreras, F.; Cooper, M. J.; Coutu, S.; Covault, C. E.; Cronin, J.; D’Amico, S.; Daniel, B.; Dasso, S.; Daumiller, K.; Dawson, B. R.; Almeida, R. M. de; Jong, S. J. de; Mauro, G. De; de Mello Neto, J. R. T.; Mitri, I. De; Oliveira, J. de; Souza, V. de; Debatin, J.; Deligny, O.; Castro, M. L. Díaz; Diogo, F.; Dobrigkeit, C.; D’Olivo, J. C.; Dorosti, Q.; Anjos, R. C. dos; Dova, M. T.; Dundovic, A.; Ebr, J.; Engel, R.; Erdmann, M.; Erfani, M.; Escobar, C. O.; Espadanal, J.; Etchegoyen, A.; Falcke, H.; Farmer, J.; Farrar, G.; Fauth, A. C.; Fazzini, N.; Fenu, F.; Fick, B.; Figueira, J. M.; Filipčič, A.; Freire, M. M.; Fujii, T.; Fuster, A.; Gaïor, R.; García, B.; Gaté, F.; Gemmeke, H.; Gherghel-Lascu, A.; Ghia, P. L.; Giaccari, U.; Giammarchi, M.; Giller, M.; Głas, D.; Glaser, C.; Golup, G.; Berisso, M. Gómez; Vitale, P. F. Gómez; González, N.; Gorgi, A.; Grillo, A. F.; Grubb, T. D.; Guarino, F.; Guedes, G. P.; Halliday, R.; Hampel, M. R.; Hansen, P.; Harari, D.; Harrison, T. A.; Haungs, A.; Hebbeker, T.; Heck, D.; Heimann, P.; Herve, A. E.; Hill, G. C.; Hojvat, C.; Holt, E.; Homola, P.; Hörandel, J. R.; Horvath, P.; Hrabovský, M.; Huege, T.; Hulsman, J.; Insolia, A.; Isar, P. G.; Jandt, I.; Johnsen, J. A.; Josebachuili, M.; Jurysek, J.; Kääpä, A.; Kambeitz, O.; Kampert, K. H.; Keilhauer, B.; Kemmerich, N.; Kemp, E.; Kemp, J.; Kieckhafer, R. M.; Klages, H. O.; Kleifges, M.; Kleinfeller, J.; Krause, R.; Krohm, N.; Kuempel, D.; Mezek, G. Kukec; Kunka, N.; Awad, A. Kuotb; Lago, B. L.; LaHurd, D.; Lang, R. G.; Lauscher, M.; Legumina, R.; Oliveira, M. A. Leigui de; Letessier-Selvon, A.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; Link, K.; Presti, D. Lo; Lopes, L.; López, R.; Casado, A. López; Lorek, R.; Luce, Q.; Lucero, A.; Malacari, M.; Mallamaci, M.; Mandat, D.; Mantsch, P.; Mariazzi, A. G.; Mariş, I. C.; Marsella, G.; Martello, D.; Martinez, H.; Bravo, O. Martínez; Meza, J. J. Masías; Mathes, H. J.; Mathys, S.; Matthews, J.; Matthiae, G.; Mayotte, E.; Mazur, P. O.; Medina, C.; Medina-Tanco, G.; Melo, D.; Menshikov, A.; Merenda, K. -D.; Michal, S.; Micheletti, M. I.; Middendorf, L.; Miramonti, L.; Mitrica, B.; Mockler, D.; Mollerach, S.; Montanet, F.; Morello, C.; Morlino, G.; Mostafá, M.; Müller, A. L.; Müller, G.; Muller, M. A.; Müller, S.; Mussa, R.; Naranjo, I.; Nellen, L.; Nguyen, P. H.; Niculescu-Oglinzanu, M.; Niechciol, M.; Niemietz, L.; Niggemann, T.; Nitz, D.; Nosek, D.; Novotny, V.; Nožka, L.; Núñez, L. A.; Oikonomou, F.; Olinto, A.; Palatka, M.; Pallotta, J.; Papenbreer, P.; Parente, G.; Parra, A.; Paul, T.; Pech, M.; Pedreira, F.; Pȩkala, J.; Pelayo, R.; Peña-Rodriguez, J.; Pereira, L. A. S.; Perlin, M.; Perrone, L.; Peters, C.; Petrera, S.; Phuntsok, J.; Pierog, T.; Pimenta, M.; Pirronello, V.; Platino, M.; Plum, M.; Poh, J.; Porowski, C.; Prado, R. R.; Privitera, P.; Prouza, M.; Quel, E. J.; Querchfeld, S.; Quinn, S.; Ramos-Pollan, R.; Rautenberg, J.; Ravignani, D.; Ridky, J.; Riehn, F.; Risse, M.; Ristori, P.; Rizi, V.; Rodrigues de Carvalho, W.; Rodriguez Fernandez, G.; Rodriguez Rojo, J.; Roncoroni, M. J.; Roth, M.; Roulet, E.; Rovero, A. C.; Ruehl, P.; Saffi, S. J.; Saftoiu, A.; Salamida, F.; Salazar, H.; Saleh, A.; Salina, G.; Sánchez, F.; Sanchez-Lucas, P.; Santos, E. M.; Santos, E.; Sarazin, F.; Sarmento, R.; Sarmiento-Cano, C.; Sato, R.; Schauer, M.; Scherini, V.; Schieler, H.; Schimp, M.; Schmidt, D.; Scholten, O.; Schovánek, P.; Schröder, F. G.; Schröder, S.; Schulz, A.; Schumacher, J.; Sciutto, S. J.; Segreto, A.; Shadkam, A.; Shellard, R. C.; Sigl, G.; Silli, G.; Šmída, R.; Snow, G. R.; Sommers, P.; Sonntag, S.; Soriano, J. F.; Squartini, R.; Stanca, D.; Stanič, S.; Stasielak, J.; Stassi, P.; Stolpovskiy, M.; Strafella, F.; Streich, A.; Suarez, F.; Durán, M. Suarez; Sudholz, T.; Suomijärvi, T.; Supanitsky, A. D.; Šupík, J.; Swain, J.; Szadkowski, Z.; Taboada, A.; Taborda, O. A.; Theodoro, V. M.; Timmermans, C.; Peixoto, C. J. Todero; Tomankova, L.; Tomé, B.; Elipe, G. Torralba; Travnicek, P.; Trini, M.; Ulrich, R.; Unger, M.; Urban, M.; Galicia, J. F. Valdés; Valiño, I.; Valore, L.; van Aar, G.; van Bodegom, P.; Berg, A. M. van den; Vliet, A. van; Varela, E.; Cárdenas, B. Vargas; Vázquez, R. A.; Veberič, D.; Ventura, C.; Quispe, I. D. Vergara; Verzi, V.; Vicha, J.; Villaseñor, L.; Vorobiov, S.; Wahlberg, H.; Wainberg, O.; Walz, D.; Watson, A. A.; Weber, M.; Weindl, A.; Wiedeński, M.; Wiencke, L.; Wilczyński, H.; Wirtz, M.; Wittkowski, D.; Wundheiler, B.; Yang, L.; Yushkov, A.; Zas, E.; Zavrtanik, D.; Zavrtanik, M.; Zepeda, A.; Zimmermann, B.; Ziolkowski, M.; Zong, Z.; Zuccarello, F.

    2018-02-01

    A new analysis of the dataset from the Pierre Auger Observatory provides evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays on an intermediate angular scale, which is indicative of excess arrivals from strong, nearby sources. The data consist of 5514 events above 20 EeV with zenith angles up to 80 deg recorded before 2017 April 30. Sky models have been created for two distinct populations of extragalactic gamma-ray emitters: active galactic nuclei from the second catalog of hard Fermi-LAT sources (2FHL) and starburst galaxies from a sample that was examined with Fermi-LAT. Flux-limited samples, which include all types of galaxies from the Swift-BAT and 2MASS surveys, have been investigated for comparison. The sky model of cosmic-ray density constructed using each catalog has two free parameters, the fraction of events correlating with astrophysical objects and an angular scale characterizing the clustering of cosmic rays around extragalactic sources. A maximum-likelihood ratio test is used to evaluate the best values of these parameters and to quantify the strength of each model by contrast with isotropy. It is found that the starburst model fits the data better than the hypothesis of isotropy with a statistical significance of 4.0 sigma, the highest value of the test statistic being for energies above 39 EeV. The three alternative models are favored against isotropy with 2.7-3.2 sigma significance. The origin of the indicated deviation from isotropy is examined and prospects for more sensitive future studies are discussed.

  3. 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

  4. Ashra Neutrino Telescope Array (NTA): Combined Imaging Observation of Astroparticles — For Clear Identification of Cosmic Accelerators and Fundamental Physics Using Cosmic Beams —

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sasaki, Makoto; Kifune, Tadashi

    In VHEPA (very high energy particle astronomy) 2014 workshop, focused on the next generation explorers for the origin of cosmic rays, held in Kashiwa, Japan, reviewing and discussions were presented on the status of the observation of GeV-TeV photons, TeV-PeV neutrinos, EeV-ZeV hadrons, test of interaction models with Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and theoretical aspects of astrophysics. The acceleration sites of hadrons, i.e., sources of PeV-EeV cosmic rays, should exist in the universe within the GZK-horizon even in the remotest case. We also affirmed that the hadron acceleration mechanism correlates with cosmic ray composition so that it is important to investigate the acceleration mechanism in relevance to the composition survey at PeV-EeV energy. We regard that LHC and astrophysics theories are ready to be used to probe into hadron acceleration mechanism in the universe. Recently, IceCube has reported detection of three events of neutrinos with energies around 1 PeV and additional events at lower energies, which significantly deviate from the expected level of background events. It is necessary to observe GeV-TeV photon, EeV-ZeV hadron and TeV-PeV neutrino all together, in order to understand hadronic interactions of cosmic rays in the PeV-EeV energy region. It is required to make a step further toward exploring the PeV-EeV universe with high accuracy and high statistics observations for both neutrinos and gamma rays simultaneously, by using the instrument such as Ashra Neutrino Telescope Array (NTA). Wide and fine survey of gamma-rays and neutrinos with simultaneously detecting Cherenkov and fluorescence light with NTA will guide us to a new intriguing stage of recognizing astronomical objects and non-thermal phenomena in ultra-high energy region, in addition, new aspect about the fundamental concepts of physics beyond our presently limited understanding; the longstanding problem of cosmic ray origin, the radiation mechanism of gamma-rays, neutrino and

  5. Anisotropy of TeV and PeV cosmic rays with IceCube and IceTop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santander, M., E-mail: santander@icecube.wisc.edu [University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53703 (United States)

    2013-10-11

    The interaction of high energy cosmic rays with the Earth's atmosphere produces extensive air showers of secondary particles with a large muon component. By exploiting the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes to high energy muons, it is possible to use these detectors for precision cosmic ray studies. The high rate of cosmic-ray muon events provides a high-statistics data sample that can be used to look for anisotropy in the arrival directions of the parent particles at the per-mille level. This paper will report on the observation of anisotropy in the cosmic ray data collected with the IceCube neutrino telescope in the 20-400 TeV energy range at multiple angular scales. New data from the IceTop air shower array, located on the ice surface above IceCube, shows an anisotropy that is consistent with the high-energy IceCube results. The sensitivity of IceTop to all the components of the extensive air shower will allow us to explore in more detail the characteristics of the primary cosmic rays associated with the observed anisotropy.

  6. Looking for Cosmic Neutrino Background

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiaki eYanagisawa

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Since the discovery of neutrino oscillation in atmospheric neutrinos by the Super-Kamiokande experiment in 1998, study of neutrinos has been one of exciting fields in high-energy physics. All the mixing angles were measured. Quests for 1 measurements of the remaining parameters, the lightest neutrino mass, the CP violating phase(s, and the sign of mass splitting between the mass eigenstates m3 and m1, and 2 better measurements to determine whether the mixing angle theta23 is less than pi/4, are in progress in a well-controlled manner. Determining the nature of neutrinos, whether they are Dirac or Majorana particles is also in progress with continuous improvement. On the other hand, although the ideas of detecting cosmic neutrino background have been discussed since 1960s, there has not been a serious concerted effort to achieve this goal. One of the reasons is that it is extremely difficult to detect such low energy neutrinos from the Big Bang. While there has been tremendous accumulation of information on Cosmic Microwave Background since its discovery in 1965, there is no direct evidence for Cosmic Neutrino Background. The importance of detecting Cosmic Neutrino Background is that, although detailed studies of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and Cosmic Microwave Background give information of the early Universe at ~a few minutes old and ~300 k years old, respectively, observation of Cosmic Neutrino Background allows us to study the early Universe at $sim$ 1 sec old. This article reviews progress made in the past 50 years on detection methods of Cosmic Neutrino Background.

  7. Radio-detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Analysis, simulation and interpretation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marin, V.

    2011-01-01

    Despite the use of giant detectors suitable for low flux beyond 1018 eV, the origin of ultra energy cosmic rays, remains unclear. In the 60', the radio-detection of air shower is proposed as a complementary technique to the ground particle detection and to the fluorescence method. A revival of this technique took place in the 2000's in particular with CODALEMA experiment. The first results show both a strong dependence of the signal to the geomagnetic field and a strong correlation between energy estimated by the radio-detectors and by particle detectors. The new generation of autonomous detectors created by the CODALEMA collaboration indicates that it is now possible to detect air showers autonomously. Due to the expected performances (a nearly 100% duty cycle, a signal generated by the complete shower, simplicity and low cost of a detector), it is possible to consider to deploy this technique for the future large arrays. In order to interpret experimental data, a simulation tool, SELFAS, is developed in this wok. This simulation code allowed us to highlight the existence of a second radio-emission mechanism. A first interpretation of the longitudinal profile as an observable of a privileged instant of the shower development is also proposed, which could give an estimation of the nature of the primary. (author)

  8. CORRELATIONS OF THE ARRIVAL DIRECTIONS OF ULTRA-HIGH ENERGY COSMIC RAYS WITH EXTRAGALACTIC OBJECTS AS OBSERVED BY THE TELESCOPE ARRAY EXPERIMENT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abu-Zayyad, T.; Allen, M.; Anderson, R.; Barcikowski, E.; Belz, J. W.; Bergman, D. R.; Blake, S. A.; Cady, R.; Hanlon, W. [High Energy Astrophysics Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Aida, R. [Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Yamanashi (Japan); Azuma, R.; Fukuda, T. [Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo (Japan); Cheon, B. G.; Cho, E. J. [Department of Physics and The Research Institute of Natural Science, Hanyang University, Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chiba, J. [Department of Physics, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Chiba (Japan); Chikawa, M. [Department of Physics, Kinki University, Higashi Osaka, Osaka (Japan); Cho, W. R. [Department of Physics, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Fujii, H. [Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies, KEK, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Fujii, T. [Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka (Japan); Fukushima, M. [Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba (Japan); and others

    2013-11-10

    We search for correlations between the positions of extragalactic objects and the arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with primary energy E ≥ 40 EeV as observed by the surface detector array of the Telescope Array (TA) experiment during the first 40 months of operation. We examine several public astronomical object catalogs, including the Veron-Cetty and Veron catalog of active galactic nuclei. We count the number of TA events correlated with objects in each catalog as a function of three parameters: the maximum angular separation between a TA event and an object, the minimum energy of the events, and the maximum redshift of the objects. We determine the combination of these parameters that maximizes the correlations, and we calculate the probability of having the same levels of correlations from an isotropic distribution of UHECR arrival directions. No statistically significant correlations are found when penalties for scanning over the above parameters and for searching in several catalogs are taken into account.

  9. Large angle cosmic microwave background fluctuations from cosmic strings with a cosmological constant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Landriau, M.; Shellard, E.P.S.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper, we present results for large-angle cosmic microwave background anisotropies generated from high resolution simulations of cosmic string networks in a range of flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with a cosmological constant. Using an ensemble of all-sky maps, we compare with the Cosmic Background Explorer data to infer a normalization (or upper bound) on the string linear energy density μ. For a flat matter-dominated model (Ω M =1) we find Gμ/c 2 ≅0.7x10 -6 , which is lower than previous constraints probably because of the more accurate inclusion of string small-scale structure. For a cosmological constant within an observationally acceptable range, we find a relatively weak dependence with Gμ/c 2 less than 10% higher

  10. Error Analysis of Ia Supernova and Query on Cosmic Dark Energy

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-01-27

    Jan 27, 2016 ... Error Analysis of Ia Supernova and Query on Cosmic Dark Energy. Qiuhe Peng Yiming Hu Kun ... https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/joaa/035/03/0253-0256 ... Articles are also visible in Web of Science immediately. All these ...

  11. Studies of Muons in Extensive Air Showers from Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays Observed with the Telescope Array Surface Detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeishi, R.; Sagawa, H.; Fukushima, M.; Takeda, M.; Nonaka, T.; Kawata, K.; Kido, E.; Sakurai, N.; Okuda, T.; Ogio, S.; Matthews, J. N.; Stokes, B.

    The number of muons in the air shower induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has been measured with surface detector (SD) arrays of various experiments. Monte Carlo (MC) prediction of the number of muons in air showers depends on hadronic interaction models and the primary cosmic ray composition. By comparing the measured number of muons with the MC prediction, hadronic interaction models can be tested. The Pierre Auger Observatory reported that the number of muons measured by water Cherenkov type SD is about 1.8 times larger than the MC prediction for proton with QGSJET II-03 model. The number of muons in the Auger data is also larger than the MC prediction for iron. The Telescope Array experiment adopts plastic scintillator type SD, which is sensitive to the electromagnetic component that is the major part of secondary particles in the air shower. To search for the high muon purity condition in air showers observed by the TA, we divided air shower events into subsets by the zenith angle θ, the azimuth angle ϕ relative to the shower arrival direction projected onto the ground, and the distance R from shower axis. As a result, we found subsets with the high muon purity 65%, and compared the charge density between observed data and MC. The typical ratios of the charge density of the data to that of the MC are 1.71 ± 0.10 at 1870 m muon purity. These results imply that the excess of the charge density in the data is partly explained by the muon excess.

  12. Negative energy in string theory and cosmic censorship violation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hertog, Thomas; Horowitz, Gary T.; Maeda, Kengo

    2004-01-01

    We find asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions in N=8 supergravity which have a negative total energy. This is possible since the boundary conditions required for the positive energy theorem are stronger than those required for a finite mass (and allowed by string theory). But the stability of the anti-de Sitter vacuum is still ensured by the positivity of a modified energy, which includes an extra surface term. Some of the negative energy solutions describe the classical evolution of nonsingular initial data to naked singularities. Since there is an open set of such solutions, cosmic censorship is violated generically in supergravity. Using the dual field theory description, we argue that these naked singularities will be resolved in the full string theory

  13. Super-TIGER-2: A Very-Large-Area, High-Resolution Trans-Iron Cosmic Ray Investigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Binns, Walter

    This is the lead proposal of a multi-institution proposal. We propose to continue the highly successful Super-TIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) program and to extend its scientific reach. Super-TIGER is a large-area instrument designed to make precision measurements of the elemental composition of ultra-heavy cosmic rays (UHCR) with atomic number Z greater than or equal to 30. The principal objective of the first phase of the Super- TIGER program was to measure the abundances of nuclei with 30 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 42 with clear individual element resolution and high statistical precision. A secondary objective was to accurately measure the energy spectra of the more abundant light elements with 12 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 28. Super-TIGER-1 was flown during the 2012-2013 Austral Summer, returning data on over 50 million cosmic ray (CR) nuclei in 55 days at float. The excellent data from this flight should enable us to achieve the initial goals of the program, and the high performance of the instrument makes it possible to expand our primary objective for further flights to include heavier UHCR. This is a 1-year proposal with two objectives: First to complete analysis of the data from the Super-TIGER-1 flight, and second to begin preparations to extend UHCR measurements with individual element resolution through barium (Z=56) and to greatly increase the number of Z greater than or equal to 30 nuclei measured. The abundance measurements provide sensitive tests and clarification of the OB-association model of galactic cosmic-ray origins, and will test models for atomic processes by which nuclei are selected for acceleration to cosmic ray energies. Additionally, measurements of individual element abundances from Z=40 to 56 will enable us to determine the extent of r-process enhancement since Zr (Z=40), Sn (Z=50) and Ba (Z=56) are predominately s-process and Ru (Z=44), Pd (Z=46), Te (Z=52) and Xe (Z=54)are

  14. The HZE radiation problem. [highly-charged energetic galactic cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schimmerling, Walter

    1990-01-01

    Radiation-exposure limits have yet to be established for missions envisioned in the framework of the Space Exploration Initiative. The radiation threat outside the earth's magnetosphere encompasses protons from solar particle events and the highly charged energetic particles constituting galactic cosmic rays; radiation biology entails careful consideration of the extremely nonuniform patterns of such particles' energy deposition. The ability to project such biological consequences of exposure to energetic particles as carcinogenicity currently involves great uncertainties from: (1) different regions of space; (2) the effects of spacecraft structures; and (3) the dose-effect relationships of single traversals of energetic particles.

  15. Acceleration and propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lemoine, Martin

    2013-01-01

    The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays represents one of the most conspicuous enigmas of modern astrophysics, in spite of gigantic experimental efforts in the past fifty years, and of active theoretical research. The past decade has known exciting experimental results, most particularly the detection of a cut-off at the expected position for the long sought Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin suppression as well as evidence for large scale anisotropies. This paper summarizes and discusses recent achievements in this field.

  16. Acceleration and propagation of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemoine, Martin

    2013-02-01

    The origin of the highest energy cosmic rays represents one of the most conspicuous enigmas of modern astrophysics, in spite of gigantic experimental efforts in the past fifty years, and of active theoretical research. The past decade has known exciting experimental results, most particularly the detection of a cut-off at the expected position for the long sought Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin suppression as well as evidence for large scale anisotropies. This paper summarizes and discusses recent achievements in this field.

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

  19. 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

  20. Constraints on ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray sources from a search for neutrinos above 10 PeV with IceCube

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aartsen, M.G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.

    2016-01-01

    We report constraints on the sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) above 109 GeV, based on an analysis of seven years of IceCube data. This analysis efficiently selects very high- energy neutrino-induced events which have deposited energies from 5×105 GeV to above 1011 GeV. Two neutrin...... for active galactic nuclei and new-born pulsar models. These limits on the ultrahigh-energy neutrino flux models are the most stringent to date....

  1. Search for patterns by combining cosmic-ray energy and arrival directions at the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Ebr, Jan; Mandát, Dušan; Nečesal, Petr; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovánek, Petr; Trávníček, Petr; Vícha, Jakub

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 75, č. 6 (2015), s. 269 ISSN 1434-6044 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13007; GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : Pierre Auger Observatory * detector * cosmic rays Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 4.912, year: 2015

  2. Cosmic vacuum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chernin, Artur D

    2001-01-01

    Recent observational studies of distant supernovae have suggested the existence of cosmic vacuum whose energy density exceeds the total density of all the other energy components in the Universe. The vacuum produces the field of antigravity that causes the cosmological expansion to accelerate. It is this accelerated expansion that has been discovered in the observations. The discovery of cosmic vacuum radically changes our current understanding of the present state of the Universe. It also poses new challenges to both cosmology and fundamental physics. Why is the density of vacuum what it is? Why do the densities of the cosmic energy components differ in exact value but agree in order of magnitude? On the other hand, the discovery made at large cosmological distances of hundreds and thousands Mpc provides new insights into the dynamics of the nearby Universe, the motions of galaxies in the local volume of 10 - 20 Mpc where the cosmological expansion was originally discovered. (reviews of topical problems)

  3. Cosmic vacuum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chernin, Artur D [P.K. Shternberg State Astronomical Institute at the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow (Russian Federation)

    2001-11-30

    Recent observational studies of distant supernovae have suggested the existence of cosmic vacuum whose energy density exceeds the total density of all the other energy components in the Universe. The vacuum produces the field of antigravity that causes the cosmological expansion to accelerate. It is this accelerated expansion that has been discovered in the observations. The discovery of cosmic vacuum radically changes our current understanding of the present state of the Universe. It also poses new challenges to both cosmology and fundamental physics. Why is the density of vacuum what it is? Why do the densities of the cosmic energy components differ in exact value but agree in order of magnitude? On the other hand, the discovery made at large cosmological distances of hundreds and thousands Mpc provides new insights into the dynamics of the nearby Universe, the motions of galaxies in the local volume of 10 - 20 Mpc where the cosmological expansion was originally discovered. (reviews of topical problems)

  4. Recent Ultra High Energy neutrino bounds and multimessenger observations with the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zas, Enrique

    2018-01-01

    The overall picture of the highest energy particles produced in the Universe is changing because of measurements made with the Pierre Auger Observatory. Composition studies of cosmic rays point towards an unexpected mixed composition of intermediate mass nuclei, more isotropic than anticipated, which is reshaping the future of the field and underlining the priority to understand composition at the highest energies. The Observatory is competitive in the search for neutrinos of all flavors above about 100 PeV by looking for very inclined showers produced deep in the atmosphere by neutrinos interacting either in the atmosphere or in the Earth's crust. It covers a large field of view between -85° and 60° declination in equatorial coordinates. Neutrinos are expected because of the existence of ultra high energy cosmic rays. They provide valuable complementary information, their fluxes being sensitive to the primary cosmic ray masses and their directions reflecting the source positions. We report the results of the neutrino search providing competitive bounds to neutrino production and strong constraints to a number of production models including cosmogenic neutrinos due to ultra high energy protons. We also report on two recent contributions of the Observatory to multimessenger studies by searching for correlations of neutrinos both with cosmic rays and with gravitational waves. The correlations of the directions of the highest energy astrophysical neutrinos discovered with IceCube with the highest energy cosmic rays detected with the Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array revealed an excess that is not statistically significant and is being monitored. The targeted search for neutrinos correlated with the discovery of the gravitational wave events GW150914 and GW151226 with advanced LIGO has led to the first bounds on the energy emitted by black hole mergers in Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos.

  5. Recent Ultra High Energy neutrino bounds and multimessenger observations with the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zas Enrique

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The overall picture of the highest energy particles produced in the Universe is changing because of measurements made with the Pierre Auger Observatory. Composition studies of cosmic rays point towards an unexpected mixed composition of intermediate mass nuclei, more isotropic than anticipated, which is reshaping the future of the field and underlining the priority to understand composition at the highest energies. The Observatory is competitive in the search for neutrinos of all flavors above about 100 PeV by looking for very inclined showers produced deep in the atmosphere by neutrinos interacting either in the atmosphere or in the Earth’s crust. It covers a large field of view between −85◦ and 60◦ declination in equatorial coordinates. Neutrinos are expected because of the existence of ultra high energy cosmic rays. They provide valuable complementary information, their fluxes being sensitive to the primary cosmic ray masses and their directions reflecting the source positions. We report the results of the neutrino search providing competitive bounds to neutrino production and strong constraints to a number of production models including cosmogenic neutrinos due to ultra high energy protons. We also report on two recent contributions of the Observatory to multimessenger studies by searching for correlations of neutrinos both with cosmic rays and with gravitational waves. The correlations of the directions of the highest energy astrophysical neutrinos discovered with IceCube with the highest energy cosmic rays detected with the Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array revealed an excess that is not statistically significant and is being monitored. The targeted search for neutrinos correlated with the discovery of the gravitational wave events GW150914 and GW151226 with advanced LIGO has led to the first bounds on the energy emitted by black hole mergers in Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos.

  6. 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.

  7. Measurement of the radiation energy in the radio signal of extensive air showers as a universal estimator of cosmic-ray energy

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Blažek, Jiří; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Ebr, Jan; Mandát, Dušan; Nečesal, Petr; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovánek, Petr; Trávníček, Petr; Vícha, Jakub

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 116, č. 24 (2016), 1-9, č. článku 241101. ISSN 0031-9007 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13007; GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : Pierre Auger Observatory * detector * cosmic rays * air showers Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 8.462, year: 2016

  8. 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

  9. An Indication of Anisotropy in Arrival Directions of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays through Comparison to the Flux Pattern of Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Allekotte, I.; Almela, A.; Alvarez Castillo, J.; Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Anastasi, G. A.; Anchordoqui, L.; Andrada, B.; Andringa, S.; Aramo, C.; Arsene, N.; Asorey, H.; Assis, P.; Avila, G.; Badescu, A. M.; Balaceanu, A.; Barbato, F.; Barreira Luz, R. J.; Beatty, J. J.; Becker, K. H.; Bellido, J. A.; Berat, C.; Bertaina, M. E.; Bertou, X.; Biermann, P. L.; Biteau, J.; Blaess, S. G.; Blanco, A.; Blazek, J.; Bleve, C.; Boháčová, M.; Bonifazi, C.; Borodai, N.; Botti, A. M.; Brack, J.; Brancus, I.; Bretz, T.; Bridgeman, A.; Briechle, F. L.; Buchholz, P.; Bueno, A.; Buitink, S.; Buscemi, M.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Caccianiga, L.; Cancio, A.; Canfora, F.; Caruso, R.; Castellina, A.; Catalani, F.; Cataldi, G.; Cazon, L.; Chavez, A. G.; Chinellato, J. A.; Chudoba, J.; Clay, R. W.; Cobos Cerutti, A. C.; Colalillo, R.; Coleman, A.; Collica, L.; Coluccia, M. R.; Conceição, R.; Consolati, G.; Contreras, F.; Cooper, M. J.; Coutu, S.; Covault, C. E.; Cronin, J.; D’Amico, S.; Daniel, B.; Dasso, S.; Daumiller, K.; Dawson, B. R.; de Almeida, R. M.; de Jong, S. J.; De Mauro, G.; de Mello Neto, J. R. T.; De Mitri, I.; de Oliveira, J.; de Souza, V.; Debatin, J.; Deligny, O.; Díaz Castro, M. L.; Diogo, F.; Dobrigkeit, C.; D’Olivo, J. C.; Dorosti, Q.; dos Anjos, R. C.; Dova, M. T.; Dundovic, A.; Ebr, J.; Engel, R.; Erdmann, M.; Erfani, M.; Escobar, C. O.; Espadanal, J.; Etchegoyen, A.; Falcke, H.; Farmer, J.; Farrar, G.; Fauth, A. C.; Fazzini, N.; Fenu, F.; Fick, B.; Figueira, J. M.; Filipčič, A.; Freire, M. M.; Fujii, T.; Fuster, A.; Gaïor, R.; García, B.; Gaté, F.; Gemmeke, H.; Gherghel-Lascu, A.; Ghia, P. L.; Giaccari, U.; Giammarchi, M.; Giller, M.; Głas, D.; Glaser, C.; Golup, G.; Gómez Berisso, M.; Gómez Vitale, P. F.; González, N.; Gorgi, A.; Grillo, A. F.; Grubb, T. D.; Guarino, F.; Guedes, G. P.; Halliday, R.; Hampel, M. R.; Hansen, P.; Harari, D.; Harrison, T. A.; Haungs, A.; Hebbeker, T.; Heck, D.; Heimann, P.; Herve, A. E.; Hill, G. C.; Hojvat, C.; Holt, E.; Homola, P.; Hörandel, J. R.; Horvath, P.; Hrabovský, M.; Huege, T.; Hulsman, J.; Insolia, A.; Isar, P. G.; Jandt, I.; Johnsen, J. A.; Josebachuili, M.; Jurysek, J.; Kääpä, A.; Kambeitz, O.; Kampert, K. H.; Keilhauer, B.; Kemmerich, N.; Kemp, E.; Kemp, J.; Kieckhafer, R. M.; Klages, H. O.; Kleifges, M.; Kleinfeller, J.; Krause, R.; Krohm, N.; Kuempel, D.; Kukec Mezek, G.; Kunka, N.; Kuotb Awad, A.; Lago, B. L.; LaHurd, D.; Lang, R. G.; Lauscher, M.; Legumina, R.; Leigui de Oliveira, M. A.; Letessier-Selvon, A.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; Link, K.; Lo Presti, D.; Lopes, L.; López, R.; López Casado, A.; Lorek, R.; Luce, Q.; Lucero, A.; Malacari, M.; Mallamaci, M.; Mandat, D.; Mantsch, P.; Mariazzi, A. G.; Mariş, I. C.; Marsella, G.; Martello, D.; Martinez, H.; Martínez Bravo, O.; Masías Meza, J. J.; Mathes, H. J.; Mathys, S.; Matthews, J.; Matthiae, G.; Mayotte, E.; Mazur, P. O.; Medina, C.; Medina-Tanco, G.; Melo, D.; Menshikov, A.; Merenda, K.-D.; Michal, S.; Micheletti, M. I.; Middendorf, L.; Miramonti, L.; Mitrica, B.; Mockler, D.; Mollerach, S.; Montanet, F.; Morello, C.; Morlino, G.; Mostafá, M.; Müller, A. L.; Müller, G.; Muller, M. A.; Müller, S.; Mussa, R.; Naranjo, I.; Nellen, L.; Nguyen, P. H.; Niculescu-Oglinzanu, M.; Niechciol, M.; Niemietz, L.; Niggemann, T.; Nitz, D.; Nosek, D.; Novotny, V.; Nožka, L.; Núñez, L. A.; Oikonomou, F.; Olinto, A.; Palatka, M.; Pallotta, J.; Papenbreer, P.; Parente, G.; Parra, A.; Paul, T.; Pech, M.; Pedreira, F.; Pȩkala, J.; Pelayo, R.; Peña-Rodriguez, J.; Pereira, L. A. S.; Perlin, M.; Perrone, L.; Peters, C.; Petrera, S.; Phuntsok, J.; Pierog, T.; Pimenta, M.; Pirronello, V.; Platino, M.; Plum, M.; Poh, J.; Porowski, C.; Prado, R. R.; Privitera, P.; Prouza, M.; Quel, E. J.; Querchfeld, S.; Quinn, S.; Ramos-Pollan, R.; Rautenberg, J.; Ravignani, D.; Ridky, J.; Riehn, F.; Risse, M.; Ristori, P.; Rizi, V.; Rodrigues de Carvalho, W.; Rodriguez Fernandez, G.; Rodriguez Rojo, J.; Roncoroni, M. J.; Roth, M.; Roulet, E.; Rovero, A. C.; Ruehl, P.; Saffi, S. J.; Saftoiu, A.; Salamida, F.; Salazar, H.; Saleh, A.; Salina, G.; Sánchez, F.; Sanchez-Lucas, P.; Santos, E. M.; Santos, E.; Sarazin, F.; Sarmento, R.; Sarmiento-Cano, C.; Sato, R.; Schauer, M.; Scherini, V.; Schieler, H.; Schimp, M.; Schmidt, D.; Scholten, O.; Schovánek, P.; Schröder, F. G.; Schröder, S.; Schulz, A.; Schumacher, J.; Sciutto, S. J.; Segreto, A.; Shadkam, A.; Shellard, R. C.; Sigl, G.; Silli, G.; Šmída, R.; Snow, G. R.; Sommers, P.; Sonntag, S.; Soriano, J. F.; Squartini, R.; Stanca, D.; Stanič, S.; Stasielak, J.; Stassi, P.; Stolpovskiy, M.; Strafella, F.; Streich, A.; Suarez, F.; Suarez Durán, M.; Sudholz, T.; Suomijärvi, T.; Supanitsky, A. D.; Šupík, J.; Swain, J.; Szadkowski, Z.; Taboada, A.; Taborda, O. A.; Theodoro, V. M.; Timmermans, C.; Todero Peixoto, C. J.; Tomankova, L.; Tomé, B.; Torralba Elipe, G.; Travnicek, P.; Trini, M.; Ulrich, R.; Unger, M.; Urban, M.; Valdés Galicia, J. F.; Valiño, I.; Valore, L.; van Aar, G.; van Bodegom, P.; van den Berg, A. M.; van Vliet, A.; Varela, E.; Vargas Cárdenas, B.; Vázquez, R. A.; Veberič, D.; Ventura, C.; Vergara Quispe, I. D.; Verzi, V.; Vicha, J.; Villaseñor, L.; Vorobiov, S.; Wahlberg, H.; Wainberg, O.; Walz, D.; Watson, A. A.; Weber, M.; Weindl, A.; Wiedeński, M.; Wiencke, L.; Wilczyński, H.; Wirtz, M.; Wittkowski, D.; Wundheiler, B.; Yang, L.; Yushkov, A.; Zas, E.; Zavrtanik, D.; Zavrtanik, M.; Zepeda, A.; Zimmermann, B.; Ziolkowski, M.; Zong, Z.; Zuccarello, F.; The Pierre Auger Collaboration

    2018-02-01

    A new analysis of the data set from the Pierre Auger Observatory provides evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays on an intermediate angular scale, which is indicative of excess arrivals from strong, nearby sources. The data consist of 5514 events above 20 {EeV} with zenith angles up to 80° recorded before 2017 April 30. Sky models have been created for two distinct populations of extragalactic gamma-ray emitters: active galactic nuclei from the second catalog of hard Fermi-LAT sources (2FHL) and starburst galaxies from a sample that was examined with Fermi-LAT. Flux-limited samples, which include all types of galaxies from the Swift-BAT and 2MASS surveys, have been investigated for comparison. The sky model of cosmic-ray density constructed using each catalog has two free parameters, the fraction of events correlating with astrophysical objects, and an angular scale characterizing the clustering of cosmic rays around extragalactic sources. A maximum-likelihood ratio test is used to evaluate the best values of these parameters and to quantify the strength of each model by contrast with isotropy. It is found that the starburst model fits the data better than the hypothesis of isotropy with a statistical significance of 4.0σ, the highest value of the test statistic being for energies above 39 {EeV}. The three alternative models are favored against isotropy with 2.7σ–3.2σ significance. The origin of the indicated deviation from isotropy is examined and prospects for more sensitive future studies are discussed. Any correspondence should be addressed to .

  10. 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)

  11. New test of Lorentz symmetry using ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anchordoqui, Luis A.; Soriano, Jorge F.

    2018-02-01

    We propose an innovative test of Lorentz symmetry by observing pairs of simultaneous parallel extensive air showers produced by the fragments of ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray nuclei which disintegrated in collisions with solar photons. We show that the search for a cross-correlation of showers in arrival time and direction becomes background free for an angular scale ≲3 ° and a time window O (10 s ) . We also show that if the solar photo-disintegration probability of helium is O (10-5.5) then the hunt for spatiotemporal coincident showers could be within range of existing cosmic ray facilities, such as the Pierre Auger Observatory. We demonstrate that the actual observation of a few events can be used to constrain Lorentz violating dispersion relations of the nucleon.

  12. Theoretical and experimental high energy physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walsh, T.; Ruddick, K.

    1990-01-01

    This report discusses the following topics: The Soudan enterprise; study of strange quarks at Fermilab; direct photons at Fermilab; the Brookhaven programs; AMY and CLEO: studies of e + e - annihilations; cosmic ray studies with the DO muon chamber; progress report on HEP computer upgrade; muon triggering and reconstruction at SSC; and, theoretical high energy physics

  13. Cosmic chronometers: constraining the equation of state of dark energy. I: H(z) measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stern, Daniel; Jimenez, Raul; Verde, Licia; Kamionkowski, Marc; Stanford, S. Adam

    2010-01-01

    We present new determinations of the cosmic expansion history from red-envelope galaxies. We have obtained for this purpose high-quality spectra with the Keck-LRIS spectrograph of red-envelope galaxies in 24 galaxy clusters in the redshift range 0.2 −1 Mpc −1 at z ≅ 0.5 and H(z) = 90±40 km sec −1 Mpc −1 at z ≅ 0.9. We discuss the uncertainty in the expansion history determination that arises from uncertainties in the synthetic stellar-population models. We then use these new measurements in concert with cosmic-microwave-background (CMB) measurements to constrain cosmological parameters, with a special emphasis on dark-energy parameters and constraints to the curvature. In particular, we demonstrate the usefulness of direct H(z) measurements by constraining the dark-energy equation of state parameterized by w 0 and w a and allowing for arbitrary curvature. Further, we also constrain, using only CMB and H(z) data, the number of relativistic degrees of freedom to be 4±0.5 and their total mass to be < 0.2 eV, both at 1σ

  14. CREAM for high energy composition measurements

    CERN Document Server

    Seo, E S; Allison, P S; Beatty, J J; Choi, M J; Conklin, N B; Coutu, S; DuVernois, M A; Ganel, O; Kim, K C; Lee, M H; Liu, L; Lutz, L; Maestro, P; Marrocchesi, P S; Minnick, S A; Min, K W; Mognet, S I; Nutter, S; Park, H; Schindhelm, E; Song, C; Swordy, S; Wu, J; Yang, J

    2003-01-01

    Ground-based indirect measurements have shown that the cosmic-ray allparticle spectrum extends many orders of magnitude beyond the energy thought possible for supernova acceleration. Our balloon-borne Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) experiment is capable of extending direct measurements of cosmic-rays to the supernova energy scale of 1015 eV in a series of Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) flights. Identification of Z = 1 - 26 particles will be made with a timing-based charge detector and a pixelated silicon charge detector. Energy measurements will be made with a transition radiation detector and a tungsten/scintillating fiber calorimeter. The instrument has been tested with various particles in accelerated beams at the CERN SPS. The first flight is planned to be launched from Antarctica in December 2004.

  15. Correlation of the highest-energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic objects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pierre Auger Collaboration, [No Value; Abraham, J.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Aguirre, C.; Allard, D.; Allekotte, I.; Allen, J.; Allison, P.; Alvarez, C.; Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Ambrosio, M.; Anchordoqui, L.; Andringa, S.; Anzalone, A.; Aramo, C.; Argirò, S.; Arisaka, K.; Armengaud, E.; Arneodo, F.; Arqueros, F.; Asch, T.; Asorey, H.; Assis, P.; Atulugama, B. S.; Aublin, J.; Ave, M.; Avila, G.; Bäcker, T.; Badagnani, D.; Barbosa, A. F.; Barnhill, D.; Barroso, S. L. C.; Bauleo, P.; Beatty, J.; Beau, T.; Becker, B. R.; Becker, K. H.; Bellido, J. A.; BenZvi, S.; Berat, C.; Bergmann, T.; Bernardini, P.; Bertou, X.; Biermann, P. L.; Billoir, P.; Blanch-Bigas, O.; Blanco, F.; Blasi, P.; Bleve, C.; Blümer, H.; Bohácová, M.; Bonifazi, C.; Bonino, R.; Boratav, M.; Brack, J.; Brogueira, P.; Brown, W. C.; Buchholz, P.; Bueno, A.; Busca, N. G.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Cai, B.; Camin, D. V.; Caruso, R.; Carvalho, W.; Castellina, A.; Catalano, O.; Cataldi, G.; Cazón-Boado, L.; Cester, R.; Chauvin, J.; Chiavassa, A.; Chinellato, J. A.; Chou, A.; Chye, J.; Clark, P. D. J.; Clay, R. W.; Colombo, E.; Conceição, R.; Connolly, B.; Contreras, F.; Coppens, J.; Cordier, A.; Cotti, U.; Coutu, S.; Covault, C. E.; Creusot, A.; Cronin, J.; Dagoret-Campagne, S.; Daumiller, K.; Dawson, B. R.; de Almeida, R. M.; De Donato, C.; de Jong, S. J.; De La Vega, G.; de Mello Junior, W. J. M.; de Mello Neto, J. R. T.; De Mitri, I.; de Souza, V.; del Peral, L.; Deligny, O.; Della Selva, A.; Delle Fratte, C.; Dembinski, H.; Di Giulio, C.; Diaz, J. C.; Dobrigkeit, C.; D'Olivo, J. C.; Dornic, D.; Dorofeev, A.; dos Anjos, J. C.; Dova, M. T.; D'Urso, D.; DuVernois, M. A.; Engel, R.; Epele, L.; Erdmann, M.; Escobar, C. O.; Etchegoyen, A.; Facal San Luis, P.; Falcke, H.; Farrar, G.; Fauth, A. C.; Fazzini, N.; Fernández, A.; Ferrer, F.; Ferry, S.; Fick, B.; Filevich, A.; Filipcic, A.; Fleck, I.; Fonte, R.; Fracchiolla, C. E.; Fulgione, W.; García, B.; García Gámez, D.; Garcia-Pinto, D.; Garrido, X.; Geenen, H.; Gelmini, G.; Gemmeke, H.; Ghia, P. L.; Giller, M.; Glass, H.; Gold, M. S.; Golup, G.; Gomez Albarracin, F.; Gómez Berisso, M.; Gómez Herrero, R.; Gonçalves, P.; Gonçalves do Amaral, M.; Gonzalez, D.; Gonzalez, J. G.; González, M.; Góra, D.; Gorgi, A.; Gouffon, P.; Grassi, V.; Grillo, A.; Grunfeld, C.; Guardincerri, Y.; Guarino, F.; Guedes, G. P.; Gutiérrez, J.; Hague, J. D.; Hamilton, J. C.; Hansen, P.; Harari, D.; Harmsma, S.; Harton, J. L.; Haungs, A.; Hauschildt, T.; Healy, M. D.; Hebbeker, T.; Heck, D.; Hojvat, C.; Holmes, V. C.; Homola, P.; Hörandel, J.; Horneffer, A.; Horvat, M.; Hrabovsky, M.; Huege, T.; Iarlori, M.; Insolia, A.; Ionita, F.; Italiano, A.; Kaducak, M.; Kampert, K. H.; Keilhauer, B.; Kemp, E.; Kieckhafer, R. M.; Klages, H. O.; Kleifges, M.; Kleinfeller, J.; Knapik, R.; Knapp, J.; Koang, D.-H.; Kopmann, A.; Krieger, A.; Krömer, O.; Kümpel, D.; Kunka, N.; Kusenko, A.; La Rosa, G.; Lachaud, C.; Lago, B. L.; Lebrun, D.; Le Brun, P.; Lee, J.; Leigui de Oliveira, M. A.; Letessier-Selvon, A.; Leuthold, M.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; López, R.; Lopez Agüera, A.; Lozano Bahilo, J.; Maccarone, M. C.; Macolino, C.; Maldera, S.; Malek, M.; Mancarella, G.; Manceñido, M. E.; Mandat, D.; Mantsch, P.; Mariazzi, A. G.; Maris, I. C.; Martello, D.; Martínez, J.; Martínez Bravo, O.; Mathes, H. J.; Matthews, J.; Matthews, J. A. J.; Matthiae, G.; Maurizio, D.; Mazur, P. O.; McCauley, T.; McEwen, M.; McNeil, R. R.; Medina, M. C.; Medina-Tanco, G.; Meli, A.; Melo, D.; Menichetti, E.; Menschikov, A.; Meurer, Chr.; Meyhandan, R.; Micheletti, M. I.; Miele, G.; Miller, W.; Mollerach, S.; Monasor, M.; Monnier Ragaigne, D.; Montanet, F.; Morales, B.; Morello, C.; Moreno, E.; Moreno, J. C.; Morris, C.; Mostafá, M.; Muller, M. A.; Mussa, R.; Navarra, G.; Navarro, J. L.; Navas, S.; Nellen, L.; Newman-Holmes, C.; Newton, D.; Nguyen Thi, T.; Nierstenhöfer, N.; Nitz, D.; Nosek, D.; Nozka, L.; Oehlschläger, J.; Ohnuki, T.; Olinto, A.; Olmos-Gilbaja, V. M.; Ortiz, M.; Ostapchenko, S.; Otero, L.; Pakk Selmi-Dei, D.; Palatka, M.; Pallotta, J.; Parente, G.; Parizot, E.; Parlati, S.; Pastor, S.; Patel, M.; Paul, T.; Pavlidou, V.; Payet, K.; Pech, M.; Pçkala, J.; Pelayo, R.; Pepe, I. M.; Perrone, L.; Petrera, S.; Petrinca, P.; Petrov, Y.; Ngoc, DiepPham; Ngoc, DongPham; Pham Thi, T. N.; Pichel, A.; Piegaia, R.; Pierog, T.; Pimenta, M.; Pinto, T.; Pirronello, V.; Pisanti, O.; Platino, M.; Pochon, J.; Porter, T. A.; Privitera, P.; Prouza, M.; Quel, E. J.; Rautenberg, J.; Reucroft, S.; Revenu, B.; Rezende, F. A. S.; Rídky, J.; Riggi, S.; Risse, M.; Rivière, C.; Rizi, V.; Roberts, M.; Robledo, C.; Rodriguez, G.; Rodríguez Frías, D.; Rodriguez Martino, J.; Rodriguez Rojo, J.; Rodriguez-Cabo, I.; Ros, G.; Rosado, J.; Roth, M.; Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, B.; Roulet, E.; Rovero, A. C.; Salamida, F.; Salazar, H.; Salina, G.; Sánchez, F.; Santander, M.; Santo, C. E.; Santos, E. M.; Sarazin, F.; Sarkar, S.; Sato, R.; Scherini, V.; Schieler, H.; Schmidt, F.; Schmidt, T.; Scholten, O.; Schovánek, P.; Schüssler, F.; Sciutto, S. J.; Scuderi, M.; Segreto, A.; Semikoz, D.; Settimo, M.; Shellard, R. C.; Sidelnik, I.; Siffert, B. B.; Sigl, G.; Smetniansky De Grande, N.; Smialkowski, A.; Smída, R.; Smith, A. G. K.; Smith, B. E.; Snow, G. R.; Sokolsky, P.; Sommers, P.; Sorokin, J.; Spinka, H.; Squartini, R.; Strazzeri, E.; Stutz, A.; Suarez, F.; Suomijärvi, T.; Supanitsky, A. D.; Sutherland, M. S.; Swain, J.; Szadkowski, Z.; Takahashi, J.; Tamashiro, A.; Tamburro, A.; Tascau, O.; Tcaciuc, R.; Thomas, D.; Ticona, R.; Tiffenberg, J.; Timmermans, C.; Tkaczyk, W.; Todero Peixoto, C. J.; Tomé, B.; Tonachini, A.; Torresi, D.; Travnicek, P.; Tripathi, A.; Tristram, G.; Tscherniakhovski, D.; Tueros, M.; Tunnicliffe, V.; Ulrich, R.; Unger, M.; Urban, M.; Valdés Galicia, J. F.; Valiño, I.; Valore, L.; van den Berg, A. M.; van Elewyck, V.; Vázquez, R. A.; Veberic, D.; Veiga, A.; Velarde, A.; Venters, T.; Verzi, V.; Videla, M.; Villaseñor, L.; Vorobiov, S.; Voyvodic, L.; Wahlberg, H.; Wainberg, O.; Waldenmaier, T.; Walker, P.; Warner, D.; Watson, A. A.; Westerhoff, S.; Wieczorek, G.; Wiencke, L.; Wilczynska, B.; Wilczynski, H.; Wileman, C.; Winnick, M. G.; Wu, H.; Wundheiler, B.; Xu, J.; Yamamoto, T.; Younk, P.; Zas, E.; Zavrtanik, D.; Zavrtanik, M.; Zech, A.; Zepeda, A.; Ziolkowski, M.

    2007-01-01

    Using data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory during the past 3.7 years, we demonstrated a correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energy above 6 × 1019 electron volts and the positions of active galactic nuclei (AGN) lying within ~75 megaparsecs. We rejected the

  16. Ionization Processes in the Atmosphere of Titan (Research Note). III. Ionization by High-Z Nuclei Cosmic Rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gronoff, G.; Mertens, C.; Lilensten, J.; Desorgher, L.; Fluckiger, E.; Velinov, P.

    2011-01-01

    Context. The Cassini-Huygens mission has revealed the importance of particle precipitation in the atmosphere of Titan thanks to in-situ measurements. These ionizing particles (electrons, protons, and cosmic rays) have a strong impact on the chemistry, hence must be modeled. Aims. We revisit our computation of ionization in the atmosphere of Titan by cosmic rays. The high-energy high-mass ions are taken into account to improve the precision of the calculation of the ion production profile. Methods. The Badhwahr and O Neill model for cosmic ray spectrum was adapted for the Titan model. We used the TransTitan model coupled with the Planetocosmics model to compute the ion production by cosmic rays. We compared the results with the NAIRAS/HZETRN ionization model used for the first time for a body that differs from the Earth. Results. The cosmic ray ionization is computed for five groups of cosmic rays, depending on their charge and mass: protons, alpha, Z = 8 (oxygen), Z = 14 (silicon), and Z = 26 (iron) nucleus. Protons and alpha particles ionize mainly at 65 km altitude, while the higher mass nucleons ionize at higher altitudes. Nevertheless, the ionization at higher altitude is insufficient to obscure the impact of Saturn s magnetosphere protons at a 500 km altitude. The ionization rate at the peak (altitude: 65 km, for all the different conditions) lies between 30 and 40/cu cm/s. Conclusions. These new computations show for the first time the importance of high Z cosmic rays on the ionization of the Titan atmosphere. The updated full ionization profile shape does not differ significantly from that found in our previous calculations (Paper I: Gronoff et al. 2009, 506, 955) but undergoes a strong increase in intensity below an altitude of 400 km, especially between 200 and 400 km altitude where alpha and heavier particles (in the cosmic ray spectrum) are responsible for 40% of the ionization. The comparison of several models of ionization and cosmic ray spectra (in

  17. 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

  18. 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.)

  19. Measuring extensive air showers with Cherenkov light detectors of the Yakutsk array: the energy spectrum of cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ivanov, A A; Knurenko, S P; Sleptsov, I Ye

    2009-01-01

    The energy spectrum of cosmic rays in the range E∼10 15 eV to 6x10 19 eV is studied in this paper using air Cherenkov light detectors of the Yakutsk array. The total flux of photons produced by the relativistic electrons (including positrons as well, hereafter) of extensive air showers in the atmosphere is used as an energy estimator of the primary particle initiating a shower. The resultant differential flux of cosmic rays exhibits, in agreement with previous measurements, a knee and ankle feature at energies of 3x10 15 and ∼10 19 eV, respectively. A comparison of observational data with simulations is made in the knee and ankle regions in order to choose the models of galactic and extragalactic components of cosmic rays that describe well the energy spectrum measured.

  20. Measuring extensive air showers with Cherenkov light detectors of the Yakutsk array: the energy spectrum of cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ivanov, A A; Knurenko, S P; Sleptsov, I Ye [Shafer Institute for Cosmophysical Research and Aeronomy, Yakutsk 677980 (Russian Federation)], E-mail: ivanov@ikfia.ysn.ru

    2009-06-15

    The energy spectrum of cosmic rays in the range E{approx}10{sup 15} eV to 6x10{sup 19} eV is studied in this paper using air Cherenkov light detectors of the Yakutsk array. The total flux of photons produced by the relativistic electrons (including positrons as well, hereafter) of extensive air showers in the atmosphere is used as an energy estimator of the primary particle initiating a shower. The resultant differential flux of cosmic rays exhibits, in agreement with previous measurements, a knee and ankle feature at energies of 3x10{sup 15} and {approx}10{sup 19} eV, respectively. A comparison of observational data with simulations is made in the knee and ankle regions in order to choose the models of galactic and extragalactic components of cosmic rays that describe well the energy spectrum measured.

  1. Disentangling dark energy and cosmic tests of gravity from weak lensing systematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laszlo, Istvan; Bean, Rachel; Kirk, Donnacha; Bridle, Sarah

    2012-06-01

    We consider the impact of key astrophysical and measurement systematics on constraints on dark energy and modifications to gravity on cosmic scales. We focus on upcoming photometric ‘stage III’ and ‘stage IV’ large-scale structure surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Subaru Measurement of Images and Redshifts survey, the Euclid survey, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and Wide Field Infra-Red Space Telescope (WFIRST). We illustrate the different redshift dependencies of gravity modifications compared to intrinsic alignments, the main astrophysical systematic. The way in which systematic uncertainties, such as galaxy bias and intrinsic alignments, are modelled can change dark energy equation-of-state parameter and modified gravity figures of merit by a factor of 4. The inclusion of cross-correlations of cosmic shear and galaxy position measurements helps reduce the loss of constraining power from the lensing shear surveys. When forecasts for Planck cosmic microwave background and stage IV surveys are combined, constraints on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter and modified gravity model are recovered, relative to those from shear data with no systematic uncertainties, provided fewer than 36 free parameters in total are used to describe the galaxy bias and intrinsic alignment models as a function of scale and redshift. While some uncertainty in the intrinsic alignment (IA) model can be tolerated, it is going to be important to be able to parametrize IAs well in order to realize the full potential of upcoming surveys. To facilitate future investigations, we also provide a fitting function for the matter power spectrum arising from the phenomenological modified gravity model we consider.

  2. World's largest air shower array now on track of super-high-energy cosmic-rays Pierre Auger Observatory seeks source of highest-energy extraterrestrial particles

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    "With the completion of its hundredth surface detector, the Pierre Auger Observatory, under construction in Argentina, this week became the largest cosmic-ray air shower array in the world. Managed by scientists at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Pierre Auger project so far encompasses a 70-square-mile array of detectors that are tracking the most violent-and perhaps most puzzling- processes in the entire universe" (1 page).

  3. Theoretical and experimental high energy physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gasiorowicz, S.; Ruddick, K.

    1988-01-01

    This report discusses experimental and theoretical work in High Energy Physics. Some topics discussed are: quantum field theory; supersymmetry; cosmology; superstring model; relic photinos; inflationary universe; dark matter; standard model; supernovae; semileptonic decay; quantum Langevin equation; underground neutrino detection at Soudan; strange quark systems; cosmic ray detection; superconducting super collider detectors; and studies of direct photon production

  4. Astrophysics, cosmology and high energy physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rees, M.J.

    1983-01-01

    A brief survey is given of some topics in astrophysics and cosmology, with special emphasis on the inter-relation between the properties of the early Universe and recent ideas in high energy physics, and on simple order-of-magnitude arguments showing how the scales and dimensions of cosmic phenomena are related to basic physical constants. (orig.)

  5. Cosmic Rays and Research in Schools: One School's Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaffer, Andy; Tedd, Bernie

    2016-01-01

    The High School Project on Astrophysics Research with Cosmics (HiSPARC) is an international project in which secondary schools and academic institutions join forces to form a network of detectors to measure cosmic rays with extremely high energy. We present results of research done by students at the King Edward VI High School For Girls,…

  6. Atmospheric aerosols at the Pierre Auger Observatory: characterization and effect on the energy estimation for ultra-high energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Louedec, K.

    2011-01-01

    The Pierre Auger Observatory, located in the Province of Mendoza in Argentina, is making good progress in understanding the nature and origin of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Using a hybrid detection technique, based on surface detectors and fluorescence telescopes, it provides large statistics, good mass and energy resolution, and solid control of systematic uncertainties. One of the main challenges for the fluorescence detection technique is the understanding of the atmosphere, used as a giant calorimeter. To minimize as much as possible the systematic uncertainties in fluorescence measurements, the Auger Collaboration has developed an extensive atmospheric monitoring program. The purpose of this work is to improve our knowledge of the atmospheric aerosols, and their effect on fluorescence light propagation. Using a modelling program computing air mass displacements, it has been shown that nights with low aerosol concentrations have air masses coming much more directly from the Pacific Ocean. For the first time, the effect of the aerosol size on the light propagation has been estimated. Indeed, according to the Ramsauer approach, large aerosols have the largest effect on the light scattering. Thus, the dependence on the aerosol size has been added to the light scattering parameterizations used by the Auger Collaboration. A systematic overestimation of the energy and of the maximum air shower development X max is observed. Finally, a method based on the very inclined laser shots fired by the Auger central laser has been developed to estimate the aerosol size. Large aerosol sizes ever estimated at the Pierre Auger Observatory can now be probed. First preliminary results using laser-shot data collected in the past have identified a population of large aerosols. (author)

  7. 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)

  8. Comparison of CREME (cosmic-ray effects on microelectronics) model LET (linear energy transfer) spaceflight dosimetry data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Letaw, J.R.; Adams, J.H.

    1986-07-15

    The galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) component of space radiation is the dominant cause of single-event phenomena in microelectronic circuits when Earth's magnetic shielding is low. Spaceflights outside the magnetosphere and in high inclination orbits are examples of such circumstances. In high-inclination orbits, low-energy (high LET) particles are transmitted through the field only at extreme latitudes, but can dominate the orbit-averaged dose. GCR is an important part of the radiation dose to astronauts under the same conditions. As a test of the CREME environmental model and particle transport codes used to estimate single event upsets, we have compiled existing measurements of HZE doses were compiled where GCR is expected to be important: Apollo 16 and 17, Skylab, Apollo Soyuz Test Project, and Kosmos 782. The LET spectra, due to direct ionization from GCR, for each of these missions has been estimated. The resulting comparisons with data validate the CREME model predictions of high-LET galactic cosmic-ray fluxes to within a factor of two. Some systematic differences between the model and data are identified.

  9. Obscured flat spectrum radio active galactic nuclei as sources of high-energy neutrinos

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maggi, G.; Buitink, S.; Correa, P.; de Vries, K. D.; Gentile, G.; Tavares, J. León; Scholten, O.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vereecken, M.; Winchen, T.

    2016-01-01

    Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are believed to be one of the main source candidates for the high-energy (TeV-PeV) cosmic neutrino flux recently discovered by the IceCube neutrino observatory. Nevertheless, several correlation studies between AGN and the cosmic neutrinos detected by IceCube show no

  10. Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and new particle physics

    CERN Document Server

    Kachelriess, M.

    2001-02-28

    The current status of the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHE CR) enigma and several proposed solutions involving particle physics beyond the standard model are discussed. Emphasis is given to top--down models, and as a main example, supermassive dark matter as galactic source for UHE CR and the status of its experimental signatures (galactic anisotropy, chemical composition and clustering) is reviewed. Then different approaches to calculate fragmentation spectra of supermassive particles are discussed. Finally, it is argued that UHE neutrinos cannot be - neither directly or indirectly - responsible for the observed vertical air showers.

  11. Second dip as a signature of ultrahigh energy proton interactions with cosmic microwave background radiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berezinsky, V; Gazizov, A; Kachelrieb, M

    2006-12-08

    We discuss as a new signature for the interaction of extragalactic ultrahigh energy protons with cosmic microwave background radiation a spectral feature located at E= 6.3 x 10(19) eV in the form of a narrow and shallow dip. It is produced by the interference of e+e(-)-pair and pion production. We show that this dip and, in particular, its position are almost model-independent. Its observation by future ultrahigh energy cosmic ray detectors may give the conclusive confirmation that an observed steepening of the spectrum is caused by the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin effect.

  12. The cosmic censorship hypothesis and the positive energy conjecture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, P.S.; Wald, R.W.

    1979-01-01

    The position so far is summarized. Penrose derived an inequality; if a data set was found to violate this then the assumptions deriving the inequality must be false. In this case it could show a counter example to the cosmic censorship hypothesis. The authors have shown elsewhere that a positive energy argument of Geroch can be modified to rule out a violation of Penrose's inequality with any time-symmetric initial data set whose apparent horizon consists of a single component. This increases confidence in the hypothesis and also indicates there may be a close relationship between this conjecture and the positive energy conjecture. (UK)

  13. High-energy particles associated with solar flares

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakurai, K.; Klimas, A.J.

    1974-05-01

    High energy particles, the so-called solar cosmic rays, are often generated in association with solar flares, and then emitted into interplanetary space. These particles, consisting of electrons, protons, and other heavier nuclei, including the iron-group, are accelerated in the vicinity of the flare. By studying the temporal and spatial variation of these particles near the earth's orbit, their storage and release mechanisms in the solar corona and their propagation mechanism can be understood. The details of the nuclear composition and the rigidity spectrum for each nuclear component of the solar cosmic rays are important for investigating the acceleration mechanism in solar flares. The timing and efficiency of the acceleration process can also be investigated by using this information. These problems are described in some detail by using observational results on solar cosmic rays and associated phenomena. (U.S.)

  14. THE BORON-TO-CARBON ABUNDANCE RATIO AND GALACTIC PROPAGATION OF COSMIC RADIATION

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obermeier, A.; Boyle, P.; Müller, D.; Hörandel, J.

    2012-01-01

    In two long-duration balloon flights in 2003 and 2006, the TRACER cosmic-ray detector has measured the energy spectra and the absolute intensities of the cosmic-ray nuclei from boron (Z = 5) to iron (Z = 26) up to very high energies. In particular, the second flight has led to results on the energy spectrum of the secondary boron nuclei, and on the boron abundance relative to that of the heavier primary parent nuclei, commonly quantified as the 'B/C abundance ratio'. The energy dependence of this ratio, now available up to about 2 TeV amu –1 , provides a measure for the energy dependence of cosmic-ray propagation through the Galaxy, and for the shape of the cosmic-ray source energy spectrum. We use a Leaky-Box approximation of cosmic-ray propagation to obtain constraints on the relevant parameters on the basis of the results of TRACER and of other measurements. This analysis suggests that the source energy spectrum is a relatively soft power law in energy E –α , with spectral exponent α = 2.37 ± 0.12, and that the propagation path length Λ(E) is described by a power law in energy with exponent δ = 0.53 ± 0.06, but may assume a constant residual value Λ 0 at high energy. The value of Λ 0 is not well constrained but should be less than about 0.8 g cm –2 . Finally, we compare the data with numerical solutions of a diffusive reacceleration model, which also indicates a soft source spectrum.

  15. 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.

  16. Infra-red photon release from cosmic dust entering into the earth's atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Koichi

    1975-01-01

    Cosmic dust brings considerably high intensity of energy flux to the upper atmosphere of the earth. Most of this energy can be converted to infra-red radiation. It can be concluded that the infra-red background radiation in the sky of its wavelength of less than about 10μ may considerably originate in the cosmic dust which has entered the earth's atmosphere, or that the upper limit to the flux of cosmic dust is about 10 5 tons/earth year. (author)

  17. 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

  18. Workshop on Non-Imaging Cherenkov at High Energy

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    The non-Imaging Cherenkov air shower measurement technique holds great promise in furthering our understanding the Knee-to-Ankle region of the cosmic ray spectrum. In particular, this technique offers a unique way to determine the evolution of the cosmic ray nuclear composition, and an example is given by the recent spectrum results of the Tunka Collaboration. With this in mind, we are organizing a workshop, to be held at the University of Utah, to bring together the various practitioners of this cosmic ray measurement technique to share simulations, analyses, detector designs, and past experimental results amongst the community. The workshop will also be in support of our effort, NICHE, to extend the reach of the TA/TALE detector systems down to the Knee. We anticipate that the workshop will result in a white paper on the scientific importance of these high-energy cosmic ray measurements and on using the Cherenkov technique to accomplish them. Our goal is to have contributions from members of the previous ge...

  19. Photon damping in cosmic-ray acceleration in active galactic nuclei

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Colgate, S.A.

    1983-01-01

    The usual assumption of the acceleration of ultra high energy cosmic rays, greater than or equal to 10 18 eV in quasars, Seyfert galaxies and other active galactic nuclei is challenged on the basis of the photon interactions with the accelerated nucleons. This is similar to the effect of the black body radiation on particles > 10 20 eV for times of the age of the universe except that the photon spectrum is harder and the energy density greater by approx. = 10 15 . Hence, a single traversal, radial or circumferential, of radiation whose energy density is no greater than the emitted flux will damp an ultra high energy. Hence, it is unlikely that any reasonable configuration of acceleration can void disastrous photon energy loss. A different site for ultra high energy cosmic ray acceleration must be found

  20. 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.

  1. High energy cosmic ray signature of quark nuggets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Audouze, J.; Schaeffer, R.; Silk, J.

    1985-01-01

    It has been recently proposed that dark matter in the Universe might consist of nuggets of quarks which populate the nuclear desert between nucleons and neutron star matter. It is further suggested that the Centauro events which could be the signature of particles with atomic mass A approx. 100 and energy E approx. 10 to 15th power eV might also be related to debris produced in the encounter of two neutron stars. A further consequence of the former proposal is examined, and it is shown that the production of relativistic quark nuggets is accompanied by a substantial flux of potentially observable high energy neutrinos.

  2. Energy-density spectrum of the vacuum around a cosmic string

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarmiento, A.; Hacyan, S.

    1988-01-01

    The explicit form of the spectrum of the energy density of the vacuum surrounding a cosmic string as would be seen by an observer at rest is calculated. Spin-0, -half, or -1 massless fields are considered and it is found that the result is independent of the spin value. An interpretation which differs from the one usually found in the literature is also given

  3. Interactions of cosmic ray hadrons from 104 to 106 GeV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaisser, T.K.

    1977-01-01

    Three topics from the field of high energy cosmic rays that are relevant to properties of hadronic interactions at energies not accessible to existing accelerators are discussed. In each case, the implications for future experiments at ISABELLE and other accelerators planned to probe the energy range of E/sub Lab/ approximately 10 4 GeV and beyond are evaluated. A systematic analysis of inclusive distributions of photons produced in collisions of hadrons with light nuclei is given. The overall conclusion is that, although the data is consistent with scaling for small x in the fragmentation region, the plateau appears to rise significantly beyond ISR energies with a correspondingly rapid increase in multiplicity. The situation in the more controversial field of high p/sub T/ in cosmic rays is summarized. If the suggestions of some experiments are correct, then the high p/sub T/ component of hadronic interactions must become much more important relative to the normal component for E/sub Lab/ > 10 4 GeV than would be expected by extrapolating accelerator data on high p/sub T/ using fits of the form p/sub T/ -8 . Some analyses of atmospheric cascades produced by interactions of cosmic rays of E greater than or equal to 10 6 GeV are briefly reviewed. The interpretation of these experiments is ambiguous because the primary composition of cosmic rays is unknown at these energies. It is, however, possible to draw conclusions corresponding to various assumptions about the primary composition

  4. The anisotropy of cosmic ray particles in the energy range 1011-1019 eV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Chunxian

    1985-01-01

    A study of the anisotropy of primary cosmic ray is presented. The expression of the anisotropy is derived in a model of statistical discrete sources in an infinite galaxy. Using these derived formulas, the amplitudes of the first harmonic anisotropies caused by eleven supernovea nearby the Earth are estimated individually and the trend of the resultant anisotropy is investigated. It is found that the expected results can account for the power law of Esup(0.5) of the anisotropy above the energy 5 x 10 15 eV. The Compton-getting effect can cause an additional anisotropy which is independent of energy and added to the resultant anisotropy of these discrete sources. It is apparent that the anisotropies available in the low energy range 10 11 - 10 14 eV are caused by the Compton-Getting effect. Taking the differential spectrum index γ = 2.67 measured in the same energy bound we get the streaming velocity of 35 km/s with respect to the cosmic ray background

  5. 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.

  6. Ultra-high energy physics and standard basic principles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalez-Mestres Luis

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available It has not yet been elucidated whether the observed flux suppression for ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR at energies above ≃ 4 x 1019 eV is a signature of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK cutoff or a consequence of other phenomena. In both cases, violations of the standard fundamental principles of Physics can be present and play a significant role. They can in particular modify cosmic-ray interactions, propagation or acceleration at very high energy. Thus, in a long-term program, UHECR data can hopefully be used to test relativity, quantum mechanics, energy and momentum conservation, vacuum properties... as well as the elementariness of standard particles. Data on cosmic rays at energies ≃ 1020 eV may also be sensitive to new physics generated well beyond Planck scale. A typical example is provided by the search for possible signatures of a Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV associated to a privileged local reference frame (the "vacuum rest frame", VRF. If a VRF exists, the internal structure of standard particles at ultra-high energy can undergo substantial modifications. Similarly, the conventional particle symmetries may cease to be valid at such energies instead of heading to a grand unification and the structure of vacuum may no longer be governed by standard quantum field theory. Then, the question whether the notion of Planck scale still makes sense clearly becomes relevant and the very grounds of Cosmology can undergo essential modifications. UHECR studies naturally interact with the interpretation of WMAP and Planck observations. Recent Planck data analyses tend to confirm the possible existence of a privileged space direction. If the observed phenomenon turns out to be a signature of the spinorial space-time (SST we suggested in 1996-97, then conventional Particle Physics may correspond to the local properties of standard matter at low enough energy and large enough distances. This would clearly strengthen the cosmological

  7. Earth's magnetic field as a radiator to detect cosmic ray electrons of energy greater than 10 to the 12th eV

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balasubrahmanyan, V. K.; Stephens, S. A.

    1983-01-01

    Synchrotron emission by a high-energy electron in the geomagnetic field and its dependence upon different arrival directions over Palestine, Texas, where major balloon-borne experiments are being conducted, is studied. The dependence of detector response on the arrival direction of electron, the different criteria which are adopted to identify an electron event, the area of the detector, and the energy of the electron are discussed. An omnidirectional circular detector is used to examine whether it is possible to determine the energy of an electron without knowing its arrival direction. The collecting power of a detector is estimated as a function of the energy of electrons for different detector areas with different selection criteria, and this information is used to calculate the event rates expected by folding in the energy spectrum of cosmic ray electrons to show the viability of detecting cosmic ray electrons at energies greater than a few TeV.

  8. Cosmic rays and new accelerator experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muraki, Y.

    The cross-section of sigma(anti-D,D) increases with energy. The heavy vector boson production cross-section deviates from the naive law 1/M 3 F(s/M 2 ) at very high energy. Comparison with dsigma/dP(T)/(had) and Drell-Yan cross-section dsigma/(dM/2)/(d-y) at very high energy will provide evidence about the existence of the colour quantum number. Centauro will soon be checked by a cosmic-ray experiment. The detail dynamics of such a hadron rich event will be extensively studied at anti-pp colliders. The investigation of the Feynman scaling at the anti-pp collider for hadrons brings a very important knowledge on astrophysics. The 2μ, 3μ, 4μ and multi muon bundle at the anti-pp colliders is extremely interesting. A cosmic ray muon bundle event suggests the successive decay of a anti-BB pair. The total cross-section for (anti-BB) is estimated as 500μb at 150 TeV

  9. 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.

  10. 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.)

  11. 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

  12. Origin of the highest energy cosmic rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biermann, Peter L.; Ahn, Eun-Joo; Medina-Tanco, Gustavo; Stanev, Todor

    2000-06-01

    Introducing a simple Galactic wind model patterned after the solar wind we show that back-tracing the orbits of the highest energy cosmic events suggests that they may all come from the Virgo cluster, and so probably from the active radio galaxy M87. This confirms a long standing expectation. Those powerful radio galaxies that have their relativistic jets stuck in the interstellar medium of the host galaxy, such as 3C147, will then enable us to derive limits on the production of any new kind of particle, expected in some extensions of the standard model in particle physics. New data from HIRES will be crucial in testing the model proposed here.

  13. 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.

  14. Cosmic structure sizes in generic dark energy models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bhattacharya, Sourav [Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Department of Physics, Rupnagar, Punjab (India); Tomaras, Theodore N. [ITCP and Department of Physics, University of Crete, Heraklion (Greece)

    2017-08-15

    The maximum allowable size of a spherical cosmic structure as a function of its mass is determined by the maximum turn around radius R{sub TA,max}, the distance from its center where the attraction on a radial test particle due to the spherical mass is balanced with the repulsion due to the ambient dark energy. In this work, we extend the existing results in several directions. (a) We first show that, for w ≠ -1, the expression for R{sub TA,max} found earlier, using the cosmological perturbation theory, can be derived using a static geometry as well. (b) In the generic dark energy model with arbitrary time dependent state parameter w(t), taking into account the effect of inhomogeneities upon the dark energy as well, it is shown that the data constrain w(t = today) > -2.3. (c) We address the quintessence and the generalized Chaplygin gas models, both of which are shown to predict structure sizes consistent with observations. (orig.)

  15. Modelling the cosmic spectral energy distribution and extragalactic background light over all time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, S. K.; Driver, S. P.; Davies, L. J. M.; Lagos, C. d. P.; Robotham, A. S. G.

    2018-02-01

    We present a phenomological model of the cosmic spectral energy distribution (CSED) and the integrated galactic light (IGL) over all cosmic time. This model, based on an earlier model by Driver et al., attributes the cosmic star formation history (CSFH) to two processes - first, chaotic clump accretion and major mergers, resulting in the early-time formation of bulges and secondly, cold gas accretion, resulting in late-time disc formation. Under the assumption of a Universal Chabrier initial mass function, we combine the Bruzual & Charlot stellar libraries, the Charlot & Fall dust attenuation prescription and template spectra for emission by dust and active galactic nuclei to predict the CSED - pre- and post-dust attenuation - and the IGL throughout cosmic time. The phenomological model, as constructed, adopts a number of basic axioms and empirical results and has minimal free parameters. We compare the model output, as well as predictions from the semi-analytic model GALFORM to recent estimates of the CSED out to z = 1. By construction, our empirical model reproduces the full energy output of the Universe from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared extremely well. We use the model to derive predictions of the stellar and dust mass densities, again finding good agreement. We find that GALFORM predicts the CSED for z < 0.3 in good agreement with the observations. This agreement becomes increasingly poor towards z = 1, when the model CSED is ˜50 per cent fainter. The latter is consistent with the model underpredicting the CSFH. As a consequence, GALFORM predicts a ˜30 per cent fainter IGL.

  16. 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.)

  17. 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.)

  18. Final Report for Research in High Energy Physics (University of Hawaii)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Browder, Thomas E.

    2013-08-31

    Here we present a final report for the DOE award for the University of Hawaii High Energy Physics Group (UHHEPG) for the period from December 1, 2009 to May 31, 2013 (including a period of no-cost extension). The high energy physics (HEP) group at the University of Hawaii (UH) has been engaged in experiments at the intensity frontier studying flavor physics (Task A: Belle, Belle-II and Task B: BES) and neutrinos (Task C: SuperK, LBNE, Double Chooz, DarkSide, and neutrino R\\&D). On the energy frontier, new types of pixel detectors were developed for upgrades of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC (Task D). On the cosmic frontier, there were investigations of ultra high-energy neutrino astrophysics and the highest energy cosmic rays using special radio detection techniques (Task E: AMBER, ANITA R\\&D) and results of the analysis of ANITA data. In addition, we have developed new types of sophisticated and cutting edge instrumentation based on novel ``oscilloscope on a chip'' electronics (Task F). Theoretical physics research (Task G) is phenomenologically oriented and has studied experimental consequences of existing and proposed new theories relevant to the energy, cosmic and intensity frontiers. The senior investigators for proposal were T. E. Browder (Task A), F. A. Harris (Task B), P. Gorham (Task E), J. Kumar (Task G), J. Maricic (Task C), J. G. Learned (Task C), S. Pakvasa (Task G), S. Parker (Task D), S. Matsuno (Task C), X. Tata (Task G) and G. S. Varner (Tasks F, A, E).

  19. 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

  20. 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.

  1. 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.

  2. L3 + Cosmics Experiment

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    %RE4 %title\\\\ \\\\The L3+C experiment takes advantage of the unique properties of the L3 muon spectrometer to get an accurate measurement of cosmic ray muons 30 m underground. A new muon trigger, readout and DAQ system have been installed, as well as a scintillator array covering the upper surfaces of the L3 magnet for timing purposes. The acceptance amounts to 200 $m^2 sr$. The data are collected independently in parallel with L3 running. In spring 2000 a scintillator array will be installed on the roof of the SX hall in order to estimate the primary energy of air showers associated with events observed in L3+C.\\\\ \\\\The cosmic ray muon momentum spectrum, the zenith angular dependence and the charge ratio are measured with high accuracy between 20 and 2000 GeV/c. The results will provide new information about the primary composition, the shower development in the atmosphere, and the inclusive pion and kaon (production-) cross sections (specifically the "$\\pi$/K ratio") at high energies. These data will also hel...

  3. 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.

  4. LAT Perspectives in Detection of High Energy Cosmic Ray Electrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moiseev, Alexander; Ormes, J.F.; Funk, Stefan

    2007-01-01

    The LAT science objectives and capabilities in the detection of high energy electrons in the energy range from 20 GeV to ∼1.5 TeV are presented. LAT simulations are used to establish the event selections. It is found that maintaining the efficiency of electron detection at the level of 30%, the residual hadron contamination does not exceed 2-3% of the electron flux. It is expected to collect ∼ ten million of electrons with the energy above 20 GeV for one year of observation. Precise spectrum reconstruction with collected electron statistics opens the unique opportunity to investigate several important problems such as models of IC radiation, revealing the signatures of nearby sources such as high energy cutoff in the electron spectrum, testing the propagation model, and search for KKDM particles decay through their contribution to the electron spectrum

  5. Cosmic ray muon study with the NEVOD-DECOR experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saavedra San Martin, Oscar

    2017-06-01

    The experiment NEVOV-DECOR, which is desinged to study the cosmic muons at very inclined directions, is running under the collaboration of the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow, Russia, and the Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica and the Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino, Italy. The main purpose of this experiment is to study the characteristics of the high multiplicity muons in muon bundles and their angular distributions. The result has shown the observation of the second knee at 1017 eV in the primary cosmic ray spectrum. In addition, we found that the number of high energy muons in EAS is more than 30% of what is predicted by the Monte Carlo models. This effect was found also by other experiments like Auger, but at primary cosmic ray energies higher than 1018 eV. We will present and discuss the main results of these investigations.

  6. Cosmic ray muon study with the NEVOD-DECOR experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saavedra San Martin, Oscar

    2017-01-01

    The experiment NEVOV-DECOR, which is designed to study the cosmic muons at very inclined directions, is running under the collaboration of the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow, Russia, and the Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica and the Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino, Italy. The main purpose of this experiment is to study the characteristics of the high multiplicity muons in muon bundles and their angular distributions. The result has shown the observation of the second knee at 10 17 eV in the primary cosmic ray spectrum. In addition, we found that the number of high energy muons in EAS is more than 30% of what is predicted by the Monte Carlo models. This effect was found also by other experiments like Auger, but at primary cosmic ray energies higher than 10 18 eV. We will present and discuss the main results of these investigations. (paper)

  7. Cosmic Sum Rules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

  8. Overview. Department of High Energy Physics. Section 5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coghen, T.

    1995-01-01

    The activities of Department of High Energy Physics in 1994 have been presented. They cover a variety of problems of experimental and theoretical high energy elementary particle physics: hadronic and leptonic interactions with nucleons and nuclei (mainly characteristics of particle production , including heavy quark physics), e + e - interactions and tests of the Standard Model (also evaluations of radiative corrections), ultrarelativistic heavy ion interactions and search for the quark-gluon plasma, as well as spectra, composition and interactions of high energy cosmic ray particles.Research on detectors and development of apparatus for high energy physics experiments at future accelerators such as LHC or RHIC were also carried out. The short information about personnel employed in the Department, seminars, publication, conferences and reports is also given

  9. Overview. Department of High Energy Physics. Section 5

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coghen, T. [Institute of Nuclear Physics, Cracow (Poland)

    1995-12-31

    The activities of Department of High Energy Physics in 1994 have been presented. They cover a variety of problems of experimental and theoretical high energy elementary particle physics: hadronic and leptonic interactions with nucleons and nuclei (mainly characteristics of particle production , including heavy quark physics), e{sup +} e{sup -} interactions and tests of the Standard Model (also evaluations of radiative corrections), ultrarelativistic heavy ion interactions and search for the quark-gluon plasma, as well as spectra, composition and interactions of high energy cosmic ray particles.Research on detectors and development of apparatus for high energy physics experiments at future accelerators such as LHC or RHIC were also carried out. The short information about personnel employed in the Department, seminars, publication, conferences and reports is also given.

  10. Overview. Department of High Energy Physics. Section 5

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coghen, T [Institute of Nuclear Physics, Cracow (Poland)

    1996-12-31

    The activities of Department of High Energy Physics in 1994 have been presented. They cover a variety of problems of experimental and theoretical high energy elementary particle physics: hadronic and leptonic interactions with nucleons and nuclei (mainly characteristics of particle production , including heavy quark physics), e{sup +} e{sup -} interactions and tests of the Standard Model (also evaluations of radiative corrections), ultrarelativistic heavy ion interactions and search for the quark-gluon plasma, as well as spectra, composition and interactions of high energy cosmic ray particles.Research on detectors and development of apparatus for high energy physics experiments at future accelerators such as LHC or RHIC were also carried out. The short information about personnel employed in the Department, seminars, publication, conferences and reports is also given.

  11. The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Ebr, Jan; Grygar, Jiří; Mandát, Dušan; Nečesal, Petr; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovánek, Petr; Trávníček, Petr; Vícha, Jakub

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 798, Oct (2015), s. 172-213 ISSN 0168-9002 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LG13007; GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : Pierre Auger Observatory * high energy cosmic rays * hybrid observatory * water Cherenkov detectors * air fluorescence detectors Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 1.200, year: 2015

  12. Do cosmic ray air showers initiate lightning? : A statistical analysis of cosmic ray air showers and lightning mapping array data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hare, B. M.; Dwyer, J. R.; Winner, L. H.; Uman, M. A.; Jordan, D. M.; Kotovsky, D. A.; Caicedo, J. A.; Wilkes, R. A.; Carvalho, F. L.; Pilkey, J. T.; Ngin, T. K.; Gamerota, W. R.; Rassoul, H. K.

    2017-01-01

    It has been argued in the technical literature, and widely reported in the popular press, that cosmic ray air showers (CRASs) can initiate lightning via a mechanism known as relativistic runaway electron avalanche (RREA), where large numbers of high-energy and low-energy electrons can, somehow,

  13. Color sextet quarks and new high-energy interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, A.R.; Kang, Kyungsik

    1992-01-01

    We review the implications of adding a flavor doublet of color sextet quarks to QCD. Theoretical attractions include -- ''minimal'' dynamical symmetry breaking of the electroweak interaction, solution of the Strong CP problem via the ''heavy axion'' η 6 , and Critical Pomeron Scaling at asymptotic energies. Related experimental phenomena, which there may be evidence for, include -- production of the η 6 at LEP, large cross-sections for W + W - and Z o Z o pairs and very high energy jets in hadron colliders, and a hadronic threshold above which high-energy ''exotic'' diffractive processes appear in Cosmic Ray events

  14. Particle Physics at the Cosmic, Intensity, and Energy Frontiers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Essig, Rouven

    2018-04-06

    Major efforts at the Intensity, Cosmic, and Energy frontiers of particle physics are rapidly furthering our understanding of the fundamental constituents of Nature and their interactions. The overall objectives of this research project are (1) to interpret and develop the theoretical implications of the data collected at these frontiers and (2) to provide the theoretical motivation, basis, and ideas for new experiments and for new analyses of experimental data. Within the Intensity Frontier, an experimental search for a new force mediated by a GeV-scale gauge boson will be carried out with the $A'$ Experiment (APEX) and the Heavy Photon Search (HPS), both at Jefferson Laboratory. Within the Cosmic Frontier, contributions are planned to the search for dark matter particles with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other instruments. A detailed exploration will also be performed of new direct detection strategies for dark matter particles with sub-GeV masses to facilitate the development of new experiments. In addition, the theoretical implications of existing and future dark matter-related anomalies will be examined. Within the Energy Frontier, the implications of the data from the Large Hadron Collider will be investigated. Novel search strategies will be developed to aid the search for new phenomena not described by the Standard Model of particle physics. By combining insights from all three particle physics frontiers, this research aims to increase our understanding of fundamental particle physics.

  15. Explanation for the Low Flux of High Energy Astrophysical Muon Neutrinos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pakvasa, Sandip; Joshipura, Anjan; Mohanty, Subhendra

    2014-01-01

    There has been some concern about the unexpected paucity of cosmic high energy muon neutrinos in detectors probing the energy region beyond 1 PeV. As a possible solution we consider the possibility that some exotic neutrino property is responsible for reducing the muon neutrino flux at high energies from distant sources; specifically, we consider: (i) neutrino decay and (ii) neutrinos being pseudo-Dirac particles. This would provide a mechanism for the reduction of high energy muon events in the IceCube detector, for example

  16. ANOMALOUS TRANSPORT OF HIGH-ENERGY COSMIC RAYS IN GALACTIC SUPERBUBBLES. I. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barghouty, A. F.; Schnee, D. A.

    2012-01-01

    We present a simple continuous-time random-walk model for the transport of energetic particles accelerated by a collection of supernova explosions in a galactic superbubble, developed to simulate and highlight signatures of anomalous transport on the particles' evolution and their spectra in a multi-shock context. We assume standard diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) theory for each shock encounter. The superbubble (an OB stars association) is idealized as a heterogeneous region of particle sources and sinks bounded by a random surface. The model is based on two coupled stochastic differential equations and is applied for protons and alpha particles. Using characteristic values for a typical bubble, our simulations suggest that acceleration and transport in the bubble may be sub-diffusive. In addition, a spectral break in the particles' evolution and spectra is evident located at ≈10 15 eV for protons and ≈3 × 10 15 eV for alphas. Our simulations are consistent with a bubble's mean magnetic field strength of ≈1 μG and a shock separation distance ∼0.1 × the characteristic radius of the bubble. The simulations imply that the diffusion coefficient (for the elementary shock acceleration process) is ∼ 27 cm 2 s –1 at 1 GeV/c. While the sub-diffusive transport is readily attributed to the stochastic nature of the acceleration time according to DSA theory, the spectral break appears to be an artifact of transport in a finite medium. These simulations point to a new and intriguing phenomenon associated with the statistical nature of collective acceleration of high-energy cosmic rays in galactic superbubbles.

  17. 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.)

  18. Acceleration of cosmic rays in supernova-remnants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorfi, E. A.; Drury, L. O.

    1985-01-01

    It is commonly accepted that supernova-explosions are the dominant source of cosmic rays up to an energy of 10 to the 14th power eV/nucleon. Moreover, these high energy particles provide a major contribution to the energy density of the interstellar medium (ISM) and should therefore be included in calculations of interstellar dynamic phenomena. For the following the first order Fermi mechanism in shock waves are considered to be the main acceleration mechanism. The influence of this process is twofold; first, if the process is efficient (and in fact this is the cas) it will modify the dynamics and evolution of a supernova-remnant (SNR), and secondly, the existence of a significant high energy component changes the overall picture of the ISM. The complexity of the underlying physics prevented detailed investigations of the full non-linear selfconsistent problem. For example, in the context of the energy balance of the ISM it has not been investigated how much energy of a SN-explosion can be transfered to cosmic rays in a time-dependent selfconsistent model. Nevertheless, a lot of progress was made on many aspects of the acceleration mechanism.

  19. Acceleration of cosmic rays in supernova-remnants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dorfi, E.A.; Drury, L.O.

    1985-01-01

    It is commonly accepted that supernova-explosions are the dominant source of cosmic rays up to an energy of 10 to the 14th power eV/nucleon. Moreover, these high energy particles provide a major contribution to the energy density of the interstellar medium (ISM) and should therefore be included in calcuations of interstellar dynamic phenomena. For the following the first order Fermi mechanism in shock waves are considered to be the main acceleration mechanism. The influence of this process is twofold; first, if the process is efficient (and in fact this is the case) it will modify the dynamics and evolution of a supernova-remnant (SNR), and secondly, the existence of a significant high energy component changes the overall picture of the ISM. The complexity of the underlying physics prevented detailed investigations of the full non-linear selfconsistent problem. For example, in the context of the energy balance of the ISM it has not been investigated how much energy of a SN-explosion can be transfered to cosmic rays in a time-dependent selfconsistent model. Nevertheless, a lot of progress was made on many aspects of the acceleration mechnism

  20. Detection of cosmic ray tracks using scintillating fibers and position sensitive multi-anode photomultipliers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atac, M.; Streets, J.; Wilcer, N.

    1998-02-01

    This experiment demonstrates detection of cosmic ray tracks by using Scintillating fiber planes and multi-anode photomultipliers (MA-PMTs). In a laboratory like this, cosmic rays provide a natural source of high-energy charged particles which can be detected with high efficiency and with nanosecond time resolution

  1. Modeling the radar scatter off of high-energy neutrino-induced particle cascades in ice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Vries, Krijn D.; van Eijndhoven, Nick; O'Murchadha, Aongus; Toscano, Simona; Scholten, Olaf

    2017-01-01

    We discuss the radar detection method as a probe for high-energy neutrino induced particle cascades in ice. In a previous work we showed that the radar detection techniqe is a promising method to probe the high-energy cosmic neutrino flux above PeV energies. This was done by considering a simplified

  2. THE HIGHEST-ENERGY COSMIC RAYS CANNOT BE DOMINANTLY PROTONS FROM STEADY SOURCES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fang, Ke [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421 (United States); Kotera, Kumiko [Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 6 et CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis bd Arago, F-75014 Paris (France)

    2016-11-20

    The bulk of observed ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays could be light or heavier elements and originate from an either steady or transient population of sources. This leaves us with four general categories of sources. Energetic requirements set a lower limit on single-source luminosities, while the distribution of particle arrival directions in the sky sets a lower limit on the source number density. The latter constraint depends on the angular smearing in the skymap due to the magnetic deflections of the charged particles during their propagation from the source to the Earth. We contrast these limits with the luminosity functions from surveys of existing luminous steady objects in the nearby universe and strongly constrain one of the four categories of source models, namely, steady proton sources. The possibility that cosmic rays with energy >8 × 10{sup 19} eV are dominantly pure protons coming from steady sources is excluded at 95% confidence level, under the safe assumption that protons experience less than 30° magnetic deflection on flight.

  3. LHCf-measurement of forward neutral particle production for cosmic ray research

    CERN Multimedia

    Masuda, K; Ito, Y; Adriani, O; Papini, P; Tricomi, A; Perrot, A; Ricciarini, S B; D'alessandro, R; Yoshida, K

    2007-01-01

    An energy calibration experiment is under preparation for ultra high energy cosmic ray experiments in the energy range between 1017eV and 1020eV. Small calorimeters will be installed between the two beam pipes in the â€ワY vacuum chamber” 140m away from the interaction point IP1 of the Large Hadron Collider. Within an exposure time of a few hours at luminosity ~10$^{29}$ cm-2s-1, very important results will be obtained that will resolve long standing quests by the highest energy cosmic ray physics experiments.

  4. 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

  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. Cosmic growth history and expansion history

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linder, Eric V.

    2005-01-01

    The cosmic expansion history tests the dynamics of the global evolution of the universe and its energy density contents, while the cosmic growth history tests the evolution of the inhomogeneous part of the energy density. Precision comparison of the two histories can distinguish the nature of the physics responsible for the accelerating cosmic expansion: an additional smooth component--dark energy--or a modification of the gravitational field equations. With the aid of a new fitting formula for linear perturbation growth accurate to 0.05%-0.2%, we separate out the growth dependence on the expansion history and introduce a new growth index parameter γ that quantifies the gravitational modification

  7. 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

  8. Experiments on studying solar cosmic radiation nuclear composition and energy spectra on the Prognoz-9 sattelite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belyakov, S.A.; Gordeev, Yu.P.; Denisov, Yu.I.; Kolesov, G.Ya; Podorol'skij, A.N.; Nikitin, B.A.

    1986-01-01

    Performances of the SKI-1 device installed on board the artificial satellite of the Earth ''Prognoz-9'' and intended for measurements of a nuclear component of solar cosmic radiation are considered. The device permits to determine intensites of proton fluxes in the 10-30, 30-60, 60-90 and 90-120 MeV energy ranges and nuclei with charges z=1-30 and the following energies: 5-20 MeV for 1 H and 4 He nuclei, 10-26 MeV for C nuclei, 12-42 MeV for O nuclei, 23-80 MeV for Fe nuclei. The SKI-1 comprises two similar telescopes. The telescope includes 4 silicon semiconducting detectors. Energy spectra of solar cosmic radiation and data characterizing time dependence of their intensity are given

  9. Individual Dosimetry for High Energy Radiation Fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spurny, F.

    1999-01-01

    The exposure of individuals on board aircraft increased interest in individual dosimetry in high energy radiation fields. These fields, both in the case of cosmic rays as primary radiation and at high energy particle accelerators are complex, with a large diversity of particle types, their energies, and linear energy transfer (LET). Several already existing individual dosemeters have been tested in such fields. For the component with high LET (mostly neutrons) etched track detectors were tested with and without fissile radiators, nuclear emulsions, bubble detectors for both types available and an albedo dosemeter. Individual dosimetry for the low LET component has been performed with thermoluminescent detectors (TLDs), photographic film dosemeters and two types of electronic individual dosemeters. It was found that individual dosimetry for the low LET component was satisfactory with the dosemeters tested. As far as the high LET component is concerned, there are problems with both the sensitivity and the energy response. (author)

  10. 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)

  11. Flipped cryptons and ultrahigh energy cosmic rays

    CERN Document Server

    Ellis, Jonathan Richard; Nanopoulos, D V

    2004-01-01

    Cryptons are metastable bound states of fractionally-charged particles that arise generically in the hidden sectors of models derived from heterotic string. We study their properties and decay modes in a specific flipped SU(5) model with long-lived four-particle spin-zero bound states called tetrons. We show that the neutral tetrons are metastable, and exhibit the tenth order nonrenormalizable superpotential operators responsible for their dominant decays. By analogy with QCD, we expect charged tetrons to be somewhat heavier, and to decay relatively rapidly via lower-order interactions that we also exhibit. The expected masses and lifetimes of the neutral tetrons make them good candidates for cold dark matter, and a potential source of the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays which have been observed, whereas the charged tetrons would have decayed in the early Universe.

  12. Energy spectrum and angular distribution of prompt cosmic-ray muons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Castagnoli, C; Picchi, P [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Turin (Italy). Lab. di Cosmo-Geofisica; Turin Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Fisica Generale); Castellina, A; D' Ettorre Piazzoli, B; Mannocchi, G; Vernetto, S [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Turin (Italy). Lab. di Cosmo-Geofisica

    1984-07-01

    The energy spectrum and angular distribution of atmospheric prompt muons are calculated by using an integral solution for production of charmed particles, their decay and muon transport in the atmosphere. Current experimental information from accelerator and theoretical ideas about charm cross-section and semi-leptonic decay are used to give a reference prompt muon spectrum to compare with that from conventional sources (..pi.. and K decay). The obtained differential spectrum has an energy dependence which approaches that of the primary cosmic rays. The integral intensity of prompt muons is equal to the conventional one at about 250 TeV. The angular distribution is found to be practically flat in the range (0/80)/sup 0/ irrespective of the muon energy. On the basis of this analysis we estimate that accurate measurements of muon energy spectrum and angular distribution at energies greater than 10 TeV should allow one to obtain useful information regarding charm hadroproduction cross-section in the 100 TeV region.

  13. Cerenkov radiation from cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turver, K.E.

    1988-01-01

    It is almost 40 years since it was suggested that Cerenkov radiations may be produced in the atmosphere by the passage of the cosmic radiation and account for a small part of the night sky brightness. The first detection of this visible Cerenkov radiation followed within a few years and by the 1960s the atmospheric Cerenkov radiation technique was established as a tool in high energy astrophysics. An exciting new field of astronomy, high energy gamma ray astronomy, has developed which relies on the atmospheric Cerenkov light. We here review the mechanism for the production of Cerenkov light in the atmosphere and summarize the contributions to high energy astrophysics made using the technique. (author)

  14. Cosmic Connections

    CERN Document Server

    Ellis, Jonathan Richard

    2003-01-01

    A National Research Council study on connecting quarks with the cosmos has recently posed a number of the more important open questions at the interface between particle physics and cosmology. These questions include the nature of dark matter and dark energy, how the Universe began, modifications to gravity, the effects of neutrinos on the Universe, how cosmic accelerators work, and whether there are new states of matter at high density and pressure. These questions are discussed in the context of the talks presented at this Summer Institute.

  15. Galactic Cosmic-Ray Energy Spectra and Composition during the 2009-2010 Solar Minimum Period

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lave, K. A.; Wiedenbeck, Mark E.; Binns, W. R.; Christian, E. R.; Cummings, A. C.; Davis, A. J.; deNolfo, G. A.; Israel, M. H..; Leske, R. A.; Mewaldt, R. A.; hide

    2013-01-01

    We report new measurements of the elemental energy spectra and composition of galactic cosmic rays during the 2009-2010 solar minimum period using observations from the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) onboard the Advanced Composition Explorer. This period of time exhibited record-setting cosmic-ray intensities and very low levels of solar activity. Results are given for particles with nuclear charge 5 solar minimum and 2001-2003 solar maximum are also given here. For most species, the reported intensities changed by less than approx. 7%, and the relative abundances changed by less than approx. 4%. Compared with the 1997-1998 solar minimum relative abundances, the 2009-2010 abundances differ by less than 2sigma, with a trend of fewer secondary species observed in the more recent time period. The new 2009-2010 data are also compared with results of a simple "leaky-box" galactic transport model combined with a spherically symmetric solar modulation model. We demonstrate that this model is able to give reasonable fits to the energy spectra and the secondary-to-primary ratios B/C and (Sc+Ti+V)/Fe. These results are also shown to be comparable to a GALPROP numerical model that includes the effects of diffusive reacceleration in the interstellar medium.

  16. Cosmic Ray Deuterium from 0.2 to 3.0 GeV/nucleon

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Davis, A.J.; Labrador, A.W.; Mewaldt, R.A.

    1996-01-01

    The abundances of cosmic ray protons and deuterium between 0.2 and 3.0 GeV/nucleon were measured by the IMAX balloon--borne magnet spectrometer during a flight in July, 1992. These isotope measurements extend to significantly higher energies than have previously been achieved. A high--resolution ......The abundances of cosmic ray protons and deuterium between 0.2 and 3.0 GeV/nucleon were measured by the IMAX balloon--borne magnet spectrometer during a flight in July, 1992. These isotope measurements extend to significantly higher energies than have previously been achieved. A high...

  17. THE COSMIC-RAY ENERGY SPECTRUM OBSERVED WITH THE SURFACE DETECTOR OF THE TELESCOPE ARRAY EXPERIMENT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abu-Zayyad, T.; Allen, M.; Anderson, R.; Barcikowski, E.; Belz, J. W.; Bergman, D. R.; Blake, S. A.; Cady, R.; Hanlon, W. [High Energy Astrophysics Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (United States); Aida, R. [University of Yamanashi, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, Kofu, Yamanashi (Japan); Azuma, R.; Fukuda, T. [Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo (Japan); Cheon, B. G.; Cho, E. J. [Department of Physics and Research Institute of Natural Science, Hanyang University, Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chiba, J. [Department of Physics, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Chiba (Japan); Chikawa, M. [Department of Physics, Kinki University, Higashi Osaka, Osaka (Japan); Cho, W. R. [Department of Physics, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Fujii, H. [Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies, KEK, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Fujii, T. [Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka, Osaka (Japan); Fukushima, M. [Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba (Japan); and others

    2013-05-01

    The Telescope Array (TA) collaboration has measured the energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with primary energies above 1.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 18} eV. This measurement is based upon four years of observation by the surface detector component of TA. The spectrum shows a dip at an energy of 4.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 18} eV and a steepening at 5.4 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 19} eV which is consistent with the expectation from the GZK cutoff. We present the results of a technique, new to the analysis of UHECR surface detector data, that involves generating a complete simulation of UHECRs striking the TA surface detector. The procedure starts with shower simulations using the CORSIKA Monte Carlo program where we have solved the problems caused by use of the ''thinning'' approximation. This simulation method allows us to make an accurate calculation of the acceptance of the detector for the energies concerned.

  18. Underground cosmic-ray experiment EMMA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuusiniemi, P.; Bezrukov, L.; Enqvist, T.

    2013-01-01

    EMMA (Experiment with MultiMuon Array) is a new approach to study the composition of cosmic rays at the knee region (1 – 10 PeV). The array will measure the multiplicity and lateral distribution of the high-energy muon component of an air shower and its arrival direction on an event-by-event basis...

  19. DNDO Report: Predicting Solar Modulation Potentials for Modeling Cosmic Background Radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Behne, Patrick Alan [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2016-08-08

    The modeling of the detectability of special nuclear material (SNM) at ports and border crossings requires accurate knowledge of the background radiation at those locations. Background radiation originates from two main sources, cosmic and terrestrial. Cosmic background is produced by high-energy galactic cosmic rays (GCR) entering the atmosphere and inducing a cascade of particles that eventually impact the earth’s surface. The solar modulation potential represents one of the primary inputs to modeling cosmic background radiation. Usosokin et al. formally define solar modulation potential as “the mean energy loss [per unit charge] of a cosmic ray particle inside the heliosphere…” Modulation potential, a function of elevation, location, and time, shares an inverse relationship with cosmic background radiation. As a result, radiation detector thresholds require adjustment to account for differing background levels, caused partly by differing solar modulations. Failure to do so can result in higher rates of false positives and failed detection of SNM for low and high levels of solar modulation potential, respectively. This study focuses on solar modulation’s time dependence, and seeks the best method to predict modulation for future dates using Python. To address the task of predicting future solar modulation, we utilize both non-linear least squares sinusoidal curve fitting and cubic spline interpolation. This material will be published in transactions of the ANS winter meeting of November, 2016.

  20. The Hisparc cosmic ray experiment : data acquisition and reconstruction of shower direction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fokkema, D.; Fokkema, D.

    2012-01-01

    The field of cosmic ray physics is a century old and an exciting area of research. When cosmic ray particles enter our atmosphere they collide with air molecules creating new high-energy particles. These particles participate in further collisions and the entire process is known as an air shower.

  1. Theoretical high energy physics research at the University of Chicago

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosner, J.L.; Martinec, E.J.; Sachs, R.G.

    1989-12-01

    This report contains brief discussions on theoretical High Energy Physics research done by the researchers at University of Chicago. Some topics covered are: lepton production; kaon decay; Higgs boson production; electric dipole moment of the neutron; string models; supersymmetry; and cosmic ray shower

  2. Cosmic rays and radiations from the cosmos; Rayons cosmiques et rayonnement du cosmos

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    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. Theory and phenomenology of strong and weak interaction high energy physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-01-01

    This paper reviews research done on theoretical high energy physics. Areas of discussion are: chiral symmetry; quantum chromodynamics; quark-gluon plasma; particle decay of kaons; photonuclear reactions from cosmic ray showers; symmetry breaking and other related topics

  4. Planetary Habitability over Cosmic-Time Based on Cosmic-Ray Levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Paul A.; Biermann, Peter L.

    2016-01-01

    Extreme cosmic-ray (CR) fluxes have a negative effect on life when flux densities are high enough to cause excessive biological, especially DNA, damage. The CR history of a planet plays an important role in its potential surface habitation. Both global and local CR conditions determine the ability of life to survive for astrobiologically relevant time periods. We highlight two CR life-limiting factors: 1) General galactic activity, starburst and AGN, was up by about a factor of 30 at redshift 1 - 2, per comoving frame, averaged over all galaxies. And 2) AGN activity is highly intermittent, so extreme brief but powerful bursts (Her A for example) can be detrimental at great distances. This means that during such brief bursts of AGN activity the extragalactic CRs might even overpower the local galactic CRs. But as shown by the starburst galaxy M82, the local CRs in a starburst can also be quite high. Moreover, in our cosmic neighborhood we have several super-massive black holes. These are in M31, M32, M81, NGC5128 (Cen A), and in our own Galaxy, all within about 4 Mpc today. Within about 20 Mpc today there are many more super-massive black holes. Cen A is of course the most famous one now, since it may be a major source of the ultra-high-energy CRs (UHECRs). Folding in what redshift means in terms of cosmic time, this implies that there may have been little chance for life to survive much earlier than Earth's starting epoch. We speculate, on whether the very slow start oflife on Earth is connected to the decay of disturbing CR activity.

  5. 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

  6. Voids in the Cosmic Web as a probe of dark energy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Novosyadlyj

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The formation of large voids in the Cosmic Web from the initial adiabatic cosmological perturbations of space-time metric, density and velocity of matter is investigated in cosmological model with the dynamical dark energy accelerating expansion of the Universe. It is shown that the negative density perturbations with the initial radius of about 50 Mpc in comoving to the cosmological background coordinates and the amplitude corresponding to the r.m.s. temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background lead to the formation of voids with the density contrast up to -0.9, maximal peculiar velocity about 400 km/s and the radius close to the initial one. An important feature of voids formation from the analyzed initial amplitudes and profiles is establishing the surrounding overdensity shell. We have shown that the ratio of the peculiar velocity in units of the Hubble flow to the density contrast in the central part of a void does not depend or weakly depends on the distance from the center of the void. It is also shown that this ratio is sensitive to the values of dark energy parameters and can be used to find them based on the observational data on mass density and peculiar velocities of galaxies in the voids.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.)

  9. Fixed target measurements at LHCb for cosmic rays physics

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(CDS)2069608

    2018-01-01

    The LHCb experiment has the unique possibility, among the LHC experiments, to be operated in fixed target mode, using its internal gas target. The energy scale achievable at the LHC, combined with the LHCb forward geometry and detector capabilities, allow to explore particle production in a wide Bjorken-$x$ range at the $\\sqrt {s_{NN}} ~$ ~ 100 GeV energy scale, providing novel inputs to nuclear and cosmic ray physics. The first measurement of antiproton production in collisions of LHC protons on helium nuclei at rest is presented. The knowledge of this cross-section is of great importance for the study of the cosmic antiproton flux, and the LHCb results are expected to improve the interpretation of the recent high-precision measurements of cosmic antiprotons performed by the space-borne PAMELA and AMS-02 experiments.

  10. A grey incidence algorithm to detect high-Z material using cosmic ray muons

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, W.; Xiao, S.; Shuai, M.; Chen, Y.; Lan, M.; Wei, M.; An, Q.; Lai, X.

    2017-10-01

    Muon scattering tomography (MST) is a method for using cosmic muons to scan cargo containers and vehicles for special nuclear materials. However, the flux of cosmic ray muons is low, in the real life application, the detection has to be done a short timescale with small numbers of muons. In this paper, we present a novel approach to detection of special nuclear material by using cosmic ray muons. We use the degree of grey incidence to distinguish typical waste fuel material, uranium, from low-Z material, medium-Z material and other high-Z materials of tungsten and lead. The result shows that using this algorithm, it is possible to detect high-Z materials with an acceptable timescale.

  11. Evolution of the Deep-space Galactic Cosmic Ray Lineal Energy Transfer Spectrum through Tissue Equivalent Plastic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Case, A. W.; Kasper, J. C.; Spence, H. E.; Golightly, M. J.; Schwadron, N. A.; Mazur, J. E.; Blake, J. B.; Looper, M. D.; Townsend, L.; Zeitlin, C. J.

    2011-12-01

    The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation is an energetic particle telescope that resides on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, currently in a 50 km circular lunar polar orbit. The telescope consists of 6 silicon semi-conductor detectors placed in pairs that surround two pieces of Tissue Equivalent Plastic (TEP), which serve to absorb energy from particles as they transit through the instrument. Particles with energies greater than 12 MeV/nucleon can penetrate the outermost shield and be measured by the instrument. The primary measurement made by the instrument is of the Linear Energy Transfer (LET) of energetic particles as they transit through the telescope. CRaTER measures the LET spectrum with unprecedented energy resolution and has done so during a period of historically low solar activity that led to record high intensities of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR). These LET spectra are used to study changes in the properties of the incoming particles, and to make detailed measurements of the radiation doses human explorers will experience in deep space on missions to the moon, to asteroids, or to Mars. We present LET spectra accumulated during 2009 and 2010. We show how the LET spectrum evolves through the instrument as the GCR interact with the TEP. Due to the importance of these measurements for human effects, our extensive absolute calibration procedures are presented. Of particular note is a significant reduction in the flux of particles with LET greater than 10 keV/um for detectors that lie deeper within the telescope stack, due to the attenuation of high LET particles within the TEP. By measuring this attenuation we can estimate the depth in human tissue where the highest LET particles that are most likely to cause genetic damage pose the greatest threat to humans in space.

  12. Constraints on cosmic strings due to black holes formed from collapsed cosmic string loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caldwell, R.R.; Gates, E.

    1993-05-01

    The cosmological features of primordial black holes formed from collapsed cosmic string loops are studied. Observational restrictions on a population of primordial black holes are used to restrict f, the fraction of cosmic string loops which collapse to form black holes, and μ, the cosmic string mass-per-unit-length. Using a realistic model of cosmic strings, we find the strongest restriction on the parameters f and μ is due to the energy density in 100MeV photons radiated by the black holes. We also find that inert black hole remnants cannot serve as the dark matter. If earlier, crude estimates of f are reliable, our results severely restrict μ, and therefore limit the viability of the cosmic string large-scale structure scenario

  13. High energy physics and cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silk, J.I.; Davis, M.

    1989-01-01

    This research will focus on the implications of recent theories and experiments in high energy physics for the evolution of the early Universe, and on the constraints that cosmological considerations can place on such theories. Several problems are under investigation, including the development of constraints on the inflationary predictions of scale--free primordial fluctuations in a universe at critical closure density by studying their linear and non-linear evolution after they re-enter the particle horizon. We will examine the observable imprint of primordial density fluctuations on the cosmic microwave background radiation curved cosmological models. Most astronomical evidence points to an open universe: one of our goals is to reconcile this conclusion with the particle physics input. We will investigate the response of the matter distribution to a network of cosmic strings produced during an early symmetry-breaking transition, and compute the resulting cosmic microwave background anisotropies. We will simulate the formation of large-scale structures whose dynamics are dominated by weakly interacting particles such as axions, massive neutrinos or photinos in order to model the formation of galaxies, galaxy clusters and superclusters. We will study of the distortions in the microwave background radiation, both spectral and angular, that are produced by ionized gas associated with forming clusters and groups of galaxies. We will also study constraints on exotic cooling mechanisms involving axions and majorons set by stellar evolution and the energy input into low mass stars by cold dark matter annihilation galactic nuclei. We will compute the detailed gamma ray spectrum predicted by various cold dark matter candidates undergoing annihilation in the galactic halo and bulge

  14. [High energy physics and cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silk, J.I.; Davis, M.

    1988-01-01

    This research will focus on the implications of recent theories and experiments in high energy physics for the evolution of the early Universe, and on the constraints that cosmological considerations can place on such theories. Several problems are under investigation, including the development of constraints on the inflationary predictions of scale-free primordial fluctuations in a universe at critical closure density by studying their linear and non-linear evolution after they re-enter the particle horizon. We will examine the observable imprint of primordial density fluctuations on the cosmic microwave background radiation in curved cosmological models. Most astronomical evidence points to an open universe: one of our goals is to reconcile this conclusion with the particle physics input. We will investigate the response of the matter distribution to a network of cosmic strings produced during an early symmetry--breaking transition, and compute the resulting cosmic microwave background anisotropies. We will simulate the formation of large--scale structures whose dynamics are dominated by weakly interacting particles such as axions massive neutrinos or photinos in order to model the formation of galaxies, galaxy clusters and superclusters. We will study the distortions in the microwave background radiation, both spectral and angular, that are produced by ionized gas associated with forming clusters and groups of galaxies. We will also study constraints on exotic cooling mechanisms involving axions and majorons set by stellar evolution and the energy input into low mass stars by cold dark matter annihilation in galactic nuclei. We will compute the detailed gamma ray spectrum predicted by various cold dark matter candidates undergoing annihilation in the galactic halo and bulge

  15. 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

  16. Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 10.sup.18./sup. eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Abraham, J.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Boháčová, Martina; Chudoba, Jiří; Kárová, Tatiana; Mandát, Dušan; Nečesal, Petr; Nožka, Libor; Nyklíček, Michal; Palatka, Miroslav; Pech, Miroslav; Prouza, Michael; Řídký, Jan; Schovancová, Jaroslava; Schovánek, Petr; Šmída, Radomír; Trávníček, Petr

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 685, 4-5 (2010), s. 239-246 ISSN 0370-2693 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC527; GA MŠk(CZ) 1M06002; GA AV ČR KJB100100904; GA AV ČR KJB300100801; GA MŠk(CZ) LA08016 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100502; CEZ:AV0Z10100522 Keywords : cosmic rays * energy spectrum * Pierre Auger Observatory Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 5.255, year: 2010

  17. Methods for Probing New Physics at High Energies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denton, Peter B.

    This dissertation covers two broad topics. The title, " Methods for Probing New Physics at High Energies," hopefully encompasses both of them. The first topic is located in part I of this work and is about integral dispersion relations. This is a technique to probe for new physics at energy scales near to the machine energy of a collider. For example, a hadron collider taking data at a given energy is typically only sensitive to new physics occurring at energy scales about a factor of five to ten beneath the actual machine energy due to parton distribution functions. This technique is sensitive to physics happening directly beneath the machine energy in addition to the even more interesting case: directly above. Precisely where this technique is sensitive is one of the main topics of this area of research. The other topic is located in part II and is about cosmic ray anisotropy at the highest energies. The unanswered questions about cosmic rays at the highest energies are numerous and interconnected in complicated ways. What may be the first piece of the puzzle to fall into place is determining their sources. This work looks to determine if and when the use of spherical harmonics becomes sensitive enough to determine these sources. The completed papers for this work can be found online. For part I on integral dispersion relations see reference published in Physical Review D. For part II on cosmic ray anisotropy, there are conference proceedings published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series. The analysis of the location of an experiment on anisotropy reconstruction is, and the comparison of different experiments' abilities to reconstruct anisotropies is published in The Astrophysical Journal and the Journal of High Energy Astrophysics respectively. While this dissertation is focused on three papers completed with Tom Weiler at Vanderbilt University, other papers were completed at the same time. The first was with Nicusor Arsene, Lauretiu Caramete, and

  18. Directional clustering in highest energy cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldberg, Haim; Weiler, Thomas J.

    2001-01-01

    An unexpected degree of small-scale clustering is observed in highest-energy cosmic ray events. Some directional clustering can be expected due to purely statistical fluctuations for sources distributed randomly in the sky. This creates a background for events originating in clustered sources. We derive analytic formulas to estimate the probability of random cluster configurations, and use these formulas to study the strong potential of the HiRes, Auger, Telescope Array and EUSO-OWL-AirWatch facilities for deciding whether any observed clustering is most likely due to nonrandom sources. For a detailed comparison to data, our analytical approach cannot compete with Monte Carlo simulations, including experimental systematics. However, our derived formulas do offer two advantages: (i) easy assessment of the significance of any observed clustering, and most importantly, (ii) an explicit dependence of cluster probabilities on the chosen angular bin size

  19. The EEE Project: cosmic rays, multigap resistive plate chambers and high school students

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abbrescia, M; Aiola, S; Antolini, R; Coccia, E; Giovanni, A Di; D'Incecco, M; Avanzini, C; Bossini, E; Ferroli, R Baldini; Bressan, E; Bencivenni, G; Dreucci, M; Fabbri, F L; Chiavassa, A; Frolov, V; Cicalo, C; Cifarelli, L; Gruttula, D De; Pasquale, S De; Doroud, K

    2012-01-01

    The Extreme Energy Events Project has been designed to join the scientific interest of a cosmic rays physics experiment with the enormous didactic potentiality deriving from letting it be carried out by high school students and teachers. After the initial phase, the experiment is starting to take data continuously, and the first interesting physics results have been obtained, demonstrating the validity of the idea of running a real physics investigation in these peculiar conditions. Here an overview of its structure and status is presented, together with some studies about detector performance and first physics results. (technical report)

  20. Test of the cosmic evolution using Gaussian processes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Ming-Jian [Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, P.O. Box 918-3, Beijing 100049 (China); Xia, Jun-Qing, E-mail: zhangmj@ihep.ac.cn, E-mail: xiajq@bnu.edu.cn [Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai St., Beijing 100875 (China)

    2016-12-01

    Much focus was on the possible slowing down of cosmic acceleration under the dark energy parametrization. In the present paper, we investigate this subject using the Gaussian processes (GP), without resorting to a particular template of dark energy. The reconstruction is carried out by abundant data including luminosity distance from Union2, Union2.1 compilation and gamma-ray burst, and dynamical Hubble parameter. It suggests that slowing down of cosmic acceleration cannot be presented within 95% C.L., in considering the influence of spatial curvature and Hubble constant. In order to reveal the reason of tension between our reconstruction and previous parametrization constraint for Union2 data, we compare them and find that slowing down of acceleration in some parametrization is only a ''mirage'. Although these parameterizations fits well with the observational data, their tension can be revealed by high order derivative of distance D. Instead, GP method is able to faithfully model the cosmic expansion history.

  1. New Prospects in High Energy Astrophysics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blandford, Roger; /KIPAC, Menlo Park

    2011-11-15

    Recent discoveries using TeV, X-ray and radio telescopes as well as Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray arrays are leading to new insights into longstanding puzzles in high energy astrophysics. Many of these insights come from combining observations throughout the electromagnetic and other spectra as well as evidence assembled from different types of source to propose general principles. Issues discussed in this general overview include methods of accelerating relativistic particles, and amplifying magnetic field, the dynamics of relativistic outflows and the nature of the prime movers that power them. Observational approaches to distinguishing hadronic, leptonic and electromagnetic outflows and emission mechanisms are discussed along with probes of the velocity field and the confinement mechanisms. Observations with GLAST promise to be very prescriptive for addressing these problems.

  2. Search for correlations between the arrival directions of IceCube neutrino events and ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Collaboration, The IceCube; Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Ahrens, M.; Altmann, D.; Anderson, T.; Ansseau, I.; Archinger, M.; Arguelles, C.; Arlen, T. C.; Auffenberg, J.; Bai, X.; Barwick, S. W.; Baum, V.; Bay, R.; Beatty, J. J.; Tjus, J. Becker; Becker, K. -H.; Beiser, E.; Berghaus, P.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Bernhard, A.; Besson, D. Z.; Binder, G.; Bindig, D.; Bissok, M.; Blaufuss, E.; Blumenthal, J.; Boersma, D. J.; Bohm, C.; Börner, M.; Bos, F.; Bose, D.; Böser, S.; Botner, O.; Braun, J.; Brayeur, L.; Bretz, H. -P.; Buzinsky, N.; Casey, J.; Casier, M.; Cheung, E.; Chirkin, D.; Christov, A.; Clark, K.; Classen, L.; Coenders, S.; Cowen, D. F.; Silva, A. H. Cruz; Daughhetee, J.; Davis, J. C.; Day, M.; André, J. P. A. M. de; Clercq, C. De; Rosendo, E. del Pino; Dembinski, H.; Ridder, S. De; Desiati, P.; Vries, K. D. de; Wasseige, G. de; With, M. de; DeYoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Lorenzo, V. di; Dumm, J. P.; Dunkman, M.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Eichmann, B.; Euler, S.; Evenson, P. A.; Fahey, S.; Fazely, A. R.; Feintzeig, J.; Felde, J.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Fischer-Wasels, T.; Flis, S.; Fösig, C. -C.; Fuchs, T.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gaior, R.; Gallagher, J.; Gerhardt, L.; Ghorbani, K.; Gier, D.; Gladstone, L.; Glagla, M.; Glüsenkamp, T.; Goldschmidt, A.; Golup, G.; Gonzalez, J. G.; Góra, D.; Grant, D.; Griffith, Z.; Groß, A.; Ha, C.; Haack, C.; Ismail, A. Haj; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Hansen, E.; Hansmann, B.; Hanson, K.; Hebecker, D.; Heereman, D.; Helbing, K.; Hellauer, R.; Hickford, S.; Hignight, J.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Hoffmann, R.; Holzapfel, K.; Homeier, A.; Hoshina, K.; Huang, F.; Huber, M.; Huelsnitz, W.; Hulth, P. O.; Hultqvist, K.; In, S.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobi, E.; Japaridze, G. S.; Jeong, M.; Jero, K.; Jurkovic, M.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Kauer, M.; Keivani, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kemp, J.; Kheirandish, A.; Kiryluk, J.; Kläs, J.; Klein, S. R.; Kohnen, G.; Koirala, R.; Kolanoski, H.; Konietz, R.; Köpke, L.; Kopper, C.; Kopper, S.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Krings, K.; Kroll, G.; Kroll, M.; Krückl, G.; Kunnen, J.; Kurahashi, N.; Kuwabara, T.; Labare, M.; Lanfranchi, J. L.; Larson, M. J.; Lesiak-Bzdak, M.; Leuermann, M.; Leuner, J.; Lu, L.; Lünemann, J.; Madsen, J.; Maggi, G.; Mahn, K. B. M.; Mandelartz, M.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Matis, H. S.; Maunu, R.; McNally, F.; Meagher, K.; Medici, M.; Meli, A.; Menne, T.; Merino, G.; Meures, T.; Miarecki, S.; Middell, E.; Mohrmann, L.; Montaruli, T.; Morse, R.; Nahnhauer, R.; Naumann, U.; Neer, G.; Niederhausen, H.; Nowicki, S. C.; Nygren, D. R.; Pollmann, A. Obertacke; Olivas, A.; Omairat, A.; O'Murchadha, A.; Palczewski, T.; Pandya, H.; Pankova, D. V.; Paul, L.; Pepper, J. A.; Heros, C. Pérez de los; Pfendner, C.; Pieloth, D.; Pinat, E.; Posselt, J.; Price, P. B.; Przybylski, G. T.; Quinnan, M.; Raab, C.; Rädel, L.; Rameez, M.; Rawlins, K.; Reimann, R.; Relich, M.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Richman, M.; Richter, S.; Riedel, B.; Robertson, S.; Rongen, M.; Rott, C.; Ruhe, T.; Ryckbosch, D.; Sabbatini, L.; Sander, H. -G.; Sandrock, A.; Sandroos, J.; Sarkar, S.; Schatto, K.; Schimp, M.; Schmidt, T.; Schoenen, S.; Schöneberg, S.; Schönwald, A.; Schulte, L.; Schumacher, L.; Seckel, D.; Seunarine, S.; Soldin, D.; Song, M.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stahlberg, M.; Stamatikos, M.; Stanev, T.; Stasik, A.; Steuer, A.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stößl, A.; Ström, R.; Strotjohann, N. L.; Sullivan, G. W.; Sutherland, M.; Taavola, H.; Taboada, I.; Tatar, J.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Terliuk, A.; Tešić, G.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Tobin, M. N.; Toscano, S.; Tosi, D.; Tselengidou, M.; Turcati, A.; Unger, E.; Usner, M.; Vallecorsa, S.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Eijndhoven, N. van; Vanheule, S.; Santen, J. van; Veenkamp, J.; Vehring, M.; Voge, M.; Vraeghe, M.; Walck, C.; Wallace, A.; Wallraff, M.; Wandkowsky, N.; Weaver, Ch; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whelan, B. J.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wille, L.; Williams, D. R.; Wissing, H.; Wolf, M.; Wood, T. R.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, D. L.; Xu, X. W.; Xu, Y.; Yanez, J. P.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.; Collaboration, M. Zoll The Pierre Auger; Aab, A.; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Ahn, E. J.; Samarai, I. Al; Albuquerque, I. F. M.; Allekotte, I.; Allison, P.; Almela, A.; Castillo, J. Alvarez; Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Batista, R. Alves; Ambrosio, M.; Aminaei, A.; Anchordoqui, L.; Andrada, B.; Andringa, S.; Aramo, C.; Arqueros, F.; Arsene, N.; Asorey, H.; Assis, P.; Aublin, J.; Avila, G.; Awal, N.; Badescu, A. M.; Baus, C.; Beatty, J. J.; Becker, K. H.; Bellido, J. A.; Berat, C.; Bertaina, M. E.; Bertou, X.; Biermann, P. L.; Billoir, P.; Blaess, S. G.; Blanco, A.; Blanco, M.; Blazek, J.; Bleve, C.; Blümer, H.; Boháčová, M.; Boncioli, D.; Bonifazi, C.; Borodai, N.; Botti, A. M.; Brack, J.; Brancus, I.; Bretz, T.; Bridgeman, A.; Briechle, F. L.; Buchholz, P.; Bueno, A.; Buitink, S.; Buscemi, M.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Caccianiga, B.; Caccianiga, L.; Candusso, M.; Caramete, L.; Caruso, R.; Castellina, A.; Cataldi, G.; Cazon, L.; Cester, R.; Chavez, A. G.; Chiavassa, A.; Chinellato, J. A.; Diaz, J. C. Chirinos; Chudoba, J.; Clay, R. W.; Colalillo, R.; Coleman, A.; Collica, L.; Coluccia, M. R.; Conceição, R.; Contreras, F.; Cooper, M. J.; Cordier, A.; Coutu, S.; Covault, C. E.; Dallier, R.; D'Amico, S.; Daniel, B.; Dasso, S.; Daumiller, K.; Dawson, B. R.; Almeida, R. M. de; Jong, S. J. de; Mauro, G. De; Neto, J. R. T. de Mello; Mitri, I. De; Oliveira, J. de; Souza, V. de; Debatin, J.; Peral, L. del; Deligny, O.; Dhital, N.; Giulio, C. Di; Matteo, A. Di; Castro, M. L. Díaz; Diogo, F.; Dobrigkeit, C.; Docters, W.; D'Olivo, J. C.; Dorofeev, A.; Anjos, R. C. dos; Dova, M. T.; Dundovic, A.; Ebr, J.; Engel, R.; Erdmann, M.; Erfani, M.; Escobar, C. O.; Espadanal, J.; Etchegoyen, A.; Falcke, H.; Fang, K.; Farrar, G.; Fauth, A. C.; Fazzini, N.; Ferguson, A. P.; Fick, B.; Figueira, J. M.; Filevich, A.; Filipčič, A.; Fratu, O.; Freire, M. M.; Fujii, T.; Fuster, A.; Gallo, F.; García, B.; Garcia-Gamez, D.; Garcia-Pinto, D.; Gate, F.; Gemmeke, H.; Gherghel-Lascu, A.; Ghia, P. L.; Giaccari, U.; Giammarchi, M.; Giller, M.; Głas, D.; Glaser, C.; Glass, H.; Golup, G.; Berisso, M. Gómez; Vitale, P. F. Gómez; González, N.; Gookin, B.; Gordon, J.; Gorgi, A.; Gorham, P.; Gouffon, P.; Griffith, N.; Grillo, A. F.; Grubb, T. D.; Guarino, F.; Guedes, G. P.; Hampel, M. R.; Hansen, P.; Harari, D.; Harrison, T. A.; Harton, J. L.; Hasankiadeh, Q.; Haungs, A.; Hebbeker, T.; Heck, D.; Heimann, P.; Herve, A. E.; Hill, G. C.; Hojvat, C.; Hollon, N.; Holt, E.; Homola, P.; Hörandel, J. R.; Horvath, P.; Hrabovský, M.; Huege, T.; Insolia, A.; Isar, P. G.; Jandt, I.; Jansen, S.; Jarne, C.; Johnsen, J. A.; Josebachuili, M.; Kääpä, A.; Kambeitz, O.; Kampert, K. H.; Kasper, P.; Katkov, I.; Keilhauer, B.; Kemp, E.; Kieckhafer, R. M.; Klages, H. O.; Kleifges, M.; Kleinfeller, J.; Krause, R.; Krohm, N.; Kuempel, D.; Mezek, G. Kukec; Kunka, N.; Awad, A. Kuotb; LaHurd, D.; Latronico, L.; Lauer, R.; Lauscher, M.; Lautridou, P.; Lebrun, D.; Lebrun, P.; Oliveira, M. A. Leigui de; Letessier-Selvon, A.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; Link, K.; Lopes, L.; López, R.; Casado, A. López; Lucero, A.; Malacari, M.; Mallamaci, M.; Mandat, D.; Mantsch, P.; Mariazzi, A. G.; Marin, V.; Mariş, I. C.; Marsella, G.; Martello, D.; Martinez, H.; Bravo, O. Martínez; Meza, J. J. Masías; Mathes, H. J.; Mathys, S.; Matthews, J.; Matthews, J. A. J.; Matthiae, G.; Maurizio, D.; Mayotte, E.; Mazur, P. O.; Medina, C.; Medina-Tanco, G.; Mello, V. B. B.; Melo, D.; Menshikov, A.; Messina, S.; Micheletti, M. I.; Middendorf, L.; Minaya, I. A.; Miramonti, L.; Mitrica, B.; Molina-Bueno, L.; Mollerach, S.; Montanet, F.; Morello, C.; Mostafá, M.; Moura, C. A.; Müller, G.; Muller, M. A.; Müller, S.; Naranjo, I.; Navas, S.; Necesal, P.; Nellen, L.; Nelles, A.; Neuser, J.; Nguyen, P. H.; Niculescu-Oglinzanu, M.; Niechciol, M.; Niemietz, L.; Niggemann, T.; Nitz, D.; Nosek, D.; Novotny, V.; Nožka, H.; Núñez, L. A.; Ochilo, L.; Oikonomou, F.; Olinto, A.; Pacheco, N.; Selmi-Dei, D. Pakk; Palatka, M.; Pallotta, J.; Papenbreer, P.; Parente, G.; Parra, A.; Paul, T.; Pech, M.; Pękala, J.; Pelayo, R.; Peña-Rodriguez, J.; Pepe, I. M.; Perrone, L.; Petermann, E.; Peters, C.; Petrera, S.; Phuntsok, J.; Piegaia, R.; Pierog, T.; Pieroni, P.; Pimenta, M.; Pirronello, V.; Platino, M.; Plum, M.; Porowski, C.; Prado, R. R.; Privitera, P.; Prouza, M.; Quel, E. J.; Querchfeld, S.; Quinn, S.; Rautenberg, J.; Ravel, O.; Ravignani, D.; Reinert, D.; Revenu, B.; Ridky, J.; Risse, M.; Ristori, P.; Rizi, V.; Carvalho, W. Rodrigues de; Rojo, J. Rodriguez; Rodríguez-Frías, M. D.; Rogozin, D.; Rosado, J.; Roth, M.; Roulet, E.; Rovero, A. C.; Saffi, S. J.; Saftoiu, A.; Salazar, H.; Saleh, A.; Greus, F. Salesa; Salina, G.; Gomez, J. D. Sanabria; Sánchez, F.; Sanchez-Lucas, P.; Santos, E. M.; Santos, E.; Sarazin, F.; Sarkar, B.; Sarmento, R.; Sarmiento-Cano, C.; Sato, R.; Scarso, C.; Schauer, M.; Scherini, V.; Schieler, H.; Schmidt, D.; Scholten, O.; Schoorlemmer, H.; Schovánek, P.; Schröder, F. G.; Schulz, A.; Schulz, J.; Schumacher, J.; Segreto, A.; Settimo, M.; Shadkam, A.; Shellard, R. C.; Sigl, G.; Sima, O.; Śmiałkowski, A.; Šmída, R.; Snow, G. R.; Sommers, P.; Sonntag, S.; Sorokin, J.; Squartini, R.; Stanca, D.; Stanič, S.; Stapleton, J.; Stasielak, J.; Stephan, M.; Strafella, F.; Stutz, A.; Suarez, F.; Durán, M. Suarez; Suomijärvi, T.; Supanitsky, A. D.; Sutherland, M. S.; Swain, J.; Szadkowski, Z.; Taborda, O. A.; Tapia, A.; Tepe, A.; Theodoro, V. M.; Timmermans, C.; Peixoto, C. J. Todero; Toma, G.; Tomankova, L.; Tomé, B.; Tonachini, A.; Elipe, G. Torralba; Machado, D. Torres; Travnicek, P.; Trini, M.; Ulrich, R.; Unger, M.; Urban, M.; Galicia, J. F. Valdés; Valiño, I.; Valore, L.; Aar, G. van; Bodegom, P. van; Berg, A. M. van den; Vliet, A. van; Varela, E.; Cárdenas, B. Vargas; Varner, G.; Vasquez, R.; Vázquez, J. R.; Vázquez, R. A.; Veberič, D.; Verzi, V.; Vicha, J.; Videla, M.; Villaseñor, L.; Vorobiov, S.; Wahlberg, H.; Wainberg, O.; Walz, D.; Watson, A. A.; Weber, M.; Weidenhaupt, K.; Weindl, A.; Wiencke, L.; Wilczyński, H.; Winchen, T.; Wittkowski, D.; Wundheiler, B.; Wykes, S.; Yang, L.; Yapici, T.; Yushkov, A.; Zas, E.; Zavrtanik, D.; Zavrtanik, M.; Zepeda, A.; Zimmermann, B.; Ziolkowski, M.; Zong, Z.; Collaboration, F. Zuccarello The Telescope Array; Abbasi, R. U.; Abe, M.; Abu-Zayyad, T.; Allen, M.; Azuma, R.; Barcikowski, E.; Belz, J. W.; Bergman, D. R.; Blake, S. A.; Cady, R.; Chae, M. J.; Cheon, B. G.; Chiba, J.; Chikawa, M.; Cho, W. R.; Fujii, T.; Fukushima, M.; Goto, T.; Hanlon, W.; Hayashi, Y.; Hayashida, N.; Hibino, K.; Honda, K.; Ikeda, D.; Inoue, N.; Ishii, T.; Ishimori, R.; Ito, H.; Ivanov, D.; Jui, C. C. H.; Kadota, K.; Kakimoto, F.; Kalashev, O.; Kasahara, K.; Kawai, H.; Kawakami, S.; Kawana, S.; Kawata, K.; Kido, E.; Kim, H. B.; Kim, J. H.; Kim, J. H.; Kitamura, S.; Kitamura, Y.; Kuzmin, V.; Kwon, Y. J.; Lan, J.; Lim, S. I.; Lundquist, J. P.; Machida, K.; Martens, K.; Matsuda, T.; Matsuyama, T.; Matthews, J. N.; Minamino, M.; Mukai, Y.; Myers, I.; Nagasawa, K.; Nagataki, S.; Nakamura, T.; Nonaka, T.; Nozato, A.; Ogio, S.; Ogura, J.; Ohnishi, M.; Ohoka, H.; Oki, K.; Okuda, T.; Ono, M.; Oshima, A.; Ozawa, S.; Park, I. H.; Pshirkov, M. S.; Rodriguez, D. C.; Rubtsov, G.; Ryu, D.; Sagawa, H.; Sakurai, N.; Scott, L. M.; Shah, P. D.; Shibata, F.; Shibata, T.; Shimodaira, H.; Shin, B. K.; Shin, H. S.; Smith, J. D.; Sokolsky, P.; Springer, R. W.; Stokes, B. T.; Stratton, S. R.; Stroman, T. A.; Suzawa, T.; Takamura, M.; Takeda, M.; Takeishi, R.; Taketa, A.; Takita, M.; Tameda, Y.; Tanaka, H.; Tanaka, K.; Tanaka, M.; Thomas, S. B.; Thomson, G. B.; Tinyakov, P.; Tkachev, I.; Tokuno, H.; Tomida, T.; Troitsky, S.; Tsunesada, Y.; Tsutsumi, K.; Uchihori, Y.; Udo, S.; Urban, F.; Vasiloff, G.; Wong, T.; Yamane, R.; Yamaoka, H.; Yamazaki, K.; Yang, J.; Yashiro, K.; Yoneda, Y.; Yoshida, S.; Yoshii, H.; Zollinger, R.; Zundel, Z.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents the results of different searches for correlations between very high-energy neutrino candidates detected by IceCube and the highest-energy cosmic rays measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array. We first consider samples of cascade neutrino events and of

  3. Dictionary of high-energy physics English, German, French, Russian

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sube, R.

    1987-01-01

    This volume contains nearly 4500 entries from branches of high-energy physics including cosmic radiation, elementary particles, elementary particle detection and measurement, field theories, and particle accelerators. Each English entry is numbered and followed by corresponding terms in the other languages. Alphabetical indexes of the German, French, and Russian terms are included

  4. Hazards of cosmic radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonnet-Bidaud, J.M.; Dzitko, H.

    2000-06-01

    The main limitations on long-distance space transport is neither the energy source nor the propulsion system but appears to be the protection of cosmonauts from radiation. Cosmic radiation is made up of protons (87%), alpha particles (12%) and heavy nuclei (1%), all these particles travel through interstellar space and come from the explosion of stars at the end of their life. The earth is protected from cosmic radiation by 3 natural shields: i) the magnetic field generated by the solar wind, ii) the earth magnetic field (magnetosphere), and iii) the earth atmosphere, this elusive layer of air is equivalent to a 10 meter-high volume of water. Magnetosphere and atmosphere reduce the radiation dose by a factor 4000. According to a European directive (1996) air crews must be considered as radiation workers. (A.C.)

  5. Diffuse Cosmic Infrared Background Radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwek, Eli

    2002-01-01

    The diffuse cosmic infrared background (CIB) consists of the cumulative radiant energy released in the processes of structure formation that have occurred since the decoupling of matter and radiation following the Big Bang. In this lecture I will review the observational data that provided the first detections and limits on the CIB, and the theoretical studies explaining the origin of this background. Finally, I will also discuss the relevance of this background to the universe as seen in high energy gamma-rays.

  6. Computing in high energy physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hertzberger, L.O.; Hoogland, W.

    1986-01-01

    This book deals with advanced computing applications in physics, and in particular in high energy physics environments. The main subjects covered are networking; vector and parallel processing; and embedded systems. Also examined are topics such as operating systems, future computer architectures and commercial computer products. The book presents solutions that are foreseen as coping, in the future, with computing problems in experimental and theoretical High Energy Physics. In the experimental environment the large amounts of data to be processed offer special problems on-line as well as off-line. For on-line data reduction, embedded special purpose computers, which are often used for trigger applications are applied. For off-line processing, parallel computers such as emulator farms and the cosmic cube may be employed. The analysis of these topics is therefore a main feature of this volume

  7. A Method to Search for Correlations of Ultra-high Energy Cosmic-Ray Masses with the Large-scale Structures in the Local Galaxy Density Field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivanov, A. A.

    2013-02-01

    One of the main goals of investigations using present and future giant extensive air shower (EAS) arrays is the mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). A new approach to the problem is presented, combining the analysis of arrival directions with the statistical test of the paired EAS samples. One of the ideas of the method is to search for possible correlations between UHECR masses and their separate sources; for instance, if there are two sources in different areas of the celestial sphere injecting different nuclei, but the fluxes are comparable so that arrival directions are isotropic, then the aim is to reveal a difference in the mass composition of cosmic-ray fluxes. The method is based on a non-parametric statistical test—the Wilcoxon signed-rank routine—which does not depend on the populations fitting any parameterized distributions. Two particular algorithms are proposed: first, using measurements of the depth of the EAS maximum position in the atmosphere; and second, relying on the age variance of air showers initiated by different primary particles. The formulated method is applied to the Yakutsk array data, in order to demonstrate the possibility of searching for a difference in average mass composition between the two UHECR sets, arriving particularly from the supergalactic plane and a complementary region.

  8. A METHOD TO SEARCH FOR CORRELATIONS OF ULTRA-HIGH ENERGY COSMIC-RAY MASSES WITH THE LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURES IN THE LOCAL GALAXY DENSITY FIELD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ivanov, A. A.

    2013-01-01

    One of the main goals of investigations using present and future giant extensive air shower (EAS) arrays is the mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). A new approach to the problem is presented, combining the analysis of arrival directions with the statistical test of the paired EAS samples. One of the ideas of the method is to search for possible correlations between UHECR masses and their separate sources; for instance, if there are two sources in different areas of the celestial sphere injecting different nuclei, but the fluxes are comparable so that arrival directions are isotropic, then the aim is to reveal a difference in the mass composition of cosmic-ray fluxes. The method is based on a non-parametric statistical test—the Wilcoxon signed-rank routine—which does not depend on the populations fitting any parameterized distributions. Two particular algorithms are proposed: first, using measurements of the depth of the EAS maximum position in the atmosphere; and second, relying on the age variance of air showers initiated by different primary particles. The formulated method is applied to the Yakutsk array data, in order to demonstrate the possibility of searching for a difference in average mass composition between the two UHECR sets, arriving particularly from the supergalactic plane and a complementary region.

  9. A METHOD TO SEARCH FOR CORRELATIONS OF ULTRA-HIGH ENERGY COSMIC-RAY MASSES WITH THE LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURES IN THE LOCAL GALAXY DENSITY FIELD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ivanov, A. A., E-mail: ivanov@ikfia.ysn.ru [Shafer Institute for Cosmophysical Research and Aeronomy, 31 Lenin Avenue, Yakutsk 677980 (Russian Federation)

    2013-02-15

    One of the main goals of investigations using present and future giant extensive air shower (EAS) arrays is the mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). A new approach to the problem is presented, combining the analysis of arrival directions with the statistical test of the paired EAS samples. One of the ideas of the method is to search for possible correlations between UHECR masses and their separate sources; for instance, if there are two sources in different areas of the celestial sphere injecting different nuclei, but the fluxes are comparable so that arrival directions are isotropic, then the aim is to reveal a difference in the mass composition of cosmic-ray fluxes. The method is based on a non-parametric statistical test-the Wilcoxon signed-rank routine-which does not depend on the populations fitting any parameterized distributions. Two particular algorithms are proposed: first, using measurements of the depth of the EAS maximum position in the atmosphere; and second, relying on the age variance of air showers initiated by different primary particles. The formulated method is applied to the Yakutsk array data, in order to demonstrate the possibility of searching for a difference in average mass composition between the two UHECR sets, arriving particularly from the supergalactic plane and a complementary region.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. Interacting cosmic fluids and phase transitions under a holographic modeling for dark energy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lepe, Samuel [Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Instituto de Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias, Valparaiso (Chile); Pena, Francisco [Universidad de La Frontera, Departamento de Ciencias Fisicas, Facultad de Ingenieria y Ciencias, Temuco (Chile)

    2016-09-15

    We discuss the consequences of possible sign changes of the Q-function which measures the transfer of energy between dark energy and dark matter. We investigate this scenario from a holographic perspective by modeling dark energy by a linear parametrization and CPL-parametrization of the equation of state (ω). By imposing the strong constraint of the second law of thermodynamics, we show that the change of sign for Q, due to the cosmic evolution, imply changes in the temperatures of dark energy and dark matter. We also discuss the phase transitions, in the past and future, experienced by dark energy and dark matter (or, equivalently, the sign changes of their heat capacities). (orig.)

  13. Interacting cosmic fluids and phase transitions under a holographic modeling for dark energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lepe, Samuel; Pena, Francisco

    2016-01-01

    We discuss the consequences of possible sign changes of the Q-function which measures the transfer of energy between dark energy and dark matter. We investigate this scenario from a holographic perspective by modeling dark energy by a linear parametrization and CPL-parametrization of the equation of state (ω). By imposing the strong constraint of the second law of thermodynamics, we show that the change of sign for Q, due to the cosmic evolution, imply changes in the temperatures of dark energy and dark matter. We also discuss the phase transitions, in the past and future, experienced by dark energy and dark matter (or, equivalently, the sign changes of their heat capacities). (orig.)

  14. Catching Cosmic Rays with a DSLR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sibbernsen, Kendra

    2010-01-01

    Cosmic rays are high-energy particles from outer space that continually strike the Earth's atmosphere and produce cascades of secondary particles, which reach the surface of the Earth, mainly in the form of muons. These particles can be detected with scintillator detectors, Geiger counters, cloud chambers, and also can be recorded with commonly…

  15. 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)

  16. The maximum energy of cosmic rays gained in the jet of black holes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tascau, Oana; Biermann, Peter

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we will present the results of the calculation of maximum energy gained by a particle in the acceleration process done by the black hole mechanism. We are using here the model of P. Biermann and H. Falcke to determine if and how the black holes contribute to the cosmic rays that reach the Earth. The conclusion is that at the highest energy only M87 contributes, as has been claimed for many years. Secondly, at lower energy, Cen A may indeed take over as second most important source, again as expected for some time. (authors)

  17. 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.

  18. Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal Effect for High-Energy Electrons Observed with Emulsion Chambers

    CERN Document Server

    Yoshida, Kenji; Yanagisawa, K; Kobayashi, T; Sato, Y; Nishimura, J

    We have performed high-energy electron observations using balloon-borne emulsion chambers, and derived the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range from 30 GeV to 3 TeV. For the calibration of the emulsion chambers, we have also carried out beam tests of 50 GeV, 200 GeV, and 250 GeV electrons at CERN-SPS. The Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect predicts the reduction of amplitude for bremsstrahlung photon emission. It affects to the depth of the first electron-positron pair of the electron-induced shower, the so-called shower starting point. In the emulsion chambers, we can measure the shower starting points for high- energy electrons with the position resolution of 1 m m. From the observations of accelerator-beam electrons of 200 GeV and 250 GeV, and cosmic-ray electrons above 400 GeV, we found the direct evidence of suppression of the bremsstrahlung cross sections due to the LPM effect.

  19. Particle accelerators, colliders, and the story of high energy physics charming the cosmic snake

    CERN Document Server

    Jayakumar, Raghavan

    2012-01-01

    The Nordic mythological Cosmic Serpent, Ouroboros, is said to be coiled in the depths of the sea, surrounding the Earth with its tail in its mouth. In physics, this snake is a metaphor for the Universe, where the head, symbolizing the largest entity – the Cosmos – is one with the tail, symbolizing the smallest – the fundamental particle. Particle accelerators, colliders and detectors are built by physicists and engineers to uncover the nature of the Universe while discovering its building blocks. “Charming the Cosmic Snake” takes the readers through the science behind these experimental machines: the physics principles that each stage of the development of particle accelerators helped to reveal, and the particles they helped to discover. The book culminates with a description of the Large Hadron Collider, one of the world’s largest and most complex machines operating in a 27-km circumference tunnel near Geneva. That collider may prove or disprove many of our basic theories about the nature of matt...

  20. Origin of the ankle in the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray spectrum, and of the extragalactic protons below it

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unger, Michael; Farrar, Glennys R.; Anchordoqui, Luis A.

    2015-12-01

    The sharp change in slope of the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) spectrum around 1 018.6 eV (the ankle), combined with evidence of a light but extragalactic component near and below the ankle and intermediate composition above, has proved exceedingly challenging to understand theoretically, without fine-tuning. We propose a mechanism whereby photo-disintegration of ultrahigh energy nuclei in the region surrounding a UHECR accelerator accounts for the observed spectrum and inferred composition at Earth. For suitable source conditions, the model reproduces the spectrum and the composition over the entire extragalactic cosmic ray energy range, i.e. above 1 017.5 eV . Predictions for the spectrum and flavors of neutrinos resulting from this process are also presented.