4,504 research outputs found
The ANTARES Deep-Sea Neutrino Telescope: Status and First Results
Various aspects of the construction, operation and calibration of the
recently completed deep-sea ANTARES neutrino telescope are described. Some
first results obtained with a partial five line configuration are presented,
including depth dependence of the atmospheric muon rate, the search for
point-like cosmic neutrino sources and the search for dark matter annihilation
in the Sun.Comment: 8 pages, 16 figure
The DArk Matter Particle Explorer mission
The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), one of the four scientific space
science missions within the framework of the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space
Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a general purpose high energy
cosmic-ray and gamma-ray observatory, which was successfully launched on
December 17th, 2015 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The DAMPE
scientific objectives include the study of galactic cosmic rays up to
TeV and hundreds of TeV for electrons/gammas and nuclei respectively, and the
search for dark matter signatures in their spectra. In this paper we illustrate
the layout of the DAMPE instrument, and discuss the results of beam tests and
calibrations performed on ground. Finally we present the expected performance
in space and give an overview of the mission key scientific goals.Comment: 45 pages, including 29 figures and 6 tables. Published in Astropart.
Phy
Validation of Kalman Filter alignment algorithm with cosmic-ray data using a CMS silicon strip tracker endcap
A Kalman Filter alignment algorithm has been applied to cosmic-ray data. We
discuss the alignment algorithm and an experiment-independent implementation
including outlier rejection and treatment of weakly determined parameters.
Using this implementation, the algorithm has been applied to data recorded with
one CMS silicon tracker endcap. Results are compared to both photogrammetry
measurements and data obtained from a dedicated hardware alignment system, and
good agreement is observed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. CMS NOTE-2010/00
Status of the KM3NeT project
KM3NeT is a deep-sea research infrastructure being constructed in the
Mediterranean Sea. It will be installed at three sites: KM3NeT-Fr, offshore
Toulon, France, KM3NeT-It, offshore Portopalo di Capo Passero, Sicily (Italy)
and KM3NeT-Gr, offshore Pylos, Peloponnese, Greece. It will host the next
generation Cherenkov neutrino telescope and nodes for a deep sea
multidisciplinary observatory, providing oceanographers, marine biologists, and
geophysicists with real time measurements. The neutrino telescope will search
for Galactic and extra-Galactic sources of neutrinos, complementing IceCube in
its field of view. The detector will have a modular structure and consists of
six building blocks, each including about one hundred Detection Units (DUs).
Each DU will be equipped with 18 multi-PMT digital optical modules. The first
phase of construction has started and shore and deep-sea infrastructures
hosting the future KM3NeT detector are being prepared in France near Toulon and
in Italy, near Capo Passero in Sicily. The technological solutions for KM3NeT
and the expected performance of the detector are presented and discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, talk given at the 13th Topical Seminar on
Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors (IPRD13), 7-10 Oct 2013, Siena,
Italy
(http://www.dsfta.unisi.it/it/eventi/13th-topical-seminar-innovative-particle-and-radiation-detectors-iprd13
GNSS troposphere tomography based on two-step reconstructions using GPS observations and COSMIC profiles
Traditionally, balloon-based radiosonde soundings are
used to study the spatial distribution of atmospheric water vapour. However,
this approach cannot be frequently employed due to its high cost. In
contrast, GPS tomography technique can obtain water vapour in a high temporal
resolution. In the tomography technique, an iterative or non-iterative
reconstruction algorithm is usually utilised to overcome rank deficiency of
observation equations for water vapour inversion. However, the single
iterative or non-iterative reconstruction algorithm has their limitations.
For instance, the iterative reconstruction algorithm requires accurate
initial values of water vapour while the non-iterative reconstruction
algorithm needs proper constraint conditions. To overcome these drawbacks,
we present a combined iterative and non-iterative reconstruction approach
for the three-dimensional (3-D) water vapour inversion using GPS observations
and COSMIC profiles. In this approach, the non-iterative reconstruction
algorithm is first used to estimate water vapour density based on a priori
water vapour information derived from COSMIC radio occultation data. The
estimates are then employed as initial values in the iterative
reconstruction algorithm. The largest advantage of this approach is that
precise initial values of water vapour density that are essential in the
iterative reconstruction algorithm can be obtained. This combined
reconstruction algorithm (CRA) is evaluated using 10-day GPS observations in
Hong Kong and COSMIC profiles. The test results indicate that the water
vapor accuracy from CRA is 16 and 14% higher than that of iterative
and non-iterative reconstruction approaches, respectively. In addition, the
tomography results obtained from the CRA are further validated using
radiosonde data. Results indicate that water vapour densities derived from
the CRA agree with radiosonde results very well at altitudes above 2.5 km.
The average RMS value of their differences above 2.5 km is 0.44 g m<sup>−3</sup>
Electron density retrieval from truncated Radio Occultation GNSS data
This paper summarizes the definition and validation of two complementary new strategies, to invert incomplete Global Navigation Satellite System Radio-Occultation (RO) ionospheric measurements, such as the ones to be provided by the future EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation. It will provide RO measurements with impact parameter much below the Low Earth Orbiters' height (817 km): from 500 km down approximately. The first presented method to invert truncated RO data is denoted as Abel-VaryChap Hybrid modeling from topside Incomplete Global Navigation Satellite System RO data, based on simple First Principles, very precise, and well suited for postprocessing. And the second method is denoted as Simple Estimation of Electron density profiles from topside Incomplete RO data, is less precise, but yields very fast estimations, suitable for Near Real-Time determination. Both techniques will be described and assessed with a set of 546 representative COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 ROs, with relative errors of 7% and 11% for Abel-VaryChap Hybrid modeling from topside Incomplete Global Navigation Satellite System RO data and Simple Estimation of Electron density profiles from topside Incomplete RO data, respectively, with 20 min and 15 s, respectively, of computational time per occultation in our Intel I7 PC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Measurement of the atmospheric muon flux with the NEMO Phase-1 detector
The NEMO Collaboration installed and operated an underwater detector
including prototypes of the critical elements of a possible underwater km3
neutrino telescope: a four-floor tower (called Mini-Tower) and a Junction Box.
The detector was developed to test some of the main systems of the km3
detector, including the data transmission, the power distribution, the timing
calibration and the acoustic positioning systems as well as to verify the
capabilities of a single tridimensional detection structure to reconstruct muon
tracks. We present results of the analysis of the data collected with the NEMO
Mini-Tower. The position of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) is determined through
the acoustic position system. Signals detected with PMTs are used to
reconstruct the tracks of atmospheric muons. The angular distribution of
atmospheric muons was measured and results compared with Monte Carlo
simulations.Comment: Astrop. Phys., accepte
A comparison of the cosmic-ray energy scales of Tunka-133 and KASCADE-Grande via their radio extensions Tunka-Rex and LOPES
The radio technique is a promising method for detection of cosmic-ray air
showers of energies around PeV and higher with an array of radio
antennas. Since the amplitude of the radio signal can be measured absolutely
and increases with the shower energy, radio measurements can be used to
determine the air-shower energy on an absolute scale. We show that calibrated
measurements of radio detectors operated in coincidence with host experiments
measuring air showers based on other techniques can be used for comparing the
energy scales of these host experiments. Using two approaches, first via direct
amplitude measurements, and second via comparison of measurements with air
shower simulations, we compare the energy scales of the air-shower experiments
Tunka-133 and KASCADE-Grande, using their radio extensions, Tunka-Rex and
LOPES, respectively. Due to the consistent amplitude calibration for Tunka-Rex
and LOPES achieved by using the same reference source, this comparison reaches
an accuracy of approximately - limited by some shortcomings of LOPES,
which was a prototype experiment for the digital radio technique for air
showers. In particular we show that the energy scales of cosmic-ray
measurements by the independently calibrated experiments KASCADE-Grande and
Tunka-133 are consistent with each other on this level
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