242 research outputs found
Hunting for dark matter and new physics with GECCO
We outline the science opportunities in the areas of searches for dark matter and new physics offered by a proposed future MeV gamma-ray telescope, the Galactic Explorer with a Coded Aperture Mask Compton Telescope (GECCO). We point out that such an instrument would play a critical role in opening up a discovery window for particle dark matter with mass in the MeV or sub-MeV range, in disentangling the origin of the mysterious 511 keV line emission in the Galactic Center region, and in potentially discovering Hawking evaporation from light primordial black holes
Measurements of 0.2 to 20 GeV/n cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra from 1997 through 2002 with the BESS spectrometer
We measured low energy cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra in the kinetic
energy range 0.215 - 21.5 GeV/n at different solar activities during a period
from 1997 to 2002. The observations were carried out with the BESS spectrometer
launched on a balloon at Lynn Lake, Canada. A calculation for the correction of
secondary particle backgrounds from the overlying atmosphere was improved by
using the measured spectra at small atmospheric depths ranging from 5 through
37 g/cm^2. The uncertainties including statistical and systematic errors of the
obtained spectra at the top of atmosphere are 5-7 % for protons and 6-9 % for
helium nuclei in the energy range 0.5 - 5 GeV/n.Comment: 27 pages, 7 Tables, 9 figures, Submitted to Astroparticle Physic
Analyzing solar, cosmic, and geophysical events in September 2017 using SHIĐĄRA SB RAS complex observations
We report the results of monitoring of cosmic rays and geomagnetic field along 210 magnetic meridians in Yakutia in the first half of September 2017. The energy spectrum of solar cosmic rays during Ground Level Enhancement in September 10, 2017 is estimated as J=3027Eâ1.99exp(âE/729 MeV). We present the results of the forecast and complex analysis of the magnetic storm on September 7â9, 2017 with Dst=â124 nT. The forecast lead time is about one day. We examine how the storm affected the electric potential and VLF signal propagation from RSDN-20 radio navigation stations. Irregular Pi3âPi1 pulsations occurred during the September 8, 2017 magnetic storm from 12 to 20 UT. The pulsations were accompanied by variations in electrotelluric potentials and geomagnetic fields with the correlation coefficient between them Ï(E, H)=0.5Ă·0.9. The effects of the magnetic storm manifested themselves as an increase in the attenuation and a decrease in the phase delay of VLF radio signals
Measurement of cosmic-ray low-energy antiproton spectrum with the first BESS-Polar Antarctic flight
The BESS-Polar spectrometer had its first successful balloon flight over
Antarctica in December 2004. During the 8.5-day long-duration flight, almost
0.9 billion events were recorded and 1,520 antiprotons were detected in the
energy range 0.1-4.2 GeV. In this paper, we report the antiproton spectrum
obtained, discuss the origin of cosmic-ray antiprotons, and use antiprotons to
probe the effect of charge sign dependent drift in the solar modulation.Comment: 18 pages, 1 table, 5 figures, submitted to Physics Letters
Measurements of Atmospheric Antiprotons
We measured atmospheric antiproton spectra in the energy range 0.2 to 3.4
GeV, at sea level and at balloon altitude in the atmospheric depth range 4.5 to
26 g/cm^2. The observed energy spectra, including our previous measurements at
mountain altitude, were compared with estimated spectra calculated on various
assumptions regarding the energy distribution of antiprotons that interacted
with air nuclei.Comment: Accepted for publication in PL
Dark Matter Model Selection and the ATIC/PPB-BETS anomaly
We argue that we may be able to sort out dark matter models in which
electrons are generated through the annihilation and/or decay of dark matter,
by using a fact that the initial energy spectrum is reflected in the cosmic-ray
electron flux observed at the Earth even after propagation through the galactic
magnetic field. To illustrate our idea we focus on three representative initial
spectra: (i)monochromatic (ii)flat and (iii)double-peak ones. We find that
those three cases result in significantly different energy spectra, which may
be probed by the Fermi satellite in operation or an up-coming cosmic-ray
detector such as CALET.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
Amplification of surface plasmon polariton wave in single-walled carbon nanotube using electric current pump
We propose a surface plasmon polariton amplification technique based on direct energy transfer from a dc electric current flowing in a carbon nanotube. It is shown that when the synchronization conditions are satisfied, when the surface plasmon polariton wave velocity is close to the drift velocity of the charge carriers in the nanotube, the surface wave is significantly enhanced
Measurements of Proton, Helium and Muon Spectra at Small Atmospheric Depths with the BESS Spectrometer
The cosmic-ray proton, helium, and muon spectra at small atmospheric depths
of 4.5 -- 28 g/cm^2 were precisely measured during the slow descending period
of the BESS-2001 balloon flight. The variation of atmospheric secondary
particle fluxes as a function of atmospheric depth provides fundamental
information to study hadronic interactions of the primary cosmic rays with the
atmosphere.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 4 table
On possible interpretations of the high energy electron-positron spectrum measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
The Fermi-LAT experiment recently reported high precision measurements of the
spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons-plus-positrons (CRE) between 20 GeV and 1 TeV.
The spectrum shows no prominent spectral features, and is significantly harder
than that inferred from several previous experiments. Here we discuss several
interpretations of the Fermi results based either on a single large scale
Galactic CRE component or by invoking additional electron-positron primary
sources, e.g. nearby pulsars or particle Dark Matter annihilation. We show that
while the reported Fermi-LAT data alone can be interpreted in terms of a single
component scenario, when combined with other complementary experimental
results, specifically the CRE spectrum measured by H.E.S.S. and especially the
positron fraction reported by PAMELA between 1 and 100 GeV, that class of
models fails to provide a consistent interpretation. Rather, we find that
several combinations of parameters, involving both the pulsar and dark matter
scenarios, allow a consistent description of those results. We also briefly
discuss the possibility of discriminating between the pulsar and dark matter
interpretations by looking for a possible anisotropy in the CRE flux.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures. Final version accepted for publication in
Astroparticle Physic
Measurements of Primary and Atmospheric Cosmic-Ray Spectra with the BESS-TeV Spectrometer
Primary and atmospheric cosmic-ray spectra were precisely measured with the
BESS-TeV spectrometer. The spectrometer was upgraded from BESS-98 to achieve
seven times higher resolution in momentum measurement. We report absolute
fluxes of primary protons and helium nuclei in the energy ranges, 1-540 GeV and
1-250 GeV/n, respectively, and absolute flux of atmospheric muons in the
momentum range 0.6-400 GeV/c.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, Submitted to Phys. Lett.
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