High energy extension of the FLUKA atmospheric neutrino flux

The atmospheric neutrino flux calculated with FLUKA was originally limited to 100-200 GeV for statistical reasons. In order to make it available for the analysis of high energy events, like upward through-going muons detected by neutrino telescopes, we have extended the calculation so to provide a reliable neutrino yield per primary nucleon up to about 10**6 GeV/nucleon, as far as the interaction model is concerned. We point out that the primary flux model above 100 GeV/nucleon still contributes with an important systematic error to the neutrino flux.Comment: Extended version (10 pages) of the contribution to ICRC 2003, with the addition of flux table

The FLUKA Monte Carlo, non-perturbative QCD and Cosmic Ray cascades

The FLUKA Monte Carlo code, presently used in cosmic ray physics, contains packages to sample soft hadronic processes which are built according to the Dual Parton Model. This is a phenomenological model capable of reproducing many of the features of hadronic collisions in the non perturbative QCD regime. The basic principles of the model are summarized and, as an example, the associated Lambda-K production is discussed. This is a process which has some relevance for the calculation of atmospheric neutrino fluxes.Comment: Extended version of the work for the proceedings of the workshop on QCD at Cosmic Ray Energies, Erice, Aug. 30 - Sep. 4 2004, Ital

Atmospheric neutrinos in a Large Liquid Argon detector

In view of the evaluation of the physics goals of a large Liquid Argon TPC, evolving from the ICARUS technology, we have studied the possibility of performing precision measurements on atmospheric neutrinos. For this purpose we have improved existing Monte Carlo neutrino event generators based on FLUKA and NUX by including the 3-flavor oscillation formalism and the numerical treatment of Earth matter effects. By means of these tools we have studied the sensitivity in the measurement of Theta(23) through the accurate measurement of electron neutrinos. The updated values for Delta m^2(23) from Super-Kamiokande and the mixing parameters as obtained by solar and KamLand experiments have been used as reference input, while different values of Theta(13) have been considered. An exposure larger than 500 kton yr seems necessary in order to achieve a significant result, provided that the present knowledge of systematic uncertainties is largely improved.Comment: Talk given at the worksgop "Cryogenic Liquid Detectors for Future Particle Physics", LNGS (Italy) March 13th-14th, 200

A 3-Dimensional Calculation of Atmospheric Neutrino Flux

An extensive 3-dimensional Monte Carlo calculation of the atmospheric neutrino flux is in progress with the FLUKA Monte Carlo code. The results are compared to those obtained under the 1-dimensional approximation, where secondary particles and decay products are assumed to be collinear to the primary cosmic ray, as usually done in most of the already existing flux calculations. It is shown that the collinear approximation gives rise to a wrong angular distribution of neutrinos, essentially in the Sub-GeV region. However, the angular smearing introduced by the experimental inability of detecting recoils in neutrino interactions with nuclei is large enough to wash out, in practice, most of the differences between 3-dimensional and 1-dimensional flux calculations. Therefore, the use of the collinear approximation should have not introduced a significant bias in the determination of the flavor oscillation parameters in current experiments.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures. To be submitted to Astroparticle Physics. To be submitted to Astroparticle Physic

Final State Interactions Effects in Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions

Final State Interactions effects are discussed in the context of Monte Carlo simulations of neutrino-nucleus interactions. A role of Formation Time is explained and several models describing this effect are compared. Various observables which are sensitive to FSI effects are reviewed including pion-nucleus interaction and hadron yields in backward hemisphere. NuWro Monte Carlo neutrino event generator is described and its ability to understand neutral current $\pi^0$ production data in $\sim 1$ GeV neutrino flux experiments is demonstrated.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure

The RASSCALS: An X-ray and Optical Study of 260 Galaxy Groups

We describe the ROSAT All-Sky Survey-Center for Astrophysics Loose Systems (RASSCALS), the largest X-ray and optical survey of low mass galaxy groups to date. We draw 260 groups from the combined Center for Astrophysics and Southern Sky Redshift Surveys, covering one quarter of the sky to a limiting Zwicky magnitude of 15.5. We detect 61 groups (23%) as extended X-ray sources. The statistical completeness of the sample allows us to make the first measurement of the X-ray selection function of groups, along with a clean determination of their fundamental scaling laws. We find robust evidence of similarity breaking in the relationship between the X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion. Groups with sigma < 340 km/s are overluminous by several orders of magnitude compared to the familiar LX ~ sigma^4 law for higher velocity dispersion systems. An understanding of this break depends on the detailed structure of groups with small velocity dispersions sigma < 150 km/s.Comment: 16 pages, including 6 figures. To appear in The Astrophysical Journa

The physics models of FLUKA: status and recent development

A description of the intermediate and high energy hadronic interaction models used in the FLUKA code is given. Benchmarking against experimental data is also reported in order to validate the model performances. Finally the most recent developments and perspectives for nucleus-nucleus interactions are described together with some comparisons with experimental data.Comment: talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 10 pages, p

Zinc ion coordination as a modulating factor of the ZnuA histidine-rich loop flexibility: a molecular modeling and fluorescence spectroscopy study

ZnuA is the soluble component of the high-affinity ZnuABC zinc transporter belonging to the ATP-binding cassette-type periplasmic Zn-binding proteins. The zinc transporter ZnuABC is composed by three proteins: ZnuB, the membrane permease, ZnuC, the ATPase component and ZnuA, the soluble periplasmic metal-binding protein which captures Zn and delivers it to ZnuB. The ZnuA protein contains a charged flexible loop, rich in histidines and acidic residues, showing significant species-specific differences. Various studies have established that this loop contributes to the formation of a secondary zinc binding site, which has been proposed to be important in the acquisition of periplasmic Zn for its delivery to ZnuB or for regulation of zinc uptake. Due to its high mobility the structure of the histidine-rich loop has never been solved by X-ray diffraction studies. In this paper, through a combined use of molecular modeling, mutagenesis and fluorescence spectroscopy, we confirm the presence of two zinc binding sites characterized by different affinities for the metal ion and show that the flexibility of the loop is modulated by the binding of the zinc ions to the protein. The data obtained by fluorescence spectroscopy have then be used to validate a 3D model including the unsolved histidine-rich loop

Primary cosmic ray spectrum in the 10 to the 12th power - 10 to the 16th power eV energy range from the NUSEX experiment

A primary cosmic ray spectrum was derived which fits both experimental multiple muon rates and the all-nucleon flux derived from the single muon intensities underground. In the frame of the interaction model developed by Gaisser, Elbert and Stanev, it is possible to reproduce NUSEX muon data with a primary composition in which the iron spectrum is only slightly flatter than the proton one. This result rules out the popular idea that the primary composition varies drastically with increasing energy, leading to the dominance of heavier nuclei at energies 10 to the 15th power to 10 to the 16th power eV

A neutrino-nucleon interaction generator for the FLUKA Monte Carlo code

Event generators that handle neutrino-nucleon interaction have been developed for the FLUKA code [1]. In earlier FLUKA versions only quasi-elastic (QEL) interactions were included, and the code relied on external event generators for the resonance (RES) and deep inelastic scattering (DIS). The new DIS+RES event generator is fully integrated in FLUKA and uses the same hadronization routines as those used for simulating hadron-nucleon interactions. Nuclear effects in neutrino-nucleus interactions are simulated within the same framework as in the FLUKA hadron-nucleus interaction model (PEANUT), thus profiting from its detailed physics modelling and longstanding benchmarking. The generators are available in the standard FLUKA distribution. They are presently under development and several improvements are planned to be implemented. The physics relevant to the neutrino-nucleon interactions and the results of comparisons with experimental data are discussed