315 research outputs found
Dark Matter Search Perspectives with GAMMA-400
GAMMA-400 is a future high-energy gamma-ray telescope, designed to measure
the fluxes of gamma-rays and cosmic-ray electrons + positrons, which can be
produced by annihilation or decay of dark matter particles, and to survey the
celestial sphere in order to study point and extended sources of gamma-rays,
measure energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray
emission, gamma-ray bursts, and gamma-ray emission from the Sun. GAMMA-400
covers the energy range from 100 MeV to ~3000 GeV. Its angular resolution is
~0.01 deg(Eg > 100 GeV), and the energy resolution ~1% (Eg > 10 GeV). GAMMA-400
is planned to be launched on the Russian space platform Navigator in 2019. The
GAMMA-400 perspectives in the search for dark matter in various scenarios are
presented in this paperComment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the Proceedings of the International
Cosmic-Ray Conference 2013, Brazil, Rio de Janeir
Capabilities of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope to detect gamma-ray bursts from lateral directions
The currently developing space-based gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400 will
measure the gamma-ray and electrons + positrons fluxes using the main top-down
aperture in the energy range from ~20 MeV to several TeV in the highly elliptic
orbit (without shadowing the telescope by the Earth and outside the radiation
belts) continuously for a long time. The instrument will provide fundamentally
new data on discrete gamma-ray sources, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), sources and
propagation of Galactic cosmic rays and signatures of dark matter due to its
unique angular and energy resolutions in the wide energy range. The gamma-ray
telescope consists of the anticoincidence system (AC), the converter-tracker
(C), the time-of-flight system (S1 and S2), the position-sensitive and
electromagnetic calorimeters (CC1 and CC2), the top and bottom scintillation
detectors of the calorimeter (S3 and S4) and lateral detectors of the
calorimeter (LD). In this paper, the capabilities of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray
telescope to measure fluxes of GRBs from lateral directions of CC2 are analyzed
using Monte-Carlo simulations. The analysis is based on second-level trigger
construction using signals from S3, CC2, S4 and LD detectors. For checking the
numerical algorithm the data from space-based GBM and LAT instruments of the
Fermi experiment are used, namely, three long bursts: GRB 080916C, GRB 090902B,
GRB 090926A and one short burst GRB 090510A. The obtained results allow us to
conclude that from lateral directions the GAMMA-400 space-based gamma-ray
telescope will reliably measure the spectra of bright GRBs in the energy range
from ~10 to ~100 MeV with the effective area of about 0.13 m2 (for each of the
four sides of CC2) and total field of view of about 6 sr.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, the paper will be submitted to Advances in
Space Researc
A separation of electrons and protons in the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope
The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope is intended to measure the fluxes of gamma
rays and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons in the energy range from 100 MeV to
several TeV. Such measurements concern with the following scientific goals:
search for signatures of dark matter, investigation of gamma-ray point and
extended sources, studies of the energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic
diffuse emission, studies of gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray emission from the
active Sun, as well as high-precision measurements of spectra of high-energy
electrons and positrons, protons, and nuclei up to the knee. The main
components of cosmic rays are protons and helium nuclei, whereas the part of
lepton component in the total flux is ~10E-3 for high energies. In present
paper, the capability of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope to distinguish
electrons and positrons from protons in cosmic rays is investigated. The
individual contribution to the proton rejection is studied for each detector
system of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope. Using combined information from
all detector systems allow us to provide the proton rejection from electrons
with a factor of ~4x10E5 for vertical incident particles and ~3x10E5 for
particles with initial inclination of 30 degrees. The calculations were
performed for the electron energy range from 50 GeV to 1 TeV.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Advances and Space Researc
The GAMMA-400 space observatory: status and perspectives
The present design of the new space observatory GAMMA-400 is presented in
this paper. The instrument has been designed for the optimal detection of gamma
rays in a broad energy range (from ~100 MeV up to 3 TeV), with excellent
angular and energy resolution. The observatory will also allow precise and high
statistic studies of the electron component in the cosmic rays up to the multi
TeV region, as well as protons and nuclei spectra up to the knee region. The
GAMMA-400 observatory will allow to address a broad range of science topics,
like search for signatures of dark matter, studies of Galactic and
extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission,
gamma-ray bursts and charged cosmic rays acceleration and diffusion mechanism
up to the knee
Time dependence of the electron and positron components of the cosmic radiation measured by the PAMELA experiment between July 2006 and December 2015
Cosmic-ray electrons and positrons are a unique probe of the propagation of
cosmic rays as well as of the nature and distribution of particle sources in
our Galaxy. Recent measurements of these particles are challenging our basic
understanding of the mechanisms of production, acceleration and propagation of
cosmic rays. Particularly striking are the differences between the low energy
results collected by the space-borne PAMELA and AMS-02 experiments and older
measurements pointing to sign-charge dependence of the solar modulation of
cosmic-ray spectra. The PAMELA experiment has been measuring the time variation
of the positron and electron intensity at Earth from July 2006 to December 2015
covering the period for the minimum of solar cycle 23 (2006-2009) till the
middle of the maximum of solar cycle 24, through the polarity reversal of the
heliospheric magnetic field which took place between 2013 and 2014. The
positron to electron ratio measured in this time period clearly shows a
sign-charge dependence of the solar modulation introduced by particle drifts.
These results provide the first clear and continuous observation of how drift
effects on solar modulation have unfolded with time from solar minimum to solar
maximum and their dependence on the particle rigidity and the cyclic polarity
of the solar magnetic field.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Design and Performance of the GAMMA-400 Gamma-Ray Telescope for Dark Matter Searches
The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope is designed to measure the fluxes of gamma-rays and cosmic-ray electrons (+) positrons, which can be produced by annihilation or decay of the dark matter particles, as well as to survey the celestial sphere in order to study point and extended sources of gamma-rays, measure energy spectra of Galactic and extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray emission, gamma-ray bursts, and gamma-ray emission from the Sun. GAMMA-400 covers the energy range from 100 MeV to 3000 GeV. Its angular resolution is approximately 0.01deg (E(sub gamma) greater than 100 GeV), the energy resolution approximately 1% (E(sub gamma) greater than 10 GeV), and the proton rejection factor approximately 10(exp 6). GAMMA-400 will be installed on the Russian space platform Navigator. The beginning of observations is planned for 2018
A new measurement of the antiproton-to-proton flux ratio up to 100 GeV in the cosmic radiation
A new measurement of the cosmic ray antiproton-to-proton flux ratio between 1
and 100 GeV is presented. The results were obtained with the PAMELA experiment,
which was launched into low-earth orbit on-board the Resurs-DK1 satellite on
June 15th 2006. During 500 days of data collection a total of about 1000
antiprotons have been identified, including 100 above an energy of 20 GeV. The
high-energy results are a ten-fold improvement in statistics with respect to
all previously published data. The data follow the trend expected from
secondary production calculations and significantly constrain contributions
from exotic sources, e.g. dark matter particle annihilations.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Measurement of boron and carbon fluxes in cosmic rays with the PAMELA experiment
The propagation of cosmic rays inside our galaxy plays a fundamental role in
shaping their injection spectra into those observed at Earth. One of the best
tools to investigate this issue is the ratio of fluxes for secondary and
primary species. The boron-to-carbon (B/C) ratio, in particular, is a sensitive
probe to investigate propagation mechanisms. This paper presents new
measurements of the absolute fluxes of boron and carbon nuclei, as well as the
B/C ratio, from the PAMELA space experiment. The results span the range 0.44 -
129 GeV/n in kinetic energy for data taken in the period July 2006 - March
2008
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