The ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD)

The ALICE silicon pixel detector (SPD) consists of two layers in the barrel region at small radius (4cm and 7cm, respectively). The main requirements are summarised. The design considerations and development status are reviewed

First results of systematic studies done with different types of Silicon Photomultipliers

The presented results are obtained during the first steps taken in order to develop a setup and measurement procedures which allow to compare properties of diverse kinds of silicon photomultipliers. The response to low-intensity light was studied for silicon photomultipliers produced by CPTA (Russia), Hamamatsu (Japan), ITC-irst (Italy) and SensL (Ireland).Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the Internationa Linear Collider Workshop LCWS2007, Hamburg, German

First results of comparative studies of silicon photomultipliers

The presented results are obtained during the first steps taken in order to develop a set-up and measurement procedures which allow to compare properties of diverse samples of silicon photomultipliers. The response to low-intensity light was studied for silicon photomultipliers produced by CPTA (Russia), Hamamatsu(Japan), ITC-irst (Italy) and SensL (Ireland)

Optical pulsations from a transitional millisecond pulsar

Weakly magnetic, millisecond spinning neutron stars attain their very fast rotation through a 1E8-1E9 yr long phase during which they undergo disk-accretion of matter from a low mass companion star. They can be detected as accretion-powered millisecond X-ray pulsars if towards the end of this phase their magnetic field is still strong enough to channel the accreting matter towards the magnetic poles. When mass transfer is much reduced or ceases altogether, pulsed emission generated by particle acceleration in the magnetosphere and powered by the rotation of the neutron star is observed, preferentially in the radio and gamma-ray bands. A few transitional millisecond pulsars that swing between an accretion-powered X-ray pulsar regime and a rotationally-powered radio pulsar regime in response to variations of the mass in-flow rate have been recently identified. Here we report the detection of optical pulsations from a transitional pulsar, the first ever from a millisecond spinning neutron star. The pulsations were observed when the pulsar was surrounded by an accretion disk and originated inside the magnetosphere or within a few hundreds of kilometres from it. Energy arguments rule out reprocessing of accretion-powered X-ray emission and argue against a process related to accretion onto the pulsar polar caps; synchrotron emission of electrons in a rotation-powered pulsar magnetosphere seems more likely.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures. The first two authors contributed equally to this wor

Study of a New Trigger on Multiplicity and Primary Interaction Vertex using the ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector

New trigger inputs for the ALICE Central Trigger Processor (CTP) are proposed. They are based on the use of Fast Multiplicity (FM) output signals generated by the ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD). These can be used for a multiplicity based centrality trigger and for a fast on-line computation of the primary vertex. A simple algorithm for primary vertex location at the trigger level is proposed. The precision that can be achieved with this method on centrality selection and primary vertex location, is discussed for interactions with different pseudo-rapidity density level. The feasibility of background rejection is also considered

Pulsating in unison at optical and X-ray energies: simultaneous high-time resolution observations of the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038

PSR J1023+0038 is the first millisecond pulsar discovered to pulsate in the visible band; such a detection took place when the pulsar was surrounded by an accretion disk and also showed X-ray pulsations. We report on the first high time resolution observational campaign of this transitional pulsar in the disk state, using simultaneous observations in the optical (TNG, NOT, TJO), X-ray (XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, NICER), infrared (GTC) and UV (Swift) bands. Optical and X-ray pulsations were detected simultaneously in the X-ray high intensity mode in which the source spends $\sim$ 70% of the time, and both disappeared in the low mode, indicating a common underlying physical mechanism. In addition, optical and X-ray pulses were emitted within a few km, had similar pulse shape and distribution of the pulsed flux density compatible with a power-law relation $F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-0.7}$ connecting the optical and the 0.3-45 keV X-ray band. Optical pulses were detected also during flares with a pulsed flux reduced by one third with respect to the high mode; the lack of a simultaneous detection of X-ray pulses is compatible with the lower photon statistics. We show that magnetically channeled accretion of plasma onto the surface of the neutron star cannot account for the optical pulsed luminosity ($\sim 10^{31}$ erg/s). On the other hand, magnetospheric rotation-powered pulsar emission would require an extremely efficient conversion of spin-down power into pulsed optical and X-ray emission. We then propose that optical and X-ray pulses are instead produced by synchrotron emission from the intrabinary shock that forms where a striped pulsar wind meets the accretion disk, within a few light cylinder radii away, $\sim$ 100 km, from the pulsar.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures, first submitted to ApJ on 2019, January 1

Beam test results of the irradiated Silicon Drift Detector for ALICE

The Silicon Drift Detectors will equip two of the six cylindrical layers of high precision position sensitive detectors in the ITS of the ALICE experiment at LHC. In this paper we report the beam test results of a SDD irradiated with 1 GeV electrons. The aim of this test was to verify the radiation tolerance of the device under an electron fluence equivalent to twice particle fluence expected during 10 years of ALICE operation.Comment: 6 pages,6 figures, to appear in the proceedings of International Workshop In high Multiplicity Environments (TIME'05), 3-7 October 2005, Zurich,Switzerlan

A New Fast Silicon Photomultiplier Photometer

The Crab pulsar is one of the most intensively studied X-ray/optical objects, but up to now only a small number of research groups have based their photometers on SiPM technology. In early February 2011, the Crab pulsar signal was observed with our photometer prototype. With low-cost instrumentation, the results of the analysis are very significant: the processed data acquired on the Crab pulsar gave both a good light curve and a good power spectrum, in comparison with the data analysis results of other more expensive photometer instrumentation