Precision Measurement of Boron-to-Carbon ratio in Cosmic Rays from 2 GV to 2 TV with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station

AMS-02 is a wide acceptance high-energy physics experiment installed on the International Space Station in May 2011 and it has been operating continuously since then. AMS-02 is able to separate cosmic rays light nuclei ($1\leq Z \leq 8$) with contaminations less than $10^{-3}$. The ratio between the cosmic rays Boron and Carbon fluxes is known to be very sensitive to the properties of the propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy, being Boron a secondary product of spallation on the interstellar medium of heavier primary elements such as Carbon and Oxygen. A precise measurement reaching the TeV region can significantly help understanding cosmic rays propagation in the Galaxy and the amount of matter traversed before reaching Earth. The status of the measurement of the boron-to-carbon ratio based on 10 millions Boron and Carbon events is presented.Comment: XXV ECRS 2016 Proceedings - eConf C16-09-04.

Measurement of the nuclear and isotopic composition of galactic cosmic rays with the PAMELA experiment.

2012/2013This thesis describes the study of the isotopes of hydrogen and helium and of the boron and carbon nuclei in the cosmic radiation. New measurements of the fluxes of 1H, 2H, 3He, 4He, between 120 MeV/n and 900 MeV/n, and of the boron and carbon fluxes, between 400 MeV/n and 120 GeV/n, are presented at the top of the atmosphere. The measurements were made with the space-borne PAMELA experiment from July 2006 to March 2008, that is during a period of minimum solar activity and negative solar magnetic field polarity. Such measurements can help in achieving a more detailed knowledge of the physics of cosmic ray propagation inside the Galaxy, which is a key ingredient in interpreting cosmic ray origin, acceleration mechanism and the possible presence of new physics.XXVI Ciclo198

Advantages and Requirements in Time Resolving Tracking for Astroparticle Experiments in Space

A large-area, solid-state detector with single-hit precision timing measurement will enable several breakthrough experimental advances for the direct measurement of particles in space. Silicon microstrip detectors are the most promising candidate technology to instrument the large areas of the next-generation astroparticle space borne detectors that could meet the limitations on power consumption required by operations in space. We overview the novel experimental opportunities that could be enabled by the introduction of the timing measurement, concurrent with the accurate spatial and charge measurement, in Silicon microstrip tracking detectors, and we discuss the technological solutions and their readiness to enable the operations of large-area Silicon microstrip timing detectors in space

CAESAR: Space Weather archive prototype for ASPIS

The project CAESAR (Comprehensive spAce wEather Studies for the ASPIS prototype Realization) is aimed to tackle all the relevant aspects of Space Weather (SWE) and realize the prototype of the scientific data centre for Space Weather of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) called ASPIS (ASI SPace Weather InfraStructure). This contribution is meant to bring attention upon the first steps in the development of the CAESAR prototype for ASPIS and will focus on the activities of the Node 2000 of CAESAR, the set of Work Packages dedicated to the technical design and implementation of the CAESAR ASPIS archive prototype. The product specifications of the intended resources that will form the archive, functional and system requirements gathered as first steps to seed the design of the prototype infrastructure, and evaluation of existing frameworks, tools and standards, will be presented as well as the status of the project in its initial stage.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, ADASS XXXII (2022) Proceeding

A plugin-based approach to data analysis for the AMS experiment on the ISS

In many HEP experiments a typical data analysis workflow requires each user to read the experiment data in order to extract meaningful information and produce relevant plots for the considered analysis. Multiple users accessing the same data result in a redundant access to the data itself, which could be factorized effectively improving the CPU efficiency of the analysis jobs and relieving stress from the storage infrastructure. To address this issue we present a modular and lightweight solution where the users code is embedded in different "analysis plugins" which are then collected and loaded at runtime for execution, where the data is read only once and shared between all the different plugins. This solution was developed for one of the data analysis groups within the AMS collaboration but is easily extendable to all kinds of analyses and workloads that need I/O access on AMS data or custom data formats and can even adapted with little effort to another HEP experiment data. This framework could then be easily embedded into a "analysis train" and we will discuss a possible implementation and different ways to optimise CPU efficiency and execution time

Dynamic and on demand data streams

Replicability and efficiency of data processing on the same data samples are a major challenge for the analysis of data produced by HEP experiments. High level data analyzed by end-users are typically produced as a subset of the whole experiment data sample to study interesting selection of data (streams). For standard applications, streams may be eventually copied from servers and analyzed on local computing centers or user machine clients. The creation of streams as copy of a subset of the original data results in redundant information stored in filesystems and may be not efficient: if the definition of streams changes, it may force a reprocessing of the low-level files with consequent impact on the data analysis efficiency. We propose an approach based on a database of lookup tables intended for dynamic and on-demand definition of data streams. This enables the end-users, as the data analysis strategy evolves, to explore different definitions of streams with minimal cost in computing resources. We also present a prototype demonstration application of this database for the analysis of the AMS-02 experiment data

New Properties of Secondary Cosmic Rays observed by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station

International audiencePrecise measurements of the secondary cosmic ray fluxes and of secondary-over-primary flux ratios as functions of rigidity are essential for cosmic ray propagation study. We report the properties of heavy secondary cosmic ray fluorine (F) nuclei in the rigidity R range 2GV to 3 TV observed by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment (AMS-02) on the International Space Station. The secondary-over-primary ratios fluorine-to-silicon and boron-to-oxygen (or boron-to-carbon) will be discussed, showing that the heavy cosmic rays, from fluorine to silicon, have different propagation properties compared to those of light cosmic rays, from helium to oxygen. The properties of cosmic-ray sodium and aluminum nuclei, which are partly secondary and partly primary, will also be presented

Photodiode Read-Out System for the Calorimeter of the Herd Experiment

HERD is a future experiment for the direct detection of high energy cosmic rays. The instrument is based on a calorimeter optimized not only for a good energy resolution but also for a large acceptance. Each crystal composing the calorimeter is equipped with two read-out systems: one based on wavelength-shifting fibers and the other based on two photodiodes with different active areas assembled in a monolithic package. In this paper, we describe the photodiode read-out system, focusing on experimental requirements, design and estimated performances. Finally, we show how these features lead to the flight model project of the photodiode read-out system

Tracker-in-Calorimeter (TIC) Project: A Calorimetric New Solution for Space Experiments

A space-based detector dedicated to measurements of γ-rays and charged particles has to achieve a balance between different instrumental requirements. A good angular resolution is necessary for the γ-rays, whereas an excellent geometric factor is needed for the charged particles. The tracking reference technique of γ-ray physics is based on a pair-conversion telescope made of passive material (e.g., tungsten) coupled with sensitive layers (e.g., silicon microstrip). However, this kind of detector has a limited acceptance because of the large lever arm between the active layers, needed to improve the track reconstruction capability. Moreover, the passive material can induce fragmentation of nuclei, thus worsening charge reconstruction performances. The Tracker-In-Calorimeter (TIC) project aims to solve all these drawbacks. In the TIC proposal, the silicon sensors are moved inside a highly-segmented isotropic calorimeter with a couple of external scintillators dedicated to charge reconstruction. In principle, this configuration has a good geometrical factor, and the angle of the γ-rays can be precisely reconstructed from the lateral profile of the electromagnetic shower sampled, at different depths in the calorimeter, by silicon strips. The effectiveness of this approach has been studied with Monte Carlo simulations and validated with beam test data of a small prototype

Design of an Antimatter Large Acceptance Detector In Orbit (ALADInO)

International audienceA new generation magnetic spectrometer in space will open the opportunity to investigate the frontiers in direct high-energy cosmic ray measurements and to precisely measure the amount of the rare antimatter component in cosmic rays beyond the reach of current missions. We propose the concept for an Antimatter Large Acceptance Detector In Orbit (ALADInO), designed to take over the legacy of direct measurements of cosmic rays in space performed by PAMELA and AMS-02. ALADInO features technological solutions conceived to overcome the current limitations of magnetic spectrometers in space with a layout that provides an acceptance larger than 10 m2 sr. A superconducting magnet coupled to precision tracking and time-of-flight systems can provide the required matter–antimatter separation capabilities and rigidity measurement resolution with a Maximum Detectable Rigidity better than 20 TV. The inner 3D-imaging deep calorimeter, designed to maximize the isotropic acceptance of particles, allows for the measurement of cosmic rays up to PeV energies with accurate energy resolution to precisely measure features in the cosmic ray spectra. The operations of ALADInO in the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrangian point for at least 5 years would enable unique revolutionary observations with groundbreaking discovery potentials in the field of astroparticle physics by precision measurements of electrons, positrons, and antiprotons up to 10 TeV and of nuclear cosmic rays up to PeV energies, and by the possible unambiguous detection and measurement of low-energy antideuteron and antihelium components in cosmic rays