9 research outputs found
Gamma-Ray Burst observations by the high-energy charged particle detector on board the CSES-01 satellite between 2019 and 2021
In this paper we report the detection of five strong Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs)
by the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD-01) mounted on board the China
Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01), operational since 2018 on a
Sun-synchronous polar orbit at a 507 km altitude and 97
inclination. HEPD-01 was designed to detect high-energy electrons in the energy
range 3 - 100 MeV, protons in the range 30 - 300 MeV, and light nuclei in the
range 30 - 300 MeV/n. Nonetheless, Monte Carlo simulations have shown HEPD-01
is sensitive to gamma-ray photons in the energy range 300 keV - 50 MeV, even if
with a moderate effective area above 5 MeV. A dedicated time correlation
analysis between GRBs reported in literature and signals from a set of HEPD-01
trigger configuration masks has confirmed the anticipated detector sensitivity
to high-energy photons. A comparison between the simultaneous time profiles of
HEPD-01 electron fluxes and photons from GRB190114C, GRB190305A, GRB190928A,
GRB200826B and GRB211211A has shown a remarkable similarity, in spite of the
different energy ranges. The high-energy response, with peak sensitivity at
about 2 MeV, and moderate effective area of the detector in the actual flight
configuration explain why these five GRBs, characterised by a fluence above
3 10 erg cm in the energy interval 300 keV - 50
MeV, have been detected.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ
LIDAL, a Time-of-Flight Radiation Detector for the International Space Station: Description and Ground Calibration
LIDAL (Light Ion Detector for ALTEA, Anomalous Long-Term Effects on Astronauts) is a radiation detector designed to measure the flux, the energy spectra and, for the first time, the time-of-flight of ions in a space habitat. It features a combination of striped silicon sensors for the measurement of deposited energy (using the ALTEA device, which operated from 2006 to 2012 in the International Space Station) and fast scintillators for the time-of-flight measurement. LIDAL was tested and calibrated using the proton beam line at TIFPA (Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics Application) and the carbon beam line at CNAO (National Center for Oncology Hadron-therapy) in 2019. The performance of the time-of-flight system featured a time resolution (sigma) less than 100 ps. Here, we describe the detector and the results of these tests, providing ground calibration curves along with the methodology established for processing the detector’s data. LIDAL was uploaded in the International Space Station in November 2019 and it has been operative in the Columbus module since January 2020
New results on protons inside the South Atlantic Anomaly, at energies between 40-250 MeV in the period 2018-2020, from the CSES-01 satellite mission
The High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD) on board the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01) was launched in February 2018, with a foreseen mission lifetime of over 5 years. It is providing crucial new insight in the physical dynamics of the radiation belts in the Earth's magnetosphere, in particular in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA). In this work, proton data from HEPD in the 40 MeV-250 MeV energy range, collected inside the SAA during the period between August 2018 and December 2020, are presented and compared with the up-to-date AP9 model by NASA. These are the first results on SAA protons at Low-Earth Orbit during the minimum activity phase between the 24th and the 25th solar cycles below 250 MeV. They enable an extensive testing and validation of current theoretical and empirical models aimed at predictions of temporal changes in this critical region of space. HEPD is advancing the observations collected by the PAMELA space experiment and NASA Van Allen Probe during the last 15 years through the 23rd and 24th solar cycles
Author Correction: Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst
Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst
Abstract Earth’s atmosphere, whose ionization stability plays a fundamental role for the evolution and endurance of life, is exposed to the effect of cosmic explosions producing high energy Gamma-ray-bursts. Being able to abruptly increase the atmospheric ionization, they might deplete stratospheric ozone on a global scale. During the last decades, an average of more than one Gamma-ray-burst per day were recorded. Nevertheless, measurable effects on the ionosphere were rarely observed, in any case on its bottom-side (from about 60 km up to about 350 km of altitude). Here, we report evidence of an intense top-side (about 500 km) ionospheric perturbation induced by significant sudden ionospheric disturbance, and a large variation of the ionospheric electric field at 500 km, which are both correlated with the October 9, 2022 Gamma-ray-burst (GRB221009A)
The HEPD particle detector of the CSES satellite mission for investigating seismo-associated perturbations of the Van Allen belts
CSES (China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite) is a mission developed by CNSA (Chinese National Space Administration) and ASI (Italian Space Agency), to investigate the near-Earth electromagnetic, plasma and particle environment, for studying the seismo-associated disturbances in the ionosphere-magnetosphere transition zone. The anthropogenic and electromagnetic noise, as well as the natural non-seismic electromagnetic emissions is mainly due to tropospheric activity. In particular, the mission aims to confirming the existence of possible temporal correlations between the occurrence of earthquakes for medium and strong magnitude and the observation in space of electromagnetic perturbations, plasma variations and precipitation of bursts with high-energy charged particles from the inner Van Allen belt. In this framework, the high energy particle detector (HEPD) of the CSES mission has been developed by the Italian LIMADOU Collaboration. HEPD is an advanced detector based on a tower of scintillators and a silicon tracker that provides good energy and angular resolution and a wide angular acceptance, for electrons of 3–100 MeV, protons of 30–200 MeV and light nuclei up to the oxygen. CSES satellite has been launched on February 2nd, 2018 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (China). © 2018, Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature