16 research outputs found
Testing the Special Relativity Theory with Neutrino interactions
A recent measurement of neutrino velocity by the OPERA experiment and
prediction of energy loss of superluminal neutrino via the pair creation
process stimulated a search of isolated pairs in
detectors with good tracking capability traversed by a large flux of high
energy neutrino like NOMAD. NOMAD has already searched for similar topologies.
These results can be reinterpreted to provide stringent limits on special
relativity violating parameters separately for each species.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, 1 table Accepted by EPL (Europhysics Letters
Nuclear recoil measurements in Superheated Superconducting Granule detectors
The response of Superheated Superconducting Granule (SSG) devices to nuclear
recoils has been explored by irradiating SSG detectors with a 70MeV neutron
beam. In the past we have tested Al SSG and more recently, measurements have
been performed with Sn and Zn detectors. The aim of the experiments was to test
the sensitivity of SSG detectors to recoil energies down to a few keV. In
this paper, the preliminary results of the neutron irradiation of a SSG
detector made of Sn granules 15-20m in diameter will be discussed. For the
first time, recoil energy thresholds of 1keV have been measured.Comment: 7pages in Latex format, Preprint Bu-He 93/6 (University of Berne,
Switzerland), four figures available upon request via
[email protected] or [email protected]
Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays: a probe into New Physics
The most energetic particles ever detected exceed eV in energy.
Their existence represents at the same time a great challenge for particle
physics and astrophysics, and a great promise of providing us for a probe of
the validity of the laws of Nature in extreme conditions. We review here the
most recent data and the future perspectives for detection of cosmic rays at
ultra-high energies, and discuss possible ways of using these data to test the
possibility that new Physics and/or new Astrophsyics may be awaiting around the
corner.Comment: Invited Review Talk at SpacePart 2002, La Biodola, Isola d'Elba,
Italy - May 14-19, 200
Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays from Cosmological Relics
The current status of origin of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) is
reviewed, with emphasis given to elementary particle solutions to UHECR
problem, namely to Topological Defects and Super-Heavy Dark Matter (SHDM)
particles. The relic superheavy particles are very efficiently produced at
inflation. Being protected by gauge discrete symmetries, they can be long
lived. They are clustering in the Galactic halo, producing thus UHECR without
Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff. Topological Defects can naturally produce
particles with energies as observed and much higher, but in most cases fail to
produce the observed fluxes. Cosmic necklaces, monopoles connected by strings
and vortons are identified as most plausible sources. The latter two of them
are also clustering in the halo and their observational predictions are
identical to those of SHDM particles.Comment: Invited talk at TAUP-99, Paris, September 6 - 10, 1999. Several
references are adde
New hadrons as ultra-high energy cosmic rays
Ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) protons produced by uniformly
distributed astrophysical sources contradict the energy spectrum measured by
both the AGASA and HiRes experiments, assuming the small scale clustering of
UHECR observed by AGASA is caused by point-like sources. In that case, the
small number of sources leads to a sharp exponential cutoff at the energy
E<10^{20} eV in the UHECR spectrum. New hadrons with mass 1.5-3 GeV can solve
this cutoff problem. For the first time we discuss the production of such
hadrons in proton collisions with infrared/optical photons in astrophysical
sources. This production mechanism, in contrast to proton-proton collisions,
requires the acceleration of protons only to energies E<10^{21} eV. The diffuse
gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes in this model obey all existing experimental
limits. We predict large UHE neutrino fluxes well above the sensitivity of the
next generation of high-energy neutrino experiments. As an example we study
hadrons containing a light bottom squark. These models can be tested by
accelerator experiments, UHECR observatories and neutrino telescopes.Comment: 17 pages, revtex style; v2: shortened, as to appear in PR
Extensive Air Showers from Ultra High Energy Gluinos
We study the proposal that the cosmic ray primaries above the
Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff are gluino-containing hadrons (-hadrons). We describe the interaction of -hadrons with nucleons in
the framework of the Gribov-Regge approach using a modified version of the
hadronic interaction model QGSJET for the generations of Extensive Air Showers
(EAS). There are two mass windows marginally allowed for gluinos: m_{\tilde
g}\lsim 3 GeV and 25\lsim m_{\tilde g}\lsim 35 GeV. Gluino-containing
hadrons corresponding to the second window produce EAS very different from the
observed ones. Light -hadrons corresponding to the first gluino
window produce EAS similar to those initiated by protons, and only future
detectors can marginally distinguish them. We propose a beam-dump accelerator
experiment to search for -hadrons in this mass window. We emphasize
the importance of this experiment: it can discover (or exclude) the light
gluino and its role as a cosmic ray primary at ultra high energies.Comment: 27 pages latex, 13 eps figure