Secondary proton flux induced by cosmic ray interactions with the atmosphere

The atmospheric secondary proton flux is studied for altitudes extending from sea level up to the top of atmosphere by means of a 3-dimensional Monte-Carlo simulation procedure successfully used previously to account for flux measurements of protons, light nuclei, and electrons-positrons below the geomagnetic cutoff (satellite data), and of muons and antiprotons (balloon data). The calculated flux are compared with the experimental measurements from sea level uo to high float ballon altitudes. The agreement between data and simulation results are very good at all altitudes, including the lowest ones, where the calculations become extremely sensitive to the proton production cross section. The results are discussed in this context. The calculations are extended to the study of quasi trapped particles above the atmosphere to about 5 Earth radii, for prospective purpose.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Atmospheric neutrino flux from 3-dimensional simulation

The atmospheric muon and neutrino flux have been simulated using the same approach which successfully accounted for the recent secondary proton, electron and positron flux measurements in orbit by the AMS experiment. For the muon flux, a good agreement is obtained with the CAPRICE and HEAT data for altitudes ranging from sea level up to about 38 km. The general features of the calculated atmospheric neutrino flux are reported and discussed. The flux obtained at the Super-Kamiokande experiment location are reported and compared with other calculations. For low neutrino energies the flux obtained is significantly smaller than that used in the data analysis of underground experiment. The simulation results for the SOUDAN experiment site are also reported.Comment: 33 pages, 27 figures, 12 tables, final version for Phys. Rev.

Non-Relativistic Spacetimes with Cosmological Constant

Recent data on supernovae favor high values of the cosmological constant. Spacetimes with a cosmological constant have non-relativistic kinematics quite different from Galilean kinematics. De Sitter spacetimes, vacuum solutions of Einstein's equations with a cosmological constant, reduce in the non-relativistic limit to Newton-Hooke spacetimes, which are non-metric homogeneous spacetimes with non-vanishing curvature. The whole non-relativistic kinematics would then be modified, with possible consequences to cosmology, and in particular to the missing-mass problem.Comment: 15 pages, RevTeX, no figures, major changes in the presentation which includes a new title and a whole new emphasis, version to appear in Clas. Quant. Gra

Photovoltaic panels as a main component of energy sustainable communities : comparative energy analysis of a village under Swiss and South African climatic loads

Paper presented to the 3rd Southern African Solar Energy Conference, South Africa, 11-13 May, 2015.At the community level, it is difficult to rely on a single centralized energy technology when considering renewable energy and the use of a mix of multiple distributed energy systems (DES) seems advantageous. DES, e.g. photovoltaic panels (PV), are typically integrated at building level and account for a small fraction of required energy. Since energy supply from renewables is highly fluctuating over time and dependent on climatic and local conditions, a reliable integration is a challenging task. In this paper, we use a recently developed concept, that allows to sufficiently improve the energy efficiency of the building stock, to manage energy supply from renewables and to optimize the future energy system using the energy hub approach, while effectively integrating DES. Using the same village characteristics, we found that, due to mismatch of available solar potential and the electricity demand, 18% of available solar potential cannot be utilized in Zernez, while in Johannesburg, this mismatch amounts to 22%.cf201

Design and construction of a Cherenkov imager for charge measurement of nuclear cosmic rays

A proximity focusing Cherenkov imager called CHERCAM, has been built for the charge measurement of nuclear cosmic rays with the CREAM instrument. It consists of a silica aerogel radiator plane across from a detector plane equipped with 1,600 1" diameter photomultipliers. The two planes are separated by a ring expansion gap. The Cherenkov light yield is proportional to the charge squared of the incident particle. The expected relative light collection accuracy is in the few percents range. It leads to an expected single element separation over the range of nuclear charge Z of main interest 1 < Z < 26. CHERCAM is designed to fly with the CREAM balloon experiment. The design of the instrument and the implemented technical solutions allowing its safe operation in high altitude conditions (radiations, low pressure, cold) are presented.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figure

Newton-Hooke spacetimes, Hpp-waves and the cosmological constant

We show explicitly how the Newton-Hooke groups act as symmetries of the equations of motion of non-relativistic cosmological models with a cosmological constant. We give the action on the associated non-relativistic spacetimes and show how these may be obtained from a null reduction of 5-dimensional homogeneous pp-wave Lorentzian spacetimes. This allows us to realize the Newton-Hooke groups and their Bargmann type central extensions as subgroups of the isometry groups of the pp-wave spacetimes. The extended Schrodinger type conformal group is identified and its action on the equations of motion given. The non-relativistic conformal symmetries also have applications to time-dependent harmonic oscillators. Finally we comment on a possible application to Gao's generalization of the matrix model.Comment: 21 page

Geometries for Possible Kinematics

The algebras for all possible Lorentzian and Euclidean kinematics with $\frak{so}(3)$ isotropy except static ones are re-classified. The geometries for algebras are presented by contraction approach. The relations among the geometries are revealed. Almost all geometries fall into pairs. There exists $t \leftrightarrow 1/(\nu^2t)$ correspondence in each pair. In the viewpoint of differential geometry, there are only 9 geometries, which have right signature and geometrical spatial isotropy. They are 3 relativistic geometries, 3 absolute-time geometries, and 3 absolute-space geometries.Comment: 40 pages, 7 figure

The AMS-02 RICH Imager Prototype - In-Beam Tests with 20 GeV/c per Nucleon Ions -

A prototype of the AMS Cherenkov imager (RICH) has been tested at CERN by means of a low intensity 20 GeV/c per nucleon ion beam obtained by fragmentation of a primary beam of Pb ions. Data have been collected with a single beam setting, over the range of nuclear charges 2<Z<~45 in various beam conditions and using different radiators. The charge Z and velocity beta resolutions have been measured.Comment: 4 pages, contribution to the ICRC 200

The Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector (RICH) of the AMS experiment

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) will be equipped with a proximity focusing Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector for measuring the electric charge and velocity of the charged cosmic particles. A RICH prototype consisting of 96 photomultiplier units, including a piece of the conical reflector, was built and its performance evaluated with ion beam data. Preliminary results of the in-beam tests performed with ion fragments resulting from collisions of a 158 GeV/c/nuc primary beam of Indium ions (CERN SPS) on a Pb target are reported. The collected data included tests to the final front-end electronics and to different aerogel radiators. Cherenkov rings for a large range of charged nuclei and with reflected photons were observed. The data analysis confirms the design goals. Charge separation up to Fe and velocity resolution of the order of 0.1% for singly charged particles are obtained.Comment: 29th International Conference on Cosmic Rays (Pune, India

The AMS-RICH velocity and charge reconstruction

The AMS detector, to be installed on the International Space Station, includes a Ring Imaging Cerenkov detector with two different radiators, silica aerogel (n=1.05) and sodium fluoride (n=1.334). This detector is designed to provide very precise measurements of velocity and electric charge in a wide range of cosmic nuclei energies and atomic numbers. The detector geometry, in particular the presence of a reflector for acceptance purposes, leads to complex Cerenkov patterns detected in a pixelized photomultiplier matrix. The results of different reconstruction methods applied to test beam data as well as to simulated samples are presented. To ensure nominal performances throughout the flight, several detector parameters have to be carefully monitored. The algorithms developed to fulfill these requirements are presented. The velocity and charge measurements provided by the RICH detector endow the AMS spectrometer with precise particle identification capabilities in a wide energy range. The expected performances on light isotope separation are discussed.Comment: Contribution to the ICRC07, Merida, Mexico (2007); Presenter: F. Bara