365 research outputs found
Ramsauer approach to Mie scattering of light on spherical particles
The scattering of an electromagnetic plane wave by a spherical particle was
solved analytically by Gustav Mie in 1908. The Mie solution is expressed as a
series with very many terms thus obscuring the physical interpretations of the
results. The purpose of the paper is to try to illustrate this phenomenon
within the Ramsauer framework used in atomic and nuclear physics. We show that
although the approximations are numerous, the Ramsauer analytical formulae
describe fairly well the differential and the total cross sections. This allows
us to propose an explanation for the origin of the different structures in the
total cross section
The Air Microwave Yield (AMY) experiment - A laboratory measurement of the microwave emission from extensive air showers
The AMY experiment aims to measure the microwave bremsstrahlung radiation
(MBR) emitted by air-showers secondary electrons accelerating in collisions
with neutral molecules of the atmosphere. The measurements are performed using
a beam of 510 MeV electrons at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) of Frascati INFN
National Laboratories. The goal of the AMY experiment is to measure in
laboratory conditions the yield and the spectrum of the GHz emission in the
frequency range between 1 and 20 GHz. The final purpose is to characterise the
process to be used in a next generation detectors of ultra-high energy cosmic
rays. A description of the experimental setup and the first results are
presented.Comment: 3 pages -- EPS-HEP'13 European Physical Society Conference on High
Energy Physics (July, 18-24, 2013) at Stockholm, Swede
Density profile characterization and modeling at Paranal and Armazones 2k sites
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) in the southern hemisphere will be installed at Armazones 2k site in northern Chile. Scarce atmospheric observations are available in the region, particularly radiosonde data. This study analyzes radiosondes launched at Paranal observatory, located at about 21 km from the CTA site, from 24 October and 4 November 2011, to understand the behavior of density in the atmosphere near the CTA site. High-resolution numerical simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are validated with Paranal radiosondes to quantify its ability to represent the atmospheric conditions in the region. In addition, the seasonal and diurnal evolution of atmospheric density at the CTA site were studied during 2011 using the high-resolution weather forecasts from the WRF model
Operations of and Future Plans for the Pierre Auger Observatory
Technical reports on operations and features of the Pierre Auger Observatory,
including ongoing and planned enhancements and the status of the future
northern hemisphere portion of the Observatory. Contributions to the 31st
International Cosmic Ray Conference, Lodz, Poland, July 2009.Comment: Contributions to the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland, July 200
The Pierre Auger Observatory III: Other Astrophysical Observations
Astrophysical observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Pierre
Auger ObservatoryComment: Contributions to the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference,
Beijing, China, August 201
Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10^18 eV
We describe the measurement of the depth of maximum, Xmax, of the
longitudinal development of air showers induced by cosmic rays. Almost four
thousand events above 10^18 eV observed by the fluorescence detector of the
Pierre Auger Observatory in coincidence with at least one surface detector
station are selected for the analysis. The average shower maximum was found to
evolve with energy at a rate of (106 +35/-21) g/cm^2/decade below 10^(18.24 +/-
0.05) eV and (24 +/- 3) g/cm^2/decade above this energy. The measured
shower-to-shower fluctuations decrease from about 55 to 26 g/cm^2. The
interpretation of these results in terms of the cosmic ray mass composition is
briefly discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication by PR
Anisotropy and chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the
distribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies
eV. These show a correlation with the distribution
of nearby extragalactic objects, including an apparent excess around the
direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at
are heavy nuclei with charge , the proton component of the
sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies . We here
report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above
(for illustrative values of ). If the anisotropies
above are due to nuclei with charge , and under reasonable
assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent
constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies
Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory.
Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km str and provides us with an
unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors
and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of
major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the
searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X
data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also
describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100%
duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens
new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the
properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray
Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201
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