384 research outputs found
Lizards and snakes from the late Miocene hominoid locality of Ravin de la Pluie (Axios Valley, Greece)
We here describe lizards and snakes from the late Miocene (MN 10) of Ravin de la Pluie, near Thessaloniki, Greece, a locality widely known for its hominoid primate Ouranopithecus macedoniensis. The new finds comprise two large-sized lizards (a probable anguine and a varanid) and two snakes (an elapid and a small-sized “colubrine”). Even if the material is represented by few specimens, this is the first record of squamates from the late Miocene MN 10 biozone of southeastern Europe and the third only for the whole continent. The importance of the varanid vertebrae for systematic attributions is discussed. The new varanid limb elements described herein rank among the few such specimens in the fossil record of monitor lizards. Judging from the new and previously published varanid appendicular material, we suggest that Neogene monitor lizards from Europe possessed comparatively short and robustly built limbs. Distinctive scars on one of the limb elements are interpreted as bite marks of a predator or scavenger, offering insights on the palaeoecology of the herpetofauna of the locality
Performance of the First ANTARES Detector Line
In this paper we report on the data recorded with the first Antares detector
line. The line was deployed on the 14th of February 2006 and was connected to
the readout two weeks later. Environmental data for one and a half years of
running are shown. Measurements of atmospheric muons from data taken from
selected runs during the first six months of operation are presented.
Performance figures in terms of time residuals and angular resolution are
given. Finally the angular distribution of atmospheric muons is presented and
from this the depth profile of the muon intensity is derived.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
The ANTARES Optical Beacon System
ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It
consists of a three dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect
the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions
of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be
achieved, in particular when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov
photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the
intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the
photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water
lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is
desirable. Accordingly, different time calibration systems have been developed
for the ANTARES telescope. In this article, a system based on Optical Beacons,
a set of external and well-controlled pulsed light sources located throughout
the detector, is described. This calibration system takes into account the
optical properties of sea water, which is used as the detection volume of the
ANTARES telescope. The design, tests, construction and first results of the two
types of beacons, LED and laser-based, are presented.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth. Phys. Res.
Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope
The data taken with the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2010, a total
live time of 863 days, are used to measure the oscillation parameters of
atmospheric neutrinos. Muon tracks are reconstructed with energies as low as 20
GeV. Neutrino oscillations will cause a suppression of vertical upgoing muon
neutrinos of such energies crossing the Earth. The parameters determining the
oscillation of atmospheric neutrinos are extracted by fitting the event rate as
a function of the ratio of the estimated neutrino energy and reconstructed
flight path through the Earth. Measurement contours of the oscillation
parameters in a two-flavour approximation are derived. Assuming maximum mixing,
a mass difference of eV is
obtained, in good agreement with the world average value.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007
We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts
associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal
new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy,
particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the
underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the
period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first
science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed
for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with
the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place
limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave
emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of
merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000
Detection chain and electronic readout of the QUBIC instrument
The Q and U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) Technical Demonstrator (TD) aiming to shows the feasibility of the combination of interferometry and bolometric detection. The electronic readout system is based on an array of 128 NbSi Transition Edge Sensors cooled at 350mK readout with 128 SQUIDs at 1K controlled and amplified by an Application Specific Integrated Circuit at 40K. This readout design allows a 128:1 Time Domain Multiplexing. We report the design and the performance of the detection chain in this paper. The technological demonstrator unwent a campaign of test in the lab. Evaluation of the QUBIC bolometers and readout electronics includes the measurement of I-V curves, time constant and the Noise Equivalent Power. Currently the mean Noise Equivalent Power is ~ 2 x 10⁻¹⁶ W/√Hz
Detection chain and electronic readout of the QUBIC instrument
The Q and U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) Technical Demonstrator (TD) aiming to shows the feasibility of the combination of interferometry and bolometric detection. The electronic readout system is based on an array of 128 NbSi Transition Edge Sensors cooled at 350mK readout with 128 SQUIDs at 1K controlled and amplified by an Application Specific Integrated Circuit at 40K. This readout design allows a 128:1 Time Domain Multiplexing. We report the design and the performance of the detection chain in this paper. The technological demonstrator unwent a campaign of test in the lab. Evaluation of the QUBIC bolometers and readout electronics includes the measurement of I-V curves, time constant and the Noise Equivalent Power. Currently the mean Noise Equivalent Power is ~ 2 x 10⁻¹⁶ W/√Hz
- …