Implementation of a Gauss convoluted Pandel PDF for track reconstruction in Neutrino Telescopes

A probability distribution function is presented which provides a realistic description of the detection of scattered photons. The resulting probabilities can be described analytically by means of a superposition of several special functions. These exact expressions can be evaluated numerically only for small distances and limited time residuals, due to computer accuracy limitations. In this report we provide approximations for the exact expressions in different regions of the distance-time residual space, defined by the detector geometry and the space-time scale of an event. These approximations can be evaluated numerically with a relative error with respect to the exact expression at the boundaries of less than 0.001.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures Revision 1 : extended content 12 pages, 4 figures Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Spin effects in strong-field laser-electron interactions

The electron spin degree of freedom can play a significant role in relativistic scattering processes involving intense laser fields. In this contribution we discuss the influence of the electron spin on (i) Kapitza-Dirac scattering in an x-ray laser field of high intensity, (ii) photo-induced electron-positron pair production in a strong laser wave and (iii) multiphoton electron-positron pair production on an atomic nucleus. We show that in all cases under consideration the electron spin can have a characteristic impact on the process properties and their total probabilities. To this end, spin-resolved calculations based on the Dirac equation in the presence of an intense laser field are performed. The predictions from Dirac theory are also compared with the corresponding results from the Klein-Gordon equation.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Thermodynamically complete equation of state of MgO from true radiative shock temperature measurements on samples preheated to 1850 K

Plate impact experiments in the 100–250 GPa pressure range were done on a ⟨100⟩ single-crystal MgO preheated before compression to 1850 K. Hot Mo(driver)-MgO targets were impacted with Mo or Ta flyers launched by the Caltech two-stage light-gas gun up to 7.5 km/s. Radiative temperatures and shock velocities were measured with 3%–4% and 1%–2% uncertainty, respectively, by a six-channel pyrometer with 3-ns time resolution, over a 500–900-nm spectral range. MgO shock front reflectivity was determined in additional experiments at 220 and 248 GPa using ≈50/50 high-temperature sapphire beam splitters. Our measurements yield accurate experimental data on the mechanical, optical, and thermodynamic properties of B1 phase MgO from 102 GPa and 3900 K to 248 GPa and 9100 K, a region not sampled by previous studies. Reported Hugoniot data for MgO initially at ambient temperature, T=298 K, and the results of our current Hugoniot measurements on samples preheated to 1850 K were analyzed using the most general methods of least-squares fitting to constrain the Grüneisen model. This equation of state (EOS) was then used to construct maximum likelihood linear Hugoniots of MgO with initial temperatures from 298 to 2400 K. A parametrization of all EOS values and best-fit coefficients was done over the entire range of relevant particle velocities. Total uncertainties of all the EOS parameters and correlation coefficients for these uncertainties are also given. The predictive capabilities of our updated Mie-Grüneisen EOS were confirmed by (1) the good agreement between our Grüneisen data and five semiempirical γ(V) models derived from porous shock data only or from combined static and shock data sets, (2) the very good agreement between our 1-bar Grüneisen values and γ(T) at ambient pressure recalculated from reported experimental data on the adiabatic bulk modulus K_s(T), and (3) the good agreement of the brightness temperatures, corrected for shock reflectivity, with the corresponding values calculated using the current EOS or predicted by other groups via first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. Our experiments showed no evidence of MgO melting up to 250 GPa and 9100 K. The highest shock temperatures exceed the extrapolated melting curve of Zerr and Boehler by >3300 K and the upper limit for the melting boundary predictions of Aguado and Madden by >2600 K and those of Strachan et al. by >2100 K. We show that the potential for superheating in our shock experiments is negligible and therefore out data put a lower limit on the melting curve of B1 phase MgO in P−T space close to the set of consistent independent predictions by Sun et al., Liu et al., and de Koker and Stixrude

Including Systematic Uncertainties in Confidence Interval Construction for Poisson Statistics

One way to incorporate systematic uncertainties into the calculation of confidence intervals is by integrating over probability density functions parametrizing the uncertainties. In this note we present a development of this method which takes into account uncertainties in the prediction of background processes, uncertainties in the signal detection efficiency and background efficiency and allows for a correlation between the signal and background detection efficiencies. We implement this method with the Feldman & Cousins unified approach with and without conditioning. We present studies of coverage for the Feldman & Cousins and Neyman ordering schemes. In particular, we present two different types of coverage tests for the case where systematic uncertainties are included. To illustrate the method we show the relative effect of including systematic uncertainties the case of dark matter search as performed by modern neutrino tel escopes.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, replaced to match published versio

Upgrade of the Glasgow photon tagging spectrometer for Mainz MAMI-C

The Glasgow photon tagging spectrometer at Mainz has been upgraded so that it can be used with the 1500 MeV electron beam now available from the Mainz microtron MAMI-C. The changes made and the resulting properties of the spectrometer are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure

SDR-Based Readout Electronics for the ECHo Experiment

Due to their excellent energy resolution, the intrinsically fast signal rise time, the huge energy dynamic range, and the almost ideally linear detector response, metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMC)s are very well suited for a variety of applications in physics. In particular, the ECHo experiment aims to utilize large-scale MMC-based detector arrays to investigate the mass of the electron neutrino. Reading out such arrays is a challenging task which can be tackled using microwave SQUID multiplexing. Here, the detector signals are transduced into frequency shifts of superconducting microwave resonators, which can be deduced using a high-end software-defined radio (SDR) system. The ECHo SDR system is a custom-made modular electronics, which provides 400 channels equally distributed in a 4 to 8 GHz frequency band. The system consists of a superheterodyne RF frequency converter with two successive mixers, a modular conversion, and an FPGA board. For channelization, a novel heterogeneous approach, utilizing the integrated digital down conversion (DDC) of the ADC, a polyphase channelizer, and another DDC for demodulation, is proposed. This approach has excellent channelization properties while being resource-efficient at the same time. After signal demodulation, on-FPGA flux-ramp demodulation processes the signals before streaming it to the data processing and storage backend

Low-energy Compton scattering on the nucleon and sum rules

The Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn and Baldin-Lapidus sum rules are evaluated in the dressed K-matrix model for photon-induced reactions on the nucleon. For the first time the sum $\alpha+\beta$ of the electric and magnetic polarisabilities and the forward spin polarisability $\gamma_0$ are explicitly calculated in two alternative ways -- from the sum rules and from the low-energy expansion of the real Compton scattering amplitude -- within the {\em same} framework. The two methods yield compatible values for $\alpha+\beta$ but differ somewhat for $\gamma_0$. Consistency between the two ways of determining the polarisabilities is a measure of the extent to which basic symmetries of the model are obeyed.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, using REVTeX. More concise version, results unchanged. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Deuteron distribution in nuclei and the Levinger's factor

We compute the distribution of quasideuterons in doubly closed shell nuclei. The ground states of $^{16}$O and $^{40}$Ca are described in $ls$ coupling using a realistic hamiltonian including the Argonne $v_{8}^\prime$ and the Urbana IX models of two-- and three--nucleon potentials, respectively. The nuclear wave function contains central and tensor correlations, and correlated basis functions theory is used to evaluate the distribution of neutron-proton pairs, having the deuteron quantum numbers, as a function of their total momentum. By computing the number of deuteron--like pairs we are able to extract the Levinger's factor and compare to both the available experimental data and the predictions of the local density approximation, based on nuclear matter estimates. The agreement with the experiments is excellent, whereas the local density approximation is shown to sizably overestimate the Levinger's factor in the region of the medium nuclei.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, typeset using REVTe

IceCube - the next generation neutrino telescope at the South Pole

IceCube is a large neutrino telescope of the next generation to be constructed in the Antarctic Ice Sheet near the South Pole. We present the conceptual design and the sensitivity of the IceCube detector to predicted fluxes of neutrinos, both atmospheric and extra-terrestrial. A complete simulation of the detector design has been used to study the detector's capability to search for neutrinos from sources such as active galaxies, and gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 8 pages, to be published with the proceedings of the XXth International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, Munich 200