491 research outputs found
Nostos - Spherical TPCs
A new concept, the spherical TPC, presents unique advantages when low energy
neutrinos are to be detected. Some of the applications are: a) observation of
the e oscillation when emitted by a tritium source ( = 14 keV) in a 10 m
radius sphere. This project, baptized NOSTOS, intends to give the mixing angle
13, the Weinberg angle and a much lower limit (< 10-12 ?B) of the neutrino
magnetic moment, b) an array of small (radius 2-4 m), cheap spheres scattered
around the world would be perfect to monitor extragalactic supernovae, c)
detect the spectrum of low energy (pp - 7Be) solar neutrinos.Comment: XIII International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray
Interactions at the NESTOR Institute - Pylos, Grece, 6-12 Septembre 200
Absolute measurement of the nitrogen fluorescence yield in air between 300 and 430 nm
The nitrogen fluorescence induced in air is used to detect ultra-high energy
cosmic rays and to measure their energy. The precise knowledge of the absolute
fluorescence yield is the key quantity to improve the accuracy on the cosmic
ray energy. The total yield has been measured in dry air using a 90Sr source
and a [300-430 nm] filter. The fluorescence yield in air is 4.23 0.20
photons per meter when normalized to 760 mmHg, 15 degrees C and with an
electron energy of 0.85 MeV. This result is consistent with previous
experiments made at various energies, but with an accuracy improved by a factor
of about 3. For the first time, the absolute continuous spectrum of nitrogen
excited by 90Sr electrons has also been measured with a spectrometer. Details
of this experiment are given in one of the author's PhD thesis [32].Comment: accepted for publication in NIM
EUSO In September 2004
After a short comparison of cosmic ray observation from ground versus space,
EUSO detector and its capabilities are described. The political situation is
sketched.Comment: XIII International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray
Interactions at the NESTOR Institute - Pylos, Grece, 6-12 September 200
Réalisation d'un spectromètre de coïncidences à sept compteurs NaI
Un multicompteur comprenant sept détecteurs NaI(T1) 3" x 3" a été construit. Il permet de mesurer simultanément les valeurs correspondant à 16 angles de la fonction de corrélation angulaire W(θ1, θ 2, ϕ) ou les sept géométries définies par Litherland et Ferguson. Cet ensemble a été expérimenté avec succès dans le cas de corrélations angulaires bien connues aussi bien en désintégrations radioactives qu'en réactions nucléaires
UV Light Shower Simulator for Fluorescence and Cerenkov Radiation Studies
All experiments observing showers light use telescopes equipped with
pixellised photodetectors. Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations of the apparatus
operation in various situations (background light, shower energy, proximity of
tracks...) are mandatory, but never enter into detector details like pulse
shape, dead-time, or charge space effects which are finally responsible for the
data quality. An apparatus where each pixel receives light from individual 370
nm UV LEDs through silica fibers is being built. The LEDs receive voltage
through DACs, which get their input (which pixel, at what time, which
amplitude) from a shower plus noise generator code. The typical time constant
of a shower being one s (300 m for light), the pulses are one s wide.
This is rather long compared to the intrinsic time constant (around 10 ns) of
the light detectors, hence, these see "constant light" changing every s.
This is where important loading effects which are not included in MC code can
be observed. The fibers illuminate the pixels through a diffuser, and each
fiber illuminates only one pixel. The number of equipped pixels is such that it
englobes a full shower (much less than the full focal surface). Finally, this
equipment can be used also to calibrate the pixels
MEMPHYS:A large scale water Cerenkov detector at Fr\'ejus
A water \v{C}erenkov detector project, of megaton scale, to be installed in
the Fr\'ejus underground site and dedicated to nucleon decay, neutrinos from
supernovae, solar and atmospheric neutrinos, as well as neutrinos from a
super-beam and/or a beta-beam coming from CERN, is presented and compared with
competitor projects in Japan and in the USA. The performances of the European
project are discussed, including the possibility to measure the mixing angle
and the CP-violating phase .Comment: 1+33 pages, 14 figures, Expression of Interest of MEMPHYS projec
Energy resolution of alpha particles in a microbulk Micromegas detector at high pressure Argon and Xenon mixtures
The latest Micromesh Gas Amplification Structures (Micromegas) are achieving
outstanding energy resolution for low energy photons, with values as low as 11%
FWHM for the 5.9 keV line of Fe in argon/isobutane mixtures at
atmospheric pressure. At higher energies (MeV scale), these measurements are
more complicated due to the difficulty in confining the events in the chamber,
although there is no fundamental reason why resolutions of 1% FWHM or below
could not be reached. There is much motivation to demonstrate experimentally
this fact in Xe mixtures due to the possible application of Micromegas readouts
to the Double Beta Decay search of Xe, or in other experiments needing
calorimetry and topology in the same detector. In this paper, we report on
systematic measurements of energy resolution with state-of-the-art Micromegas
using a 5.5 MeV alpha source in high pressure Ar/isobutane mixtures. Values as
low as 1.8% FWHM have been obtained, with possible evidence that better
resolutions are achievable. Similar measurements in Xe, of which a preliminary
result is also shown here, are under progress.Comment: 16 pages, 19 figures, version after referees comments. Accepted for
publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods
Micromegas in a Bulk
In this paper we present a novel way to manufacture the bulk Micromegas
detector. A simple process based on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) technology
is employed to produce the entire sensitive detector. Such fabrication process
could be extended to very large area detectors made by the industry. The low
cost fabrication together with the robustness of the electrode materials will
make it extremely attractive for several applications ranging from particle
physics and astrophysics to medicineComment: 6 pages, 4 figure
The current status of orbital experiments for UHECR studies
Two types of orbital detectors of extreme energy cosmic rays are being
developed nowadays: (i) TUS and KLYPVE with reflecting optical systems
(mirrors) and (ii) JEM-EUSO with high-transmittance Fresnel lenses. They will
cover much larger areas than existing ground-based arrays and almost uniformly
monitor the celestial sphere. The TUS detector is the pioneering mission
developed in SINP MSU in cooperation with several Russian and foreign
institutions. It has relatively small field of view (+/-4.5 deg), which
corresponds to a ground area of 6.4x10^3 sq.km. The telescope consists of a
Fresnel-type mirror-concentrator (~2 sq.m) and a photo receiver (a matrix of
16x16 photomultiplier tubes). It is to be deployed on the Lomonosov satellite,
and is currently at the final stage of preflight tests. Recently, SINP MSU
began the KLYPVE project to be installed on board of the Russian segment of the
ISS. The optical system of this detector contains a larger primary mirror (10
sq.m), which allows decreasing the energy threshold. The total effective field
of view will be at least +/-14 degrees to exceed the annual exposure of the
existing ground-based experiments. Several configurations of the detector are
being currently considered. Finally, JEM-EUSO is a wide field of view (+/-30
deg) detector. The optics is composed of two curved double-sided Fresnel lenses
with 2.65 m external diameter, a precision diffractive middle lens and a pupil.
The ultraviolet photons are focused onto the focal surface, which consists of
nearly 5000 multi-anode photomultipliers. It is developed by a large
international collaboration. All three orbital detectors have multi-purpose
character due to continuous monitoring of various atmospheric phenomena. The
present status of development of the TUS and KLYPVE missions is reported, and a
brief comparison of the projects with JEM-EUSO is given.Comment: 18 pages; based on the rapporteur talk given by M.I. Panasyuk at
ECRS-2014; v2: a few minor language issues fixed thanks to the editor; to be
published in the proceeding
Antimatter and Matter Production in Heavy Ion Collisions at CERN (The NEWMASS Experiment NA52)
Besides the dedicated search for strangelets NA52 measures light
(anti)particle and (anti)nuclei production over a wide range of rapidity.
Compared to previous runs the statistics has been increased in the 1998 run by
more than one order of magnitude for negatively charged objects at different
spectrometer rigidities. Together with previous data taking at a rigidity of
-20 GeV/c we obtained 10^6 antiprotons 10^3 antideuterons and two antihelium3
without centrality requirements. We measured nuclei and antinuclei
(p,d,antiprotons, antideuterons) near midrapidity covering an impact parameter
range of b=2-12 fm. Our results strongly indicate that nuclei and antinuclei
are mainly produced via the coalescence mechanism. However the centrality
dependence of the antibaryon to baryon ratios show that antibaryons are
diminished due to annihilation and breakup reactions in the hadron dense
environment. The volume of the particle source extracted from coalescence
models agrees with results from pion interferometry for an expanding source.
The chemical and thermal freeze-out of nuclei and antinuclei appear to coincide
with each other and with the thermal freeze-out of hadrons.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference
on 'Fundamental Issues in Elementary Matter' Bad Honnef, Germany, Sept.
25-29, 200
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