827 research outputs found
Fast Spherical Harmonic Analysis: a quick algorithm for generating and/or inverting full sky, high resolution CMB Anisotropy maps
We present a fast algorithm for generating full sky, high resolution () simulations of the CMB anisotropy pattern. We also discuss the inverse
problem, that of evaluating from such a map the full set of 's and
the spectral coefficients . We show that using an Equidistant
Cylindrical Projection of the sky substantially speeds up the calculations.
Thus, generating and/or inverting a full sky, high resolution map can be easily
achieved with present day computer technology.Comment: 13 pages, LaTex, 5 PostScript figures included, 1 colour plate
available (PostScript version, 1.6 Mb) at http://itovf2.roma2.infn.it/natoli
A semi-coherent analysis method to search for continuous gravitational waves emitted by ultra-light boson clouds around spinning black holes
As a consequence of superradiant instability induced in Kerr black holes,
ultra-light boson clouds can be a source of persistent gravitational waves,
potentially detectable by current and future gravitational-wave detectors.
These signals have been predicted to be nearly monochromatic, with a small
steady frequency increase (spin-up), but given the several assumptions and
simplifications done at theoretical level, it is wise to consider, from the
data analysis point of view, a broader class of gravitational signals in which
the phase (or the frequency) slightly wander in time. Also other types of
sources, e.g. neutron stars in which a torque balance equilibrium exists
between matter accretion and emission of persistent gravitational waves, would
fit in this category. In this paper we present a robust and computationally
cheap analysis pipeline devoted to the search of such kind of signals. We
provide a full characterization of the method, through both a theoretical
sensitivity estimation and through the analysis of syntethic data in which
simulated signals have been injected. The search setup for both all-sky
searches and higher sensitivity directed searches is discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure
CMB Polarization Data and Galactic Foregrounds: Estimation of Cosmological Parameters
We estimate the accuracy with which various cosmological parameters can be
determined from the CMB temperature and polarization data when various galactic
unpolarized and polarized foregrounds are included and marginalized using the
multi-frequency Wiener filtering technique. We use the specifications of the
future CMB missions MAP and PLANCK for our study. Our results are in
qualitative agreement with earlier results obtained without foregrounds, though
the errors in most parameters are higher because of degradation of the
extraction of polarization signal in the presence of foregrounds.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to MNRA
A semi-coherent generalization of the 5-vector method to search for continuous gravitational waves
The emission of continuous gravitational waves (CWs), with duration much
longer than the typical data taking runs, is expected from several sources,
notably spinning neutron stars, asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis
and more exotic sources, like ultra-light scalar boson clouds formed around
Kerr black holes and sub-solar mass primordial binary black holes. Unless the
signal time evolution is well predicted and its relevant parameters accurately
known, the search for CWs is typically based on semi-coherent methods, where
the full data set is divided in shorter chunks of given duration, which are
properly processed, and then incoherently combined. In this paper we present a
semi-coherent method, in which the so-called \textit{5-vector} statistics is
computed for the various data segments and then summed after the removal of the
Earth Doppler modulation and signal intrinsic spin-down. The method can work
with segment duration of several days, thanks to a double stage procedure in
which an initial rough correction of the Doppler and spin-down is followed by a
refined step in which the residual variations are removed. This method can be
efficiently applied for directed searches, where the source position is known
to a good level of accuracy, and in the candidate follow-up stage of
wide-parameter space searches.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure
Radar observation and recontruction of Cosmos 1408 fragmentation
The population of objects in space has increased dramatically over recent decades. Space debris now represents the majority of objects in space resulting from inactive satellites, breakups, collisions and fragmentations. It has become a concern for institutions all over the world and, as such, it has led to the fostering of several programmes to counter the issues. Among these, the use of ground-based sensors for Space Surveillance Tracking (SST) activities and services and tools for analysing fragmentations play a crucial role. This work presents the activities carried out by Politecnico di Milano, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in this framework, using data from SST networks and the observation measurements from Bistatic Radar for LEo Survey (BIRALES), an Italian bistatic radar belonging to the EUropean Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST), which contributed most to the monitoring of the cloud of fragments. Exploiting Two-Line Elements (TLEs) of observed fragments, a reverse engineering approach is used to reconstruct a fragmentation in orbit through the use of the software suite PUZZLE developed at Politecnico di Milano. The analyses focus on studying the fragmentation of the Cosmos 1408 satellite, which occurred on November 15th 2021 following an Anti-SATellite (ASAT) missile test. More than 1000 trackable pieces and millions of smaller debris (estimated from numerical analysis) were produced by this event, increasing the population of inactive objects around the Earth, and threatening nearby orbiting objects. First, the processing method adopted from BIRALES in observing Cosmos debris is presented and discussed and a critical analysis about the derivable information is conducted. Then, these data and those from SST network observations are used to identify the epoch and the location of the fragmentation. In this procedure, the software toolkit PUZZLE, developed by Politecnico di Milano within a project funded by the Italian Space Agency and extended through the European Research Council, is used
Prospect for Charge Current Neutrino Interactions Measurements at the CERN-PS
Tensions in several phenomenological models grew with experimental results on
neutrino/antineutrino oscillations at Short-Baseline (SBL) and with the recent,
carefully recomputed, antineutrino fluxes from nuclear reactors. At a
refurbished SBL CERN-PS facility an experiment aimed to address the open issues
has been proposed [1], based on the technology of imaging in ultra-pure
cryogenic Liquid Argon (LAr). Motivated by this scenario a detailed study of
the physics case was performed. We tackled specific physics models and we
optimized the neutrino beam through a full simulation. Experimental aspects not
fully covered by the LAr detection, i.e. the measurements of the lepton charge
on event-by-event basis and their energy over a wide range, were also
investigated. Indeed the muon leptons from Charged Current (CC) (anti-)neutrino
interactions play an important role in disentangling different phenomenological
scenarios provided their charge state is determined. Also, the study of muon
appearance/disappearance can benefit of the large statistics of CC muon events
from the primary neutrino beam. Results of our study are reported in detail in
this proposal. We aim to design, construct and install two Spectrometers at
"NEAR" and "FAR" sites of the SBL CERN-PS, compatible with the already proposed
LAr detectors. Profiting of the large mass of the two Spectrometers their
stand-alone performances have also been exploited.Comment: 70 pages, 38 figures. Proposal submitted to SPS-C, CER
Search for spontaneous muon emission from lead nuclei
We describe a possible search for muonic radioactivity from lead nuclei using
the base elements ("bricks" composed by lead and nuclear emulsion sheets) of
the long-baseline OPERA neutrino experiment. We present the results of a Monte
Carlo simulation concerning the expected event topologies and estimates of the
background events. Using few bricks, we could reach a good sensitivity level.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Search for anomalies in the neutrino sector with muon spectrometers and large LArTPC imaging detectors at CERN
A new experiment with an intense ~2 GeV neutrino beam at CERN SPS is proposed
in order to definitely clarify the possible existence of additional neutrino
states, as pointed out by neutrino calibration source experiments, reactor and
accelerator experiments and measure the corresponding oscillation parameters.
The experiment is based on two identical LAr-TPCs complemented by magnetized
spectrometers detecting electron and muon neutrino events at Far and Near
positions, 1600 m and 300 m from the proton target, respectively. The ICARUS
T600 detector, the largest LAr-TPC ever built with a size of about 600 ton of
imaging mass, now running in the LNGS underground laboratory, will be moved at
the CERN Far position. An additional 1/4 of the T600 detector (T150) will be
constructed and located in the Near position. Two large area spectrometers will
be placed downstream of the two LAr-TPC detectors to perform charge
identification and muon momentum measurements from sub-GeV to several GeV
energy range, greatly complementing the physics capabilities. This experiment
will offer remarkable discovery potentialities, collecting a very large number
of unbiased events both in the neutrino and antineutrino channels, largely
adequate to definitely settle the origin of the observed neutrino-related
anomalies.Comment: Contribution to the European Strategy for Particle Physics - Open
Symposium Preparatory Group, Kracow 10-12 September 201
Electron/pion separation with an Emulsion Cloud Chamber by using a Neural Network
We have studied the performance of a new algorithm for electron/pion
separation in an Emulsion Cloud Chamber (ECC) made of lead and nuclear emulsion
films. The software for separation consists of two parts: a shower
reconstruction algorithm and a Neural Network that assigns to each
reconstructed shower the probability to be an electron or a pion. The
performance has been studied for the ECC of the OPERA experiment [1].
The separation algorithm has been optimized by using a detailed Monte
Carlo simulation of the ECC and tested on real data taken at CERN (pion beams)
and at DESY (electron beams). The algorithm allows to achieve a 90% electron
identification efficiency with a pion misidentification smaller than 1% for
energies higher than 2 GeV
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