1,453 research outputs found
The Physics of Ultraperipheral Collisions at the LHC
We discuss the physics of large impact parameter interactions at the LHC:
ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs). The dominant processes in UPCs are
photon-nucleon (nucleus) interactions. The current LHC detector configurations
can explore small hard phenomena with nuclei and nucleons at photon-nucleon
center-of-mass energies above 1 TeV, extending the range of HERA by a
factor of ten. In particular, it will be possible to probe diffractive and
inclusive parton densities in nuclei using several processes. The interaction
of small dipoles with protons and nuclei can be investigated in elastic and
quasi-elastic and production as well as in high
production accompanied by a rapidity gap. Several of these phenomena
provide clean signatures of the onset of the new high gluon density QCD regime.
The LHC is in the kinematic range where nonlinear effects are several times
larger than at HERA. Two-photon processes in UPCs are also studied. In
addition, while UPCs play a role in limiting the maximum beam luminosity, they
can also be used a luminosity monitor by measuring mutual electromagnetic
dissociation of the beam nuclei. We also review similar studies at HERA and
RHIC as well as describe the potential use of the LHC detectors for UPC
measurements.Comment: 229 Pages, 121 figure
The Extreme Energy Events HECR array: status and perspectives
The Extreme Energy Events Project is a synchronous sparse array of 52
tracking detectors for studying High Energy Cosmic Rays (HECR) and Cosmic
Rays-related phenomena. The observatory is also meant to address Long Distance
Correlation (LDC) phenomena: the network is deployed over a broad area covering
10 degrees in latitude and 11 in longitude. An overview of a set of preliminary
results is given, extending from the study of local muon flux dependance on
solar activity to the investigation of the upward-going component of muon flux
traversing the EEE stations; from the search for anisotropies at the sub-TeV
scale to the hints for observations of km-scale Extensive Air Shower (EAS).Comment: XXV ECRS 2016 Proceedings - eConf C16-09-04.
A simulation tool for MRPC telescopes of the EEE project
The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project is mainly devoted to the study of the
secondary cosmic ray radiation by using muon tracker telescopes made of three
Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) each. The experiment consists of a
telescope network mainly distributed across Italy, hosted in different building
structures pertaining to high schools, universities and research centers.
Therefore, the possibility to take into account the effects of these structures
on collected data is important for the large physics programme of the project.
A simulation tool, based on GEANT4 and using GEMC framework, has been
implemented to take into account the muon interaction with EEE telescopes and
to estimate the effects on data of the structures surrounding the experimental
apparata.A dedicated event generator producing realistic muon distributions,
detailed geometry and microscopic behavior of MRPCs have been included to
produce experimental-like data. The comparison between simulated and
experimental data, and the estimation of detector resolutions is here presented
and discussed
New Eco-gas mixtures for the Extreme Energy Events MRPCs: results and plans
The Extreme Energy Events observatory is an extended muon telescope array,
covering more than 10 degrees both in latitude and longitude. Its 59 muon
telescopes are equipped with tracking detectors based on Multigap Resistive
Plate Chamber technology with time resolution of the order of a few hundred
picoseconds. The recent restrictions on greenhouse gases demand studies for new
gas mixtures in compliance with the relative requirements. Tetrafluoropropene
is one of the candidates for tetrafluoroethane substitution, since it is
characterized by a Global Warming Power around 300 times lower than the gas
mixtures used up to now. Several mixtures have been tested, measuring
efficiency curves, charge distributions, streamer fractions and time
resolutions. Results are presented for the whole set of mixtures and operating
conditions, %. A set of tests on a real EEE telescope, with cosmic muons, are
being performed at the CERN-01 EEE telescope. The tests are focusing on
identifying a mixture with good performance at the low rates typical of an EEE
telescope.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, proceedings for the "XIV Workshop on Resistive
Plate Chambers and Related Detectors" (19-23 February 2018), Puerto Vallarta,
Jalisco State, Mexic
INFN What Next: Ultra-relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
This document was prepared by the community that is active in Italy, within
INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare), in the field of
ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The experimental study of the phase
diagram of strongly-interacting matter and of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP)
deconfined state will proceed, in the next 10-15 years, along two directions:
the high-energy regime at RHIC and at the LHC, and the low-energy regime at
FAIR, NICA, SPS and RHIC. The Italian community is strongly involved in the
present and future programme of the ALICE experiment, the upgrade of which will
open, in the 2020s, a new phase of high-precision characterisation of the QGP
properties at the LHC. As a complement of this main activity, there is a
growing interest in a possible future experiment at the SPS, which would target
the search for the onset of deconfinement using dimuon measurements. On a
longer timescale, the community looks with interest at the ongoing studies and
discussions on a possible fixed-target programme using the LHC ion beams and on
the Future Circular Collider.Comment: 99 pages, 56 figure
Search for massive rare particles with MACRO
Massive rare particles have been searched for in the penetrating cosmic
radiation using the MACRO apparatus at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories.
Liquid scintillators, streamer tubes and nuclear track detectors have been used
to search for magnetic monopoles (MMs).
Based on no observation of such signals, stringent flux limits are
established for MMs as slow as a few 10^(-5)c. The methods based on the
scintillator and on the nuclear track subdetectors were also applied to search
for nuclearites. Preliminary results of the searches for charged Q-balls are
also presented.Comment: 20 pages, 9 EPS figures included with epsfi
Direct detection of charged particles with SiPMs
The direct response of Silicon PhotoMultipliers being traversed by a MIP charged particle have been studied in a systematic way for the first time. Using beam test data, time resolution and the crosstalk probability have been measured. A characterization of the SiPM by means of a laser beam is also reported. The results obtained for different sensors indicate a measured time resolution around 40-70 ps. Although particles are expected to traverse only one SPAD per event, crosstalk measurements on different sensors indicate an unexpected higher value with respect to the one related to the sensor noise
Search for Nucleon Decays induced by GUT Magnetic Monopoles with the MACRO Experiment
The interaction of a Grand Unification Magnetic Monopole with a nucleon can
lead to a barion-number violating process in which the nucleon decays into a
lepton and one or more mesons (catalysis of nucleon decay). In this paper we
report an experimental study of the effects of a catalysis process in the MACRO
detector. Using a dedicated analysis we obtain new magnetic monopole (MM) flux
upper limits at the level of for
, based on the search for
catalysis events in the MACRO data. We also analyze the dependence of the MM
flux limit on the catalysis cross section.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, 10 figures and 2 Table
Observation of the Shadowing of Cosmic Rays by the Moon using a Deep Underground Detector
Using data collected by the MACRO experiment during the years 1989-1996, we
show evidence for the shadow of the moon in the underground cosmic ray flux
with a significance of 3.6 sigma. This detection of the shadowing effect is the
first by an underground detector. A maximum-likelihood analysis is used to
determine that the angular resolution of the apparatus is 0.9+/-0.3 degrees.
These results demonstrate MACRO's capabilities as a muon telescope by
confirming its absolute pointing ability and quantifying its angular
resolution.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Neutrino astronomy with the MACRO detector
High energy gamma ray astronomy is now a well established field and several
sources have been discovered in the region from a few GeV up to several TeV. If
sources involving hadronic processes exist, the production of photons would be
accompanied by neutrinos too. Other possible neutrino sources could be related
to the annihilation of WIMPs at the center of galaxies with black holes.
We present the results of a search for point-like sources using 1100
upward-going muons produced by neutrino interactions in the rock below and
inside the MACRO detector in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory. These data
show no evidence for a possible neutrino point-like source or for possible
correlations between gamma ray bursts and neutrinos. They have been used to set
flux upper limits for candidate point-like sources which are in the range
10^-14-10^-15 cm-2 s-1.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures, replacement due to a typo in tab. 6, AASLaTex,
submitted to Ap
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