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

Inverse dualisation and non-local dualities between Einstein gravity and supergravities

We investigate non-local dualities between suitably compactified higher-dimensional Einstein gravity and supergravities which can be revealed if one reinterprets the dualised Kaluza-Klein two-forms in $D>4$ as antisymmetric forms belonging to supergravities. We find several examples of such a correspondence including one between the six-dimensional Einstein gravity and the four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton-axion theory (truncated N=4 supergravity), and others between the compactified eleven and ten-dimensional supergravities and the eight or ten-dimensional pure gravity. The Killing spinor equation of the D=11 supergravity is shown to be equivalent to the geometric Killing spinor equation in the dual gravity. We give several examples of using new dualities for solution generation and demonstrate how $p$-branes can be interpreted as non-local duals of pure gravity solutions. New supersymmetric solutions are presented including $M2\subset 5$-brane with two rotation parameters.Comment: 32 pages, Late

Global anisotropy of arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: capabilities of space-based detectors

Planned space-based ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray detectors (TUS, JEM-EUSO and S-EUSO) are best suited for searches of global anisotropies in the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic-ray particles because they will be able to observe the full sky with a single instrument. We calculate quantitatively the strength of anisotropies associated with two models of the origin of the highest-energy particles: the extragalactic model (sources follow the distribution of galaxies in the Universe) and the superheavy dark-matter model (sources follow the distribution of dark matter in the Galactic halo). Based on the expected exposure of the experiments, we estimate the optimal strategy for efficient search of these effects.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, iopart style. v.2: discussion of the effect of the cosmic magnetic fields added; other minor changes. Simulated UHECR skymaps available at http://livni.inr.ac.ru/UHECRskymaps

An extensive-air-shower-like event registered with the TUS orbital detector

TUS (Tracking Ultraviolet Set-up) is the world's first orbital detector of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). It was launched into orbit on 28th April 2016 as a part of the scientific payload of the Lomonosov satellite. The main aim of the mission was to test the technique of measuring the ultraviolet fluorescence and Cherenkov radiation of extensive air showers generated by primary cosmic rays with energies above ~100 EeV in the Earth atmosphere from space. During its operation for 1.5 years, TUS registered almost 80,000 events with a few of them satisfying conditions anticipated for extensive air showers (EASs) initiated by UHECRs. Here we discuss an event registered on 3rd October 2016. The event was measured in perfect observation conditions as an ultraviolet track in the nocturnal atmosphere of the Earth, with the kinematics and the light curve similar to those expected from an EAS. A reconstruction of parameters of a primary particle gave the zenith angle around 44$^\circ$ but an extreme energy not compatible with the cosmic ray energy spectrum obtained with ground-based experiments. We discuss in details all conditions of registering the event, explain the reconstruction procedure and its limitations and comment on possible sources of the signal, both of anthropogenic and astrophysical origin. We believe this detection represents a significant milestone in the space-based observation of UHECRs because it proves the capability of an orbital telescope to detect light signals with the apparent motion and light shape similar to what are expected from EASs. This is important for the on-going development of the future missions KLYPVE-EUSO and POEMMA, aimed for studying UHECRs from space.Comment: 24 pages; v2: important changes to address comments by the anonymous referee; main conclusions unchange

EUSO-SPB1 mission and science

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon 1 (EUSO-SPB1) was launched in 2017 April from Wanaka, New Zealand. The plan of this mission of opportunity on a NASA super pressure balloon test flight was to circle the southern hemisphere. The primary scientific goal was to make the first observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray extensive air showers (EASs) by looking down on the atmosphere with an ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence telescope from suborbital altitude (33 km). After 12 days and 4 h aloft, the flight was terminated prematurely in the Pacific Ocean. Before the flight, the instrument was tested extensively in the West Desert of Utah, USA, with UV point sources and lasers. The test results indicated that the instrument had sensitivity to EASs of ⪆ 3 EeV. Simulations of the telescope system, telescope on time, and realized flight trajectory predicted an observation of about 1 event assuming clear sky conditions. The effects of high clouds were estimated to reduce this value by approximately a factor of 2. A manual search and a machine-learning-based search did not find any EAS signals in these data. Here we review the EUSO-SPB1 instrument and flight and the EAS search

Neutrino Target-of-Opportunity Observations with Space-based and Suborbital Optical Cherenkov Detectors

Cosmic-ray accelerators capable of reaching ultra-high energies are expected to also produce very-high energy neutrinos via hadronic interactions within the source or its surrounding environment. Many of the candidate astrophysical source classes are either transient in nature or exhibit flaring activity. Using the Earth as a neutrino converter, suborbital and space-based optical Cherenkov detectors, such as POEMMA and EUSO-SPB2, will be able to detect upward-moving extensive air showers induced by decaying tau-leptons generated from cosmic tau neutrinos with energies ∼10 PeV and above. Both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will be able to quickly repoint, enabling rapid response to astrophysical transient events. We calculate the transient sensitivity and sky coverage for both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA, accounting for constraints imposed by the Sun and the Moon on the observation time. We also calculate both detectors\u27 neutrino horizons for a variety of modeled astrophysical neutrino fluences. We find that both EUSO-SPB2 and POEMMA will achieve transient sensitivities at the level of modeled neutrino fluences for nearby sources. We conclude with a discussion of the prospects of each mission detecting at least one transient event for various modeled astrophysical neutrino sources