KM3NeT: Towards a km3 Mediterranean Neutrino Telescope

The observation of high-energy extraterrestrial neutrinos is one of the most promising future options to increase our knowledge on non-thermal processes in the universe. Neutrinos are e.g. unavoidably produced in environments where high-energy hadrons collide; in particular this almost certainly must be true in the astrophysical accelerators of cosmic rays, which thus could be identified unambiguously by sky observations in "neutrino light". To establish neutrino astronomy beyond the detection of single events, neutrino telescopes of km3 scale are needed. In order to obtain full sky coverage, a corresponding detector in the Mediterranean Sea is required to complement the IceCube experiment currently under construction at the South Pole. The groups pursuing the current neutrino telescope projects in the Mediterranean Sea, ANTARES, NEMO and NESTOR, have joined to prepare this future installation in a 3-year, EU-funded Design Study named KM3NeT. This report will highlight some of the physics issues to be addressed with the KM3NeT detector and will outline the path towards its realisation, with a focus on the upcoming Design Study.Comment: Presented at VLVnT2 Workshop, Catania, Siciliy, Italy, 8-11 Nov 200

High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy: A Glimpse of the Promised Land

In 2012, physicists and astronomers celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the detection of cosmic rays by Viktor Hess. One year later, in 2013, there was first evidence for extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos, i.e. for signal which may contain key information on the origin of cosmic rays. That evidence is provided by data taken with the IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole. First concepts to build a detector of this kind have been discussed at the 1973 International Cosmic Ray Conference. Nobody would have guessed at that time that the march towards first discoveries would take forty years, the biblical time of the march from Egypt to Palestine. But now, after all, the year 2013 has provided us a first glimpse to the promised land of the neutrino universe at highest energies. This article sketches the evolution towards detectors with a realistic discovery potential, describes the recent relevant results obtained with the IceCube and ANTARES neutrino telescopes and tries a look into the future.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures. Talk given at the session of the Russian Academy of Science dedicated to Bruno Pontecorvo, Dubna, Sept. 201

Commercial Applications Multispectral Sensor System

NASA's Office of Commercial Programs is funding a multispectral sensor system to be used in the development of remote sensing applications. The Airborne Terrestrial Applications Sensor (ATLAS) is designed to provide versatility in acquiring spectral and spatial information. The ATLAS system will be a test bed for the development of specifications for airborne and spaceborne remote sensing instrumentation for dedicated applications. This objective requires spectral coverage from the visible through thermal infrared wavelengths, variable spatial resolution from 2-25 meters; high geometric and geo-location accuracy; on-board radiometric calibration; digital recording; and optimized performance for minimized cost, size, and weight. ATLAS is scheduled to be available in 3rd quarter 1992 for acquisition of data for applications such as environmental monitoring, facilities management, geographic information systems data base development, and mineral exploration

High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy: where do we stand, where do we go?

With the identification of a diffuse flux of astrophysical ("cosmic") neutrinos in the TeV-PeV energy range, IceCube has opened a new window to the Universe. However, the corresponding cosmic landscape is still uncharted: so far, the observed flux does not show any clear association with known source classes. In the present talk, I sketch the way from Baikal-NT200 to IceCube and summarize IceCube's recent astrophysics results. Finally, I describe the present projects to build even larger detectors: GVD in Lake Baikal, KM3NeT in the Mediterranean Sea and IceCube-Gen2 at the South Pole. These detectors will allow studying the high-energy neutrino sky in much more detail than the present arrays permit.Comment: Talk given at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Baksan Laborator

Planarization and fabrication of bridges across deep groves or holes in silicon using a dry film photoresist followed by an etch back

A technique is presented that provides planarization after a very deep etching step in silicon. This offers the possibility for not only resist spinning and layer patterning but also for realization of bridges and cantilevers across deep grooves or holes. The technique contains a standard dry film lamination step to cover a wafer with a 38 mu m thick foil. Next the foil is etched back to the desired thickness of a few micrometres. This thin film facilitates resist spinning and high-resolution patterning. The planarization method is demonstrated by the fabrication of aluminium bridges across a deep groove in silicon

Neutrino Telescopy in the Mediterranean Sea

The observation of high-energy extraterrestrial neutrinos is one of the most promising future options to increase our knowledge on non-thermal processes in the universe. Neutrinos are e.g. unavoidably produced in environments where high-energy hadrons collide; in particular this almost certainly must be true in the astrophysical accelerators of cosmic rays, which thus could be identified unambiguously by sky observations in "neutrino light". On the one hand, neutrinos are ideal messengers for astrophysical observations since they are not deflected by electromagnetic fields and interact so weakly that they are able to escape even from very dense production regions and traverse large distances in the universe without attenuation. On the other hand, their weak interaction poses a significant problem for detecting neutrinos. Huge target masses up to gigatons must be employed, requiring to instrument natural abundances of media such as sea water or antarctic ice. The first generation of such neutrino telescopes is taking data or will do so in the near future, while the second-generation projects with cubic-kilometre size is under construction or being prepared. This report focuses on status and prospects of current (ANTARES, NEMO, NESTOR) and future (KM3NeT) neutrino telescope projects in the Mediterranean Sea.Comment: Presented at 27th Int. School on Nucl. Phys. (Neutrinos in Cosmology, in Astro, Particle and Nuclear Physics), Erice/Italy, Sept. 2005; 8 pages, 7 figures. To appear in Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. V2,V3: fixed incompatibilities of postscript figures with the arXiv softwar

Membranes fabricated with a deep single corrugation for package stress reduction and residual stress relief

Thin square membranes including a deep circular corrugation are realized and tested for application in a strain-based pressure sensor. Package-induced stresses are reduced and relief of the residual stress is obtained, resulting in a large pressure sensitivity and a reduced temperature sensitivity. Finite element method simulations were carried out, showing that the pressure-deflection behaviour of the structure is close to that of a circular membrane with clamped edge but free radial motion

Diffractive ρ\rho production at small xx in future Electron - Ion Colliders

The future Electron - Ion ($eA$) Collider is expected to probe the high energy regime of the QCD dynamics, with the exclusive vector meson production cross section being one of the most promising observables. In this paper we complement previous studies of exclusive processes presenting a comprehensive analysis of diffractive $\rho$ production at small $x$. We compute the coherent and incoherent cross sections taking into account non-linear QCD dynamical effects and considering different models for the dipole - proton scattering amplitude and for the vector meson wave function. The dependence of these cross sections with the energy, photon virtuality, nuclear mass number and squared momentum transfer is analysed in detail. Moreover, we compare the non-linear predictions with those obtained in the linear regime. Finally, we also estimate the exclusive photon, $J/\Psi$ and $\phi$ production and compare with the results obtained for $\rho$ production. Our results demonstrate that the analysis of diffractive $\rho$ production in future electron - ion colliders will be important to understand the non-linear QCD dynamics.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Enlarged and revised version to be published in the Journal of Physics G. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1503.0064