65 research outputs found
CaloCube: a novel calorimeter for high-energy cosmic rays in space
In order to extend the direct observation of high-energy cosmic rays up to
the PeV region, highly performing calorimeters with large geometrical
acceptance and high energy resolution are required. Within the constraint of
the total mass of the apparatus, crucial for a space mission, the calorimeters
must be optimized with respect to their geometrical acceptance, granularity and
absorption depth. CaloCube is a homogeneous calorimeter with cubic geometry, to
maximise the acceptance being sensitive to particles from every direction in
space; granularity is obtained by relying on small cubic scintillating crystals
as active elements. Different scintillating materials have been studied. The
crystal sizes and spacing among them have been optimized with respect to the
energy resolution. A prototype, based on CsI(Tl) cubic crystals, has been
constructed and tested with particle beams. Some results of tests with
different beams at CERN are presented.Comment: Seven pages, seven pictures. Proceedings of INSTR17 Novosibirs
On-orbit Operations and Offline Data Processing of CALET onboard the ISS
The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), launched for installation on the
International Space Station (ISS) in August, 2015, has been accumulating
scientific data since October, 2015. CALET is intended to perform long-duration
observations of high-energy cosmic rays onboard the ISS. CALET directly
measures the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range of 1 GeV to 20
TeV with a 2% energy resolution above 30 GeV. In addition, the instrument can
measure the spectrum of gamma rays well into the TeV range, and the spectra of
protons and nuclei up to a PeV.
In order to operate the CALET onboard ISS, JAXA Ground Support Equipment
(JAXA-GSE) and the Waseda CALET Operations Center (WCOC) have been established.
Scientific operations using CALET are planned at WCOC, taking into account
orbital variations of geomagnetic rigidity cutoff. Scheduled command sequences
are used to control the CALET observation modes on orbit. Calibration data
acquisition by, for example, recording pedestal and penetrating particle
events, a low-energy electron trigger mode operating at high geomagnetic
latitude, a low-energy gamma-ray trigger mode operating at low geomagnetic
latitude, and an ultra heavy trigger mode, are scheduled around the ISS orbit
while maintaining maximum exposure to high-energy electrons and other
high-energy shower events by always having the high-energy trigger mode active.
The WCOC also prepares and distributes CALET flight data to collaborators in
Italy and the United States.
As of August 31, 2017, the total observation time is 689 days with a live
time fraction of the total time of approximately 84%. Nearly 450 million events
are collected with a high-energy (E>10 GeV) trigger. By combining all operation
modes with the excellent-quality on-orbit data collected thus far, it is
expected that a five-year observation period will provide a wealth of new and
interesting results.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, published online 27 February 201
Search for GeV Gamma-ray Counterparts of Gravitational Wave Events by CALET
We present results on searches for gamma-ray counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo
gravitational-wave events using CALorimetric Electron Telescope ({\sl CALET})
observations. The main instrument of {\sl CALET}, CALorimeter (CAL), observes
gamma-rays from GeV up to 10 TeV with a field of view of nearly 2 sr.
In addition, the {\sl CALET} gamma-ray burst monitor (CGBM) views 3 sr
and sr of the sky in the 7 keV -- 1 MeV and the 40 keV -- 20 MeV
bands, respectively, by using two different crystal scintillators. The {\sl
CALET} observations on the International Space Station started in October 2015,
and here we report analyses of events associated with the following
gravitational wave events: GW151226, GW170104, GW170608, GW170814 and GW170817.
Although only upper limits on gamma-ray emission are obtained, they correspond
to a luminosity of erg s in the GeV energy band
depending on the distance and the assumed time duration of each event, which is
approximately the order of luminosity of typical short gamma-ray bursts. This
implies there will be a favorable opportunity to detect high-energy gamma-ray
emission in further observations if additional gravitational wave events with
favorable geometry will occur within our field-of-view. We also show the
sensitivity of {\sl CALET} for gamma-ray transient events which is the order of
~erg\,cm\,s for an observation of 100~s duration.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in
Astrophysical Journa
Light yield non-proportionality of inorganic crystals and its effect on cosmic-ray measurements
The multi-TeV energy region of the cosmic-ray spectra has been recently explored by direct detection experiments that used calorimetric techniques to measure the energy of the cosmic particles. Interesting spectral features have been observed in both all-electron and nuclei spectra. However, the interpretation of the results is compromised by the disagreements between the data obtained from the various experiments, that are not reconcilable with the quoted experimental uncertainties. Understanding the reason for the discrepancy among the measurements is of fundamental importance in view of the forthcoming high-energy cosmic-ray experiments planned for space, as well as for the correct interpretation of the available results. The purpose of this work is to investigate the possibility that a systematic effect may derive from the non-proportionality of the light response of inorganic crystals, typically used in high-energy calorimetry due to their excellent energy-resolution performance. The main reason for the non-proportionality of the crystals is that scintillation light yield depends on ionisation density. Experimental data obtained with ion beams were used to characterize the light response of various scintillator materials. The obtained luminous efficiencies were used as input of a Monte Carlo simulation to perform a comparative study of the effect of the light-yield non-proportionality on the detection of high-energy electromagnetic and hadronic showers. The result of this study indicates that, if the calorimeter response is calibrated by using the energy deposit of minimum ionizing particles, the measured shower energy might be affected by a significant systematic shift, at the level of few percent, whose sign and magnitude depend specifically on the type of scintillator material used. © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab
CaloCube: an innovative homogeneous calorimeter for the next-generation space experiments
The direct measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum, up to the knee region, is one of the instrumental challenges for next generation space experiments. The main issue for these measurements is a steeply falling spectrum with increasing energy, so the physics performance of the space calorimeters are primarily determined by their geometrical acceptance and energy resolution. CaloCube is a three-year R&D project, approved and financed by INFN in 2014, aiming to optimize the design of a space-born calorimeter. The peculiarity of the design of CaloCube is its capability of detecting particles coming from any direction, and not only those on its upper surface. To ensure that the quality of the measurement does not depend on the arrival direction of the particles, the calorimeter will be designed as homogeneous and isotropic as possible. In addition, to achieve a high discrimination power for hadrons and nuclei with respect to electrons, the sensitive elements of the calorimeter need to have a fine 3-D sampling capability. In order to optimize the detector performances with respect to the total mass of the apparatus, which is the most important constraint for a space launch, a comparative study of different scintillating materials has been performed using detailed Monte Carlo simulation based on the FLUKA package. In parallel to simulation studies, a prototype consisting in 14 layers of 3 x 3 CsI(Tl) crystals per layer has been assembled and tested with particle beams. An overview of the obtained results during the first two years of the project will be presented and the future of the detector will be discussed too
Cosmic-Ray Boron Flux Measured from 8.4  GeV/n to 3.8  TeV/n with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station
We present the measurement of the energy dependence of the boron flux in cosmic rays and its ratio to the carbon flux in an energy interval from 8.4 GeV/n to 3.8 TeV/n based on the data collected by the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) during ∼6.4 yr of operation on the International Space Station. An update of the energy spectrum of carbon is also presented with an increase in statistics over our previous measurement. The observed boron flux shows a spectral hardening at the same transition energy E0∼200 GeV/n of the C spectrum, though B and C fluxes have different energy dependences. The spectral index of the B spectrum is found to be γ=-3.047±0.024 in the interval 25<200 GeV/n. The B spectrum hardens by ΔγB=0.25±0.12, while the best fit value for the spectral variation of C is ΔγC=0.19±0.03. The B/C flux ratio is compatible with a hardening of 0.09±0.05, though a single power-law energy dependence cannot be ruled out given the current statistical uncertainties. A break in the B/C ratio energy dependence would support the recent AMS-02 observations that secondary cosmic rays exhibit a stronger hardening than primary ones. We also perform a fit to the B/C ratio with a leaky-box model of the cosmic-ray propagation in the Galaxy in order to probe a possible residual value λ0 of the mean escape path length λ at high energy. We find that our B/C data are compatible with a nonzero value of λ0, which can be interpreted as the column density of matter that cosmic rays cross within the acceleration region. © 2022 authors. Published by the American Physical Society
Direct Measurement of the Spectral Structure of Cosmic-Ray Electrons+Positrons in the TeV Region with CALET on the International Space Station
Detailed measurements of the spectral structure of cosmic-ray electrons and
positrons from 10.6 GeV to 7.5 TeV are presented from over 7 years of
observations with the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the
International Space Station. Because of the excellent energy resolution (a few
percent above 10 GeV) and the outstanding e/p separation (10), CALET
provides optimal performance for a detailed search of structures in the energy
spectrum. The analysis uses data up to the end of 2022, and the statistics of
observed electron candidates has increased more than 3 times since the last
publication in 2018. By adopting an updated boosted decision tree analysis, a
sufficient proton rejection power up to 7.5 TeV is achieved, with a residual
proton contamination less than 10%. The observed energy spectrum becomes
gradually harder in the lower energy region from around 30 GeV, consistently
with AMS-02, but from 300 to 600 GeV it is considerably softer than the spectra
measured by DAMPE and Fermi-LAT. At high energies, the spectrum presents a
sharp break around 1 TeV, with a spectral index change from -3.15 to -3.91, and
a broken power law fitting the data in the energy range from 30 GeV to 4.8 TeV
better than a single power law with 6.9 sigma significance, which is compatible
with the DAMPE results. The break is consistent with the expected effects of
radiation loss during the propagation from distant sources (except the highest
energy bin). We have fitted the spectrum with a model consistent with the
positron flux measured by AMS-02 below 1 TeV and interpreted the electron +
positron spectrum with possible contributions from pulsars and nearby sources.
Above 4.8 TeV, a possible contribution from known nearby supernova remnants,
including Vela, is addressed by an event-by-event analysis providing a higher
proton-rejection power than a purely statistical analysis.Comment: main text: 7 pages, 4 figures; supplemental material: 10 pages, 8
figures, 1 tabl
Observation of Spectral Structures in the Flux of Cosmic-Ray Protons from 50Â GeV to 60Â TeV with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station
A precise measurement of the cosmic-ray proton spectrum with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) is presented in the energy interval from 50 GeV to 60 TeV, and the observation of a softening of the spectrum above 10 TeV is reported. The analysis is based on the data collected during ∼6.2  years of smooth operations aboard the International Space Station and covers a broader energy range with respect to the previous proton flux measurement by CALET, with an increase of the available statistics by a factor of ∼2.2. Above a few hundred GeV we confirm our previous observation of a progressive spectral hardening with a higher significance (more than 20 sigma). In the multi-TeV region we observe a second spectral feature with a softening around 10 TeV and a spectral index change from -2.6 to -2.9 consistently, within the errors, with the shape of the spectrum reported by DAMPE. We apply a simultaneous fit of the proton differential spectrum which well reproduces the gradual change of the spectral index encompassing the lower energy power-law regime and the two spectral features observed at higher energies
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