Cerenkov Events Seen by The TALE Air Fluorescence Detector

The Telescope Array Low-Energy Extension (TALE) is a hybrid, Air Fluorescence Detector (FD) / Scintillator Array, designed to study cosmic ray initiated showers at energies above $\sim3\times10^{16}$ eV. Located in the western Utah desert, the TALE FD is comprised of 10 telescopes which cover the elevation range 31-58$^{\circ}$ in addition to 14 telescopes with elevation coverage of 3-31$^{\circ}$. As with all other FD's, a subset of the shower events recorded by TALE are ones for which the Cerenkov light produced by the shower particles dominates the total observed light signal. In fact, for the telescopes with higher elevation coverage, low energy Cerenkov events form the vast majority of triggered cosmic ray events. In the typical FD data analysis procedure, this subset of events is discarded and only events for which the majority of signal photons come from air fluorescence are kept. In this talk, I will report on a study to reconstruct the "Cerenkov Events" seen by the high elevation viewing telescopes of TALE. Monte Carlo studies and a first look at real events observed by TALE look very promising. Even as a monocular detector, the geometrical reconstruction method employed in this analysis allows for a pointing accuracy on the order of a degree. Preliminary Monte Carlo studies indicate that, the expected energy resolution is better than 25$$. It may be possible to extend the low energy reach of TALE to below $10^{16}$ eV. This would be the first time a detector designed specifically as an air fluorescence detector is used as an imaging Cerenkov detector.Comment: Presentation at the DPF 2013 Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields, Santa Cruz, California, August 13-17, 2013. 5 pages, 2 figure

Search for Spatial Correlations of Neutrinos with Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays

For several decades, the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has been an unsolved question of high-energy astrophysics. One approach for solving this puzzle is to correlate UHECRs with high-energy neutrinos, since neutrinos are a direct probe of hadronic interactions of cosmic rays and are not deflected by magnetic fields. In this paper, we present three different approaches for correlating the arrival directions of neutrinos with the arrival directions of UHECRs. The neutrino data are provided by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and ANTARES, while the UHECR data with energies above similar to 50 EeV are provided by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array. All experiments provide increased statistics and improved reconstructions with respect to our previous results reported in 2015. The first analysis uses a high-statistics neutrino sample optimized for point-source searches to search for excesses of neutrino clustering in the vicinity of UHECR directions. The second analysis searches for an excess of UHECRs in the direction of the highest-energy neutrinos. The third analysis searches for an excess of pairs of UHECRs and highest-energy neutrinos on different angular scales. None of the analyses have found a significant excess, and previously reported overfluctuations are reduced in significance. Based on these results, we further constrain the neutrino flux spatially correlated with UHECRs

CPT and Lorentz violation in the electroweak sector

Long ago, Carroll, Field and Jackiw introduced CPT-violation in the photon sector by adding a dimension-3 gauge-invariant term parametrized by a constant four-vector parameter k(AF) to the usual (Maxwell) Lagrangian, deriving an ultra-tight bound from astrophysical data. Here, we will discuss recent work studying the extension of this term to the full electroweak gauge sector of the Standard Model. In the context of the Standard Model Extension, CPT and Lorentz violation arises from two gauge-invariant terms parametrized by the four vectors k(1) and k(2). First we will show how upon spontaneous breaking of the electroweak gauge symmetry these two terms yield Lorentz-violating terms for the photon and the W and Z bosons. As it turns out, the resulting modified dispersion relations for the W bosons yield spacelike momentum for one of its propagating modes at sufficiently large energy. This in turn allows for the possibility of Cherenkov-like W-boson emission by high-energy fermions such as protons, provoking their decay. Analysis of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray data allows for bounding the previously unbound parameter k(2), and, by combination with the ultra-tight bound on k(AF), the parameter k(1).Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BPD/101403/2014program POPH/FSE New College of Floridainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Search for Spatial Correlations of Neutrinos with Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays

For several decades, the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has been an unsolved question of highenergy astrophysics. One approach for solving this puzzle is to correlate UHECRs with high-energy neutrinos, since neutrinos are a direct probe of hadronic interactions of cosmic rays and are not deflected by magnetic fields. In this paper, we present three different approaches for correlating the arrival directions of neutrinos with the arrival directions of UHECRs. The neutrino data are provided by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and ANTARES, while the UHECR data with energies above ∼50 EeV are provided by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array. All experiments provide increased statistics and improved reconstructions with respect to our previous results reported in 2015. The first analysis uses a high-statistics neutrino sample optimized for pointsource searches to search for excesses of neutrino clustering in the vicinity of UHECR directions. The second analysis searches for an excess of UHECRs in the direction of the highest-energy neutrinos. The third analysis searches for an excess of pairs of UHECRs and highest-energy neutrinos on different angular scales. None of the analyses have found a significant excess, and previously reported overfluctuations are reduced in significance. Based on these results, we further constrain the neutrino flux spatially correlated with UHECRs.Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Commission Européenne (FEDER fund and Marie Curie Program), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), LabEx UnivEarthS (ANR-10- LABX-0023 and ANR-18-IDEX-0001), Région Île-de-France (DIM-ACAV), Région Alsace (contrat CPER), Région Provence- Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Département du Var and Ville de La Seyne-sur-Mer, FranceBundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), GermanyIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), ItalyNederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), the NetherlandsCouncil of the President of the Russian Federation for young scientists and leading scientific schools supporting grants, RussiaExecutive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI), RomaniaMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación, Investigación y Universidades (MCIU): Programa Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento (refs. PGC2018-096663-B-C41, -A-C42, -BC43, -B-C44) (MCIU/FEDER), Generalitat Valenciana: Prometeo (PROMETEO/2020/019), Grisolía (refs. GRISOLIA/ 2018/119, /2021/192) and GenT (refs. CIDEGENT/2018/ 034, /2019/043, /2020/049, /2021/023) programs, Junta de Andalucía (ref. A-FQM-053-UGR18), La Caixa Foundation (ref. LCF/BQ/IN17/11620019), EU: MSC program (ref. 101025085), SpainMinistry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Morocco, and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, KuwaitU.S. National Science Foundation-Office of Polar Programs, U.S. National Science Foundation-Physics Division, U.S. National Science Foundation-EPSCoR, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) at the University of Wisconsin−Madison, Open Science Grid (OSG), Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), Frontera computing project at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, U.S. Department of Energy−National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Particle astrophysics research computing center at the University of Maryland, Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research at Michigan State University, and Astroparticle physics computational facility at Marquette UniversityBelgium—Funds for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS and FWO), FWO Odysseus and Big Science programmes, and Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (Belspo)Germany—Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), and High Performance Computing cluster of the RWTH AachenSweden—Swedish Research Council, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), and Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationAustralia—Australian Research CouncilCanada— Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Calcul Québec, Compute Ontario, Canada Foundation for Innovation, WestGrid, and Compute CanadaDenmark—Villum Fonden and Carlsberg FoundationNew Zealand—Marsden FundJapan—Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Institute for Global Prominent Research (IGPR) of Chiba UniversityKorea—National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)Switzerland—Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)United Kingdom—Department of Physics, University of OxfordArgentina—Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Gobierno de la Provincia de Mendoza; Municipalidad de Malargüe; NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas; in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access; Australia—the Australian Research Council;Belgium—Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS); Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)Brazil—Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ); São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grants No. 2019/10151-2, No. 2010/07359-6 and No. 1999/ 05404-3; Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações (MCTIC)Czech Republic—Grant No. MSMT CR LTT18004, LM2015038, LM2018102, CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/ 16_013/0001402, CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/18_046/0016010, and CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_049/0008422France—Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRSCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Conseil Régional Ile-de-France; Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS); Département Sciences de l’Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS); Institut Lagrange de Paris (ILP) Grant No. LABEX ANR-10-LABX-63 within the Investissements d’Avenir Programme Grant No. ANR-11-IDEX- 0004-02Germany—Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG); Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg; Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP); Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF); Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen; Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst des Landes Baden-WürttembergItaly—Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN); Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF); Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Universitá e della Ricerca (MIUR); CETEMPS Center of Excellence; Ministero degli Affari Esteri (MAE)México—Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) No. 167733; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)PAPIIT DGAPA-UNAMThe Netherlands— Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO); Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of SURF CooperativePoland —Ministry of Education and Science, grant No. DIR/WK/ 2018/11National Science Centre, Grants No. 2016/22/M/ ST9/00198, 2016/23/B/ST9/01635, and 2020/39/B/ST9/ 01398Portugal—Portuguese national funds and FEDER funds within Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (COMPETE)Romania—Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI—UEFISCDI, projects PN19150201/16N/ 2019, PN1906010, TE128 and PED289, within PNCDI IIISlovenia—Slovenian Research Agency, grants P1-0031, P1- 0385, I0-0033, N1-0111Spain—Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (FPA2017-85114-P and PID2019- 104676GB-C32), Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2017/07), Junta de Andalucía (SOMM17/6104/UGR, P18-FR-4314) Feder Funds, RENATA Red Nacional Temática de Astropartículas (FPA2015-68783-REDT) and María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence (MDM-2016-0692)USA—Department of Energy, Contracts No. DE-AC02-07CH11359, No. DE-FR02-04ER41 300, No. DE-FG02-99ER41107, and No. DE-SC0011689; National Science Foundation, Grant No. 0450696; The Grainger Foundation; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET; European Particle Physics Latin American Network; and UNESCO.Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through Grants-in- Aid for Priority Area 431, for Specially Promoted Research JP21000002, for Scientific Research (S) JP19104006, for Specially Promoted Research JP15H05693, for Scientific Research (S) JP15H05741, for Science Research (A) JP18H03705, for Young Scientists (A) JPH26707011, and for Fostering Joint International Research (B) JP19KK0074, by the joint research program of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR), The University of Tokyo; by the Pioneering Program of RIKEN for the Evolution of Matter in the Universe (r-EMU)U.S. National Science Foundation awards PHY-1404495, PHY-1404502, PHY-1607727, PHY-1712517, PHY-1806797, PHY-2012934, and PHY-2112904National Research Foundation of Korea (2017K1A4A3015188, 2020R1A2C1 008230, and 2020R1A2C2102800)Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under the contract 075-15-2020-778, IISN project No. 4.4501.18Belgian Science Policy under IUAP VII/37 (ULB