Starlight beneath the waves : in search of TeV photon emission from Gamma-Ray Bursts with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

At any given time, cosmic rays constantly shower the Earth from all direction. The origin of cosmic rays is still a mystery as their paths are deflected by magnetic fields to random directions. The most likely sources of cosmic rays are Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB). As the most energetic events known in the universe, GRBs are the death throes of massive stars that end in the explosion of stellar materials into interstellar matters. The interactions between cosmic rays and materials surrounding the GRB can produce neutrinos and very-high energy gamma-rays. Studying these high-energy neutrinos and gamma-rays can enlighten us further on the origin of cosmic rays. Very-high energy gamma rays can be observed by very large volume neutrino telescopes such as ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea and IceCube in the South Pole. This dissertation focuses on ANTARES telescope operated as a gamma-ray telescope, which is possible by searching for downgoing muons produced from the interaction of gamma-rays with the Earth's atmosphere. Analytical calculations necessary to estimate the rate of photon-induced muons from GRBs has been performed. The responses of the detector to downgoing muons have been understood by using Monte Carlo simulations. The findings also provide a discussion on the future prospect of this venture.Leids Instituut voor Onderzoek in Natuurkunde (LION), Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica (Nikhef)Theoretical Physic

Global and Local Three-dimensional Studies of The Residual Vector Field from 2MASS and Hipparcos-2 Catalog

[EN] The Gaia mission will provide a six-parameter solution for millions of stars, including a tridimensional map of our Galaxy. The estimation of distances has been made for the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS), while to contrast the proper motions it is interesting to consider positions from the different Gaia Data Release with older ones given in ground-based massive catalogs. This process has been followed to build, for example, the PMA catalog using the 2MASS. Our aim is to improve the positions of this catalog (although the process is applicable to any other). The first stage, presented here, consists of carrying out a three-dimensional study using vector spherical harmonics (VSH) development of the systematisms in position for the stars common with Hipparcos-2; we take into account the distances, magnitudes, and spectral types. To this aim, we use linear polynomial regression of first order that fits vector fields and the derivatives of their components. We verify that the coefficients of the developments of first order have different behavior according to the characteristics of stars and distances. To deepen the study, we focus on the conservative component of the field, applying the Helmholtz theorem. Each potential function is obtained solving a Poisson equation on the sphere, after finding the divergence of the corresponding vector field. Both vector and potential fields present patterns, at certain points, that depend on the three considered parameters (distance, magnitude, and spectral type); their sources and shrinks correspond to maxima and minima. In this sense, we observe that these critical points are also critical points of the surface that represents the VT magnitude of Tycho-2, which makes sense because this catalog was used in the reduction of 2MASS positions. Finally, we selected some stars near the critical points of the vector fields and apply the adjustments obtained in the previous sections. The difference with the positions in DR1 allows us to compare the proper motions: those from the PMA and those induced after our corrections.This paper was partially supported by the UJI-B2016-18, 16I356 project.Marco Castillo, FJ.; Martínez Uso, MJ.; Lopez, J. (2019). Global and Local Three-dimensional Studies of The Residual Vector Field from 2MASS and Hipparcos-2 Catalog. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 131(998):1-22. https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/aaed5dS122131998Akhmetov, V. S., Fedorov, P. N., Velichko, A. B., & Shulga, V. M. (2017). The PMA Catalogue: 420 million positions and absolute proper motions. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 469(1), 763-773. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx812Arenou, F., Luri, X., Babusiaux, C., Fabricius, C., Helmi, A., Robin, A. C., … Bragaglia, A. (2017). Gaia Data Release 1. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 599, A50. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629895Astraatmadja, T. L., & Bailer-Jones, C. A. L. (2016). ESTIMATING DISTANCES FROM PARALLAXES. II. PERFORMANCE OF BAYESIAN DISTANCE ESTIMATORS ON AGAIA-LIKE CATALOGUE. The Astrophysical Journal, 832(2), 137. doi:10.3847/0004-637x/832/2/137Astraatmadja, T. L., & Bailer-Jones, C. A. L. (2016). ESTIMATING DISTANCES FROM PARALLAXES. III. DISTANCES OF TWO MILLION STARS IN THEGaiaDR1 CATALOGUE. The Astrophysical Journal, 833(1), 119. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/833/1/119Bailer-Jones, C. A. L. (2015). Estimating Distances from Parallaxes. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 127(956), 994-1009. doi:10.1086/683116Davies, G. R., Lund, M. N., Miglio, A., Elsworth, Y., Kuszlewicz, J. S., North, T. S. H., … Schofield, M. (2017). Using red clump stars to correct theGaiaDR1 parallaxes. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 598, L4. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201630066Gontcharov, G. A. (2017). Systematic error of the Gaia DR1 TGAS parallaxes from data for the red giant clump. Astronomy Letters, 43(8), 545-558. doi:10.1134/s1063773717060044Jeffreys, S. H. (1967). A Completeness Theorem for Expansions of a Vector Function in Spherical Harmonics. Geophysical Journal International, 12(5), 465-468. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246x.1967.tb03126.xLindegren, L., Lammers, U., Bastian, U., Hernández, J., Klioner, S., Hobbs, D., … Butkevich, A. (2016). GaiaData Release 1. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 595, A4. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201628714Lindegren, L., Lammers, U., Hobbs, D., O’Mullane, W., Bastian, U., & Hernández, J. (2012). The astrometric core solution for theGaiamission. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 538, A78. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201117905Makarov, V. V., & Murphy, D. W. (2007). The Local Stellar Velocity Field via Vector Spherical Harmonics. The Astronomical Journal, 134(1), 367-375. doi:10.1086/518242Marco, F. J., Martínez, M. J., & López, J. A. (2004). A critical discussion on parametric and nonparametric regression methods applied to Hipparcos-FK5 residuals. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 418(3), 1159-1170. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20034441Marco, F. J., Martínez, M. J., & López, J. A. (2013). Homogenization in compiling ICRF combined catalogs. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 558, A98. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321995Marco, F. J., Martínez, M. J., & López, J. A. (2015). APPLICATION OF VECTOR SPHERICAL HARMONICS AND KERNEL REGRESSION TO THE COMPUTATIONS OF OMM PARAMETERS. The Astronomical Journal, 149(4), 129. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/149/4/129Masry, E., & Jianqing Fan. (1997). Local Polynomial Estimation of Regression Functions for Mixing Processes. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 24(2), 165-179. doi:10.1111/1467-9469.00056Michalik, D., Lindegren, L., & Hobbs, D. (2015). TheTycho-Gaiaastrometric solution. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 574, A115. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201425310Michalik, D., Lindegren, L., Hobbs, D., & Lammers, U. (2014). Joint astrometric solution of HIPPARCOS andGaia. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 571, A85. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201424606Mignard, F., & Klioner, S. (2012). Analysis of astrometric catalogues with vector spherical harmonics. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 547, A59. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201219927De Ridder, J., Molenberghs, G., Eyer, L., & Aerts, C. (2016). Asteroseismic versusGaiadistances: A first comparison. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 595, L3. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629799Roeser, S., Demleitner, M., & Schilbach, E. (2010). THE PPMXL CATALOG OF POSITIONS AND PROPER MOTIONS ON THE ICRS. COMBINING USNO-B1.0 AND THE TWO MICRON ALL SKY SURVEY (2MASS). The Astronomical Journal, 139(6), 2440-2447. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/139/6/2440Röser, S., Schilbach, E., Schwan, H., Kharchenko, N. V., Piskunov, A. E., & Scholz, R.-D. (2008). PPM-Extended (PPMX) – a catalogue of positions and proper motions. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 488(1), 401-408. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200809775Schönrich, R., & Aumer, M. (2017). Assessing distances and consistency of kinematics in Gaia/TGAS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 472(4), 3979-3998. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx2189Schwan, H. (2001). An analytical representation of the systematic differences HIPPARCOS-FK5. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 367(3), 1078-1086. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20000521Simonoff, J. S. (1996). Smoothing Methods in Statistics. Springer Series in Statistics. doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4026-6Skrutskie, M. F., Cutri, R. M., Stiening, R., Weinberg, M. D., Schneider, S., Carpenter, J. M., … Wheelock, S. (2006). The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). The Astronomical Journal, 131(2), 1163-1183. doi:10.1086/498708Stassun, K. G., & Torres, G. (2016). EVIDENCE FOR A SYSTEMATIC OFFSET OF −0.25 mas IN THE GAIA DR1 PARALLAXES. The Astrophysical Journal, 831(1), L6. doi:10.3847/2041-8205/831/1/l6Van Leeuwen, F. (2007). Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 474(2), 653-664. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357Van Leeuwen, F. (Ed.). (2007). Hipparcos, the New Reduction of the Raw Data. Astrophysics and Space Science Library. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6342-8Vityazev, V. V., & Tsvetkov, A. S. (2009). Analysis of the three-dimensional stellar velocity field using vector spherical functions. Astronomy Letters, 35(2), 100-113. doi:10.1134/s1063773709020042Vityazev, V. V., & Tsvetkov, A. S. (2011). Application of vector spherical harmonics for kinematic analysis of stars from zonal catalogues. Astronomy Letters, 37(12), 874-887. doi:10.1134/s1063773711120103Vityazev, V. V., & Tsvetkov, A. S. (2013). UCAC4: Stellar kinematics with vector spherical functions. Astronomische Nachrichten, 334(8), 760-768. doi:10.1002/asna.201311917Vityazev, V. V., & Tsvetkov, A. S. (2014). Intercomparison of kinematics derived from catalogues UCAC4, PPMXL and XPM with vector spherical harmonics. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 442(2), 1249-1264. doi:10.1093/mnras/stu953Vityazev, V. V., & Tsvetkov, A. S. (2015). Systematic differences between the positions and proper motions of stars from the PPMXL and UCAC4 catalogs. Astronomy Letters, 41(7), 317-333. doi:10.1134/s1063773715070063Vityazev, V. V., Tsvetkov, A. S., Petrov, S. D., Trofimov, D. A., & Kiyaev, V. I. (2017). Properties of the Tycho-2 catalogue from Gaia data release. Astronomy Letters, 43(11), 730-750. doi:10.1134/s106377371711007xVityazev, V. V., Tsvetkov, A. S., Bobylev, V. V., & Bajkova, A. T. (2017). Galactic Kinematics Derived From Data in the RAVE5, UCAC4, PPMXL, and Gaia TGAS Catalogs. Astrophysics, 60(4), 462-483. doi:10.1007/s10511-017-9499-0Vityazev, V. V., Tsvetkov, A. S., Petrov, S. D., & Trofimov, D. A. (2017). Comparison of XPM and UCAC4 catalogues in the galactic coordinate system. Astronomische Nachrichten, 338(4), 489-502. doi:10.1002/asna.201613220Zacharias, N., Finch, C., & Frouard, J. (2017). UCAC5: New Proper Motions UsingGaiaDR1. The Astronomical Journal, 153(4), 166. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa6196Zacharias, N., Finch, C. T., Girard, T. M., Henden, A., Bartlett, J. L., Monet, D. G., & Zacharias, M. I. (2013). THE FOURTH US NAVAL OBSERVATORY CCD ASTROGRAPH CATALOG (UCAC4). The Astronomical Journal, 145(2), 44. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/145/2/44Zacharias, N., Urban, S. E., Zacharias, M. I., Hall, D. M., Wycoff, G. L., Rafferty, T. J., … Winter, L. (2000). The First US Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog. The Astronomical Journal, 120(4), 2131-2147. doi:10.1086/301563Zacharias, N., Urban, S. E., Zacharias, M. I., Wycoff, G. L., Hall, D. M., Monet, D. G., & Rafferty, T. J. (2004). The Second US Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC2). The Astronomical Journal, 127(5), 3043-3059. doi:10.1086/386353Zinn, J. C., Huber, D., Pinsonneault, M. H., & Stello, D. (2017). Evidence for Spatially CorrelatedGaiaParallax Errors in theKeplerField. The Astrophysical Journal, 844(2), 166. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa7c1

Status and Recent Results of the Acoustic Neutrino Detection Test System AMADEUS

The AMADEUS system is an integral part of the ANTARES neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The project aims at the investigation of techniques for acoustic neutrino detection in the deep sea. Installed at a depth of more than 2000m, the acoustic sensors of AMADEUS are based on piezo-ceramics elements for the broad-band recording of signals with frequencies ranging up to 125kHz. AMADEUS was completed in May 2008 and comprises six "acoustic clusters", each one holding six acoustic sensors that are arranged at distances of roughly 1m from each other. The clusters are installed with inter-spacings ranging from 15m to 340m. Acoustic data are continuously acquired and processed at a computer cluster where online filter algorithms are applied to select a high-purity sample of neutrino-like signals. 1.6 TB of data were recorded in 2008 and 3.2 TB in 2009. In order to assess the background of neutrino-like signals in the deep sea, the characteristics of ambient noise and transient signals have been investigated. In this article, the AMADEUS system will be described and recent results will be presented.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of ARENA 2010, the 4th International Workshop on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino Detection Activitie

Acoustic and optical variations during rapid downward motion episodes in the deep north-western Mediterranean Sea

An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was moored at the deep-sea site of the ANTARES neutrino telescope near Toulon, France, thus providing a unique opportunity to compare high-resolution acoustic and optical observations between 70 and 170 m above the sea bed at 2475 m. The ADCP measured downward vertical currents of magnitudes up to 0.03 m s-1 in late winter and early spring 2006. In the same period, observations were made of enhanced levels of acoustic reflection, interpreted as suspended particles including zooplankton, by a factor of about 10 and of horizontal currents reaching 0.35 m s-1. These observations coincided with high light levels detected by the telescope, interpreted as increased bioluminescence. During winter 2006 deep dense-water formation occurred in the Ligurian subbasin, thus providing a possible explanation for these observations. However, the 10-20 days quasi-periodic episodes of high levels of acoustic reflection, light and large vertical currents continuing into the summer are not direct evidence of this process. It is hypothesized that the main process allowing for suspended material to be moved vertically later in the year is local advection, linked with topographic boundary current instabilities along the rim of the 'Northern Current'.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure

The ANTARES Telescope Neutrino Alert System

The ANTARES telescope has the capability to detect neutrinos produced in astrophysical transient sources. Potential sources include gamma-ray bursts, core collapse supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. To enhance the sensitivity of ANTARES to such sources, a new detection method based on coincident observations of neutrinos and optical signals has been developed. A fast online muon track reconstruction is used to trigger a network of small automatic optical telescopes. Such alerts are generated for special events, such as two or more neutrinos, coincident in time and direction, or single neutrinos of very high energy.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures submitted to Astroparticle Physic

Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

The data taken with the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2010, a total live time of 863 days, are used to measure the oscillation parameters of atmospheric neutrinos. Muon tracks are reconstructed with energies as low as 20 GeV. Neutrino oscillations will cause a suppression of vertical upgoing muon neutrinos of such energies crossing the Earth. The parameters determining the oscillation of atmospheric neutrinos are extracted by fitting the event rate as a function of the ratio of the estimated neutrino energy and reconstructed flight path through the Earth. Measurement contours of the oscillation parameters in a two-flavour approximation are derived. Assuming maximum mixing, a mass difference of $\Delta m_{32}^2=(3.1\pm 0.9)\cdot 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ is obtained, in good agreement with the world average value.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

A first search for coincident gravitational waves and high energy neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000

<i>Gaia</i> Data Release 1. Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties

Context. At about 1000 days after the launch of Gaia we present the first Gaia data release, Gaia DR1, consisting of astrometry and photometry for over 1 billion sources brighter than magnitude 20.7. Aims. A summary of Gaia DR1 is presented along with illustrations of the scientific quality of the data, followed by a discussion of the limitations due to the preliminary nature of this release. Methods. The raw data collected by Gaia during the first 14 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) and turned into an astrometric and photometric catalogue. Results. Gaia DR1 consists of three components: a primary astrometric data set which contains the positions, parallaxes, and mean proper motions for about 2 million of the brightest stars in common with the HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 catalogues – a realisation of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) – and a secondary astrometric data set containing the positions for an additional 1.1 billion sources. The second component is the photometric data set, consisting of mean G-band magnitudes for all sources. The G-band light curves and the characteristics of ∼3000 Cepheid and RR-Lyrae stars, observed at high cadence around the south ecliptic pole, form the third component. For the primary astrometric data set the typical uncertainty is about 0.3 mas for the positions and parallaxes, and about 1 mas yr−1 for the proper motions. A systematic component of ∼0.3 mas should be added to the parallax uncertainties. For the subset of ∼94 000 HIPPARCOS stars in the primary data set, the proper motions are much more precise at about 0.06 mas yr−1. For the secondary astrometric data set, the typical uncertainty of the positions is ∼10 mas. The median uncertainties on the mean G-band magnitudes range from the mmag level to ∼0.03 mag over the magnitude range 5 to 20.7. Conclusions. Gaia DR1 is an important milestone ahead of the next Gaia data release, which will feature five-parameter astrometry for all sources. Extensive validation shows that Gaia DR1 represents a major advance in the mapping of the heavens and the availability of basic stellar data that underpin observational astrophysics. Nevertheless, the very preliminary nature of this first Gaia data release does lead to a number of important limitations to the data quality which should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the data

A First Search for Coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos Using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES Data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events