Measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 10^18 eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory

We report a measurement of the flux of cosmic rays with unprecedented precision and Statistics using the Pierre Auger Observatory Based on fluorescence observations in coincidence with at least one Surface detector we derive a spectrum for energies above 10(18) eV We also update the previously published energy spectrum obtained with the surface detector array The two spectra are combined addressing the systematic uncertainties and, in particular. the influence of the energy resolution on the spectral shape The spectrum can be described by a broken power law E-gamma with index gamma = 3 3 below the ankle which is measured at log(10)(E-ankle/eV) = 18 6 Above the ankle the spectrum is describe…

A system for the automatic measurement of the nuchal translucency thickness from ultrasound video stream of the foetus

Nowadays the measurement of the nuchal translucency thickness is being used as part of routine ultrasound scanning during the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, for the screening of chromosomal defects, as trisomy 21. Currently, the measurement is being performed manually by physicians. The measurement can take a long time for being accomplished, needs to be performed by highly skilled operators, and is prone to errors. Semi-automated methods requires that the user manually selects a region of the image containing the nuchal translucency, procedure that is somewhat time consuming. In this paper we present a complete system prototype that is able to perform the measurement of the nucha…

The Lateral Trigger Probability function for the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray Showers detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory

In this paper we introduce the concept of Lateral Trigger Probability (LTP) function, i.e., the probability for an Extensive Air Shower (EAS) to trigger an individual detector of a ground based array as a function of distance to the shower axis, taking into account energy, mass and direction of the primary cosmic ray. We apply this concept to the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consisting of a 1.5 km spaced grid of about 1600 water Cherenkov stations. Using Monte Carlo simulations of ultra-high energy showers the LTP functions are derived for energies in the range between 1017 and 1019 eV and zenith angles up to 65. A parametrization combining a step function with an exponenti…

Limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory are used to establish an upper limit on the diffuse flux of tau neutrinos in the cosmic radiation. Earth-skimming ντ may interact in the Earth's crust and produce a τ lepton by means of charged-current interactions. The τ lepton may emerge from the Earth and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a typical signature, a persistent electromagnetic component even at very large atmospheric depths. The search procedure to select events induced by τ decays against the background of normal showers induced by cosmic rays is described. The method used to compute the exposure for a detector continuously growing with time is de…

Search for signatures of magnetically-induced alignment in the arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

We present the results of an analysis of data recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory in which we search for groups of directionally-aligned events (or ‘multiplets’) which exhibit a correlation between arrival direc- tion and the inverse of the energy. These signatures are expected from sets of events coming from the same source after having been deflected by intervening coherent magnetic fields. The observation of several events from the same source would open the possibility to accurately reconstruct the position of the source and also measure the integral of the component of the magnetic field orthogonal to the trajectory of the cos- mic rays. We describe the largest multiplets found an…

Use of fragmentation beams at LNS with CHIMERA detector

The recent intensity upgrade of the LNS fragmentation beam is discussed. The available beams, the tagging procedures and details on the beam quality are reported. The experimental program started with the CHIMERA detector using such beams is also discussed with preliminary results and future perspectives. © Owned by the authors, 2012.

Effects of neutron richness on the behavior of nuclear systems at intermediate energies

We discuss results concerning the behavior of hot nuclear sources formed in 40 ,48Ca+40 ,48Ca reactions at 25 MeV/nucleon. A correlation between the neutron-to-proton ratio of the total systems and heavy residue production is found. This correlation underlines the strong role played by the neutron-to-proton ratio degree of freedom on the behavior of hot nuclei at intermediate energies. Comparisons of our data with Constrained Molecular Dynamics calculations confirm that a moderately stiff behavior of the symmetry potential must be used to reproduce experimental data. These findings open the way for future investigations with exotic beams at radioactive ion beam facilities. © 2012 American P…

Clastogenic and aneuploidizing effects of antiblastic busulphan revealed by kinetochore immunofluorescence in CHO cells.

We utilized, in CHO cells, the cytoplasm preservation technique to evaluate the micronucleus frequency at different busulphan concentrations, and the indirect immunofluorescence technique, using sera obtained from patients with scleroderma (CREST variant), to analyze if busulphan-induced micronuclei have kinetochores. Results show that this alkylating agent is capable of causing a significant increase of micronuclei in vitro, a great part (40%) of them having CREST-positive kinetochores. These findings confirm the clastogenic effect of busulphan and reveal a considerable capability of this agent to induce aneuploidy. These results are examined taking into account the high incidence of secon…

The Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It combines a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level together with a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The fluorescence detector comprises 24 large telescopes specialized for measuring the nitrogen fluorescence caused by charged particles of cosmic ray air showers. In this paper we describe the components of the fluorescence detector including its optical system, the design of the camera, the electronics, and the systems for relative and absolute calibration. We also discuss the operation and the monitoring of the detecto…

Il progetto FARCOS/EXOCHIM

Combining fuzzy C-mean and normalized convolution for cloud detection in IR images

An important task for the cloud monitoring in several frameworks is providing maps of the cloud coverage. In this paper we present a method to detect cloudy pixels for images taken from ground by an infra-red camera. The method is a three-steps algorithm mainly based on a Fuzzy C-Mean clustering, that works on a feature space derived from the original image and the output of the reconstructed image obtained via normalized convolution. Experiments, run on several infra-red images acquired under different conditions, show that the cloud maps returned are satisfactory. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Comparison of stereo vision techniques for cloud-top height retrieval

This paper presents an ongoing study for the estimation of the cloud-top height by using only geometrical methods. In agreement with some recent studies showing that it is possible to achieve reliable height estimations not only with the classical methods based on radiative transfer, this article includes a comparison of performances of a selected set of vision algorithms devoted to extract dense disparity maps or motion fields from Infra Red stereo image pairs. This collection includes both area-based techniques and an optical flow-based method and the comparison is accomplished by using a set of cloudy scenes selected from the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR2) database. The first gr…

Stereo Matching Tecniques for Cloud-top Height Retrieval

This paper presents an ongoing study for the estimation of the cloud-top height by using only geometrical methods. It is based on the hypothesis that an infra-red camera is on board a satellite and pairs of images concern nearly the same scene. Stereo-vision techniques are therefore explored in order to test the methodology for height retrieval and in particular results of several techniques of stereo matching are evaluated. This study includes area-based matching algorithms by implementing the basic versions, without considering any further steps of optimisation to improve the results. Dense depth maps are the final outputs whose reliability is verified by computing error statistics with r…

FARCOS, a new array for femtoscopy and correlation spectroscopy

Correlations between two or more particles can be used as a tool to explore the space-time features of nuclear reactions as well as spectroscopic properties of produced unbound clusters. In order to have new options to study the mentioned correlations, FARCOS (Femtoscope ARray for COrrelations and Spectroscopy) has been conceived as a compact high resolution array, composed of square telescopes. In this work the main features of FARCOS array as well as part of the physics cases are described. © Owned by the authors, 2012.

Elastic scattering studies of 16C at 50 MeV/A on proton and deuteron targets with the CHIMERA multidetector at INFN-LNS

At the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania (Italy), light radioactive ion beams have been produced through the In Flight Fragmentation method, using 18O and 13C at 55 MeV/A as primary beams impinging on a 9Be production target. Elastic scattering angular distributions of 16C+p and 16C+d at 50 MeV/A, 10Be+p at 56 MeV/A and 13B+d at 52 MeV/A systems were measured by using the CHIMERA (Charge Heavy Ion Mass and Energy Resolving Array) multidetector and kinematical coincidence technique. The experimental data are fitted by using the optical model. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

A study of the effect of molecular and aerosol conditions in the atmosphere on air fluorescence measurements at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The air fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory is designed to perforin calorimetric measurements of extensive air showers created by Cosmic rays of above 10(18) eV. To correct these measurements for the effects introduced by atmospheric fluctuations, the Observatory contains a group Of monitoring instruments to record atmospheric conditions across the detector site, ail area exceeding 3000 km(2). The atmospheric data are used extensively in the reconstruction of air showers, and are particularly important for the correct determination of shower energies and the depths of shower maxima. This paper contains a summary of the molecular and aerosol conditions measured at the Pierr…

Search for First Harmonic Modulation in the Right Ascension Distribution of Cosmic Rays Detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory

We present the results of searches for dipolar-type anisotropies in different energy ranges above 2.5 × 1017 eV with the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, reporting on both the phase and the amplitude measurements of the first harmonic modulation in the right-ascension distribution. Upper limits on the amplitudes are obtained, which provide the most stringent bounds at present, being below 2% at 99% C.L. for EeV energies. We also compare our results to those of previous experiments as well as with some theoretical expectations.

Mapping the detector response of the FARCOS Double – Sided Silicon Strip Detectors with monochromatic single protons

A Study for Cloud Parameter Retrieval from the IR Cloud Cameras of the AUGER Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory operative in Argentina, studies the ultra-high energy cosmic rays with energies above 1018eV. The atmosphere is also monitored by a collection of different instruments. In this paper we present a study on the retrieval of the cloud coverage from the atmospheric monitoring data collected by the four IR cloud cameras placed in the sites of the Observatory. We discuss two different algorithms that supply pixel by pixel cloudiness information in the form of binary masks. The final objective of the study is collecting different algorithms to obtain a reliable set that allow to overcome most of the more frequent ambiguities due to particular cloud configurations and a…

Observation of the suppression of the flux of cosmic rays above 4x10^19eV

The energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 2.5 × 10¹⁸ eV, derived from 20,000 events recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is described. The spectral index γ of the particle flux, J ∝ E-γ, at energies between 4 × 10¹⁸ eV and 4 × 10¹⁹ eV is 2.69 ± 0.02(stat) ± 0.06(syst), steepening to 4.2 ± 0.4(stat) ± 0.06(syst) at higher energies. The hypothesis of a single power law is rejected with a significance greater than 6 standard deviations. The data are consistent with the prediction by Greisen and by Zatsepin and Kuz'min.

Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, 6 x 10(19) eV. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than 3.1 degrees from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the Veron-Cetty and Veron 12th catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating…

N/Z effects on evaporation residue emission near fragmentation threshold

We will discuss results concerning the fate of hot nuclear systems populated in 40,48 Ca+ 40,48 Ca reactions at 25 MeV/nucleon. Due to the complexity of events, we used the Chimera 4π device as detection system. By selecting central events of reaction, we found that the interplay between binary-like and evaporation residue emissions is strongly sensitive on the N/Z of the entrance channels. In particular, evaporation residue emission increases at increasing the neutron content of colliding system. By comparing or data with CoMD-II model calculations, we can extract information about the density depend part of Symmetry Potential in the Nuclear Equation of State at near-saturation densities.

A study on recovering the cloud top-height from infra-red video sequences

In this paper we present some preliminary results on an opticalfow based technique aimed at recovering the cloud-top height from infra-red image sequences. The recovery of the cloud-top height from satellite infra-red images is an important topic in meteorological studies, and is traditionally based on the analysis of the temperature maps. In this work we explore the feasibility for this problem of a technique based on a robust multi-resolution opticalfow algorithm. The robustness is achieved adopting a Least Median of Squares paradigm. The algorithm has been tested on semi-synthetic data (i.e. real data that have been synthetically warped in order to have a reliable ground truth for the mo…

The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The ‘‘hybrid” detection mode combines the information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of monitoring data coll…

Atmospheric effects on extensive air showers observed with the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Atmospheric parameters, such as pressure (P), temperature (T) and density (ρ ∝ P/T), affect the development of extensive air showers initiated by energetic cosmic rays. We have studied the impact of atmospheric variations on extensive air showers by means of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The rate of events shows a ∼ 10% seasonal modulation and ∼ 2% diurnal one. We find that the observed behaviour is explained by a model including the effects associated with the variations of P and ρ. The former affects the longitudinal development of air showers while the latter influences the Molière radius and hence the lateral distribution of the shower particles. The model is val…

Mapping the Amplitude and Position Response of Double Sided Silicon Strip Detectors with Monocromatic Single Protons

International audience; We are currently developing a novel detection system featuring high angular and energy resolution and able to reconstruct the particles momentum at high precision for different physical cases in multi-fragmentation nuclear physics experiments, based on Double Sided Silicon Strip Detectors as ΔE stages aimed at performing also pulse shape analysis for fragments stopping therein. We carried out a detailed qualification of the performance of the strip detectors. In order to provide the detector response matrix we used a pulsed monoenergetic proton beam. The paper reviews the pulsed proton beam facility of the LaBeC of INFN - Sezione di Firenze and present the results of…

Erratum to "Atmospheric effects on extensive air showers observed with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger observatory"[Astroparticle Physics 32(2) (2009), 89-99]

The Pierre Auger Collaboration... K.B. Barber... J.A. Bellido... R.W. Clay... B.R. Dawson... V.C. Holmes... J. Sorokin... P. Wahrlich... B.J. Whelan... M.G. Winnick... et al.

Correlation of the highest-energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic objects.

Using data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory during the past 3.7 years, we demonstrated a correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energy above ~ 6x10^{19} electron volts and the positions of active galactic nuclei (AGN) lying within ~ 75 megaparsecs. We rejected the hypothesis of an isotropic distribution of these cosmic rays with at least a 99% confidence level from a prescribed a priori test. The correlation we observed is compatible with the hypothesis that the highest energy particles originate from nearby extragalactic sources whose flux has not been substantially reduced by interaction with the cosmic background radiation. AGN or objects having a similar…

Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10(18) eV

We describe the measurement of the depth of maximum, Xmax, of the longitudinal development of air showers induced by cosmic rays. Almost four thousand events above 10¹⁸ eV observed by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory in coincidence with at least one surface detector station are selected for the analysis. The average shower maximum was found to evolve with energy at a rate of (106⁺³⁵₋₂₁) g/cm²/decade below 1018.24 ± 0.05 eV and (24 ± 3) g/cm²/decade above this energy. The measured shower-to-shower fluctuations decrease from about 55 to 26 g/cm². The interpretation of these results in terms of the cosmic ray mass composition is briefly discussed.

N/Z effects on40,48Ca+40,48Ca reactions at 25 MeV/nucleon

Effects related to the neutron to proton ratio (N/Z) degree of freedom in 40, 48Ca+40, 48Ca reactions at 25 MeV/nucleon have been investigated. Isotopic effect and even-odd staggering characterize the emission of light fragments at forward angles. The study of isobaric ratio 7Li/7Be for quasi-projectile source in semi-peripheral event of reactions allows moreover to investigate isospin diffusion effects in heavy ion collisions. © Owned by the authors, 2012.

Upper limit on the cosmic-ray photon flux above 1019 eV using the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

A method is developed to search for air showers initiated by photons using data recorded by the surface detector of the Auger Observatory. The approach is based on observables sensitive to the longitudinal shower development, the signal risetime and the curvature of the shower front. Applying this method to the data, upper limits on the flux of photons of 3.8 x 10-3, 2.5 x 10-3; and 2.2 x 10-3 km-2 sr-1 yr-1 above 1019 eV, 2 x 1019 eV; and 4 x 1019 eV are derived, with corresponding limits on the fraction of photons being 2.0%, 5.1%, and 31% (all limits at 95% c.l.). These photon limits disfavor certain exotic models of sources of cosmic rays. The results also show that the approach adopted…

Search for ultrahigh energy neutrinos in highly inclined events at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Erratum: Phys. Rev. D 85, 029902(E) (2012) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.85.029902]

Upper limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to Earth-skimming tau neutrinos that interact in Earth’s crust. Tau leptons from ντ charged-current interactions can emerge and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a significant electromagnetic component. The data collected between 1 January 2004 and 31 August 2007 are used to place an upper limit on the diffuse flux of ντ at EeV energies. Assuming an E−2ν differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is E2νdNντdEν<1.3×10−7  GeV cm−2 s−1 sr−1 in the energy range 2×1017 eV<E<2×1019  eV.

The effect of the geomagnetic field on cosmic ray energy estimates and large scale anisotropy searches on data from the Pierre Auger Observatory

We present a comprehensive study of the influence of the geomagnetic field on the energy estimation of extensive air showers with a zenith angle smaller than $60^\circ$, detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory. The geomagnetic field induces an azimuthal modulation of the estimated energy of cosmic rays up to the ~2% level at large zenith angles. We present a method to account for this modulation of the reconstructed energy. We analyse the effect of the modulation on large scale anisotropy searches in the arrival direction distributions of cosmic rays. At a given energy, the geomagnetic effect is shown to induce a pseudo-dipolar pattern at the percent level in the declination distribution t…

Removal of streaking artefact in the images of the Pierre Auger Observatory infra-red cameras

In this paper the problem of removing concentric semi-circular stripe artefacts induced by the operating hardware of the infra red cameras of the Pierre Auger Observatory, is tackled. The method builds on top of a recent algorithm for the removal of artefacts, which presents a robust filter, obtained as a combination of Wavelet and Fourier analysis, capable of eliminating horizontal and vertical stripes in images, while trying to preserve structural features and quantitative values of the image. The method requires several parameters which have been tuned by an exhaustive test on a large set of images. The results show that the method is capable to satisfactorily remove the stripe artefacts.

Trigger and aperture of the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consists of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, for the study of extensive airshowers (EAS) generated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We describe the trigger hierarchy, from the identification of candidates howers at the level of a single detector, amongst a large background (mainly random single cosmic ray muons), up to the selection of real events and the rejection of random coincidences. Such trigger makes the surface detector array fully efficient for the detection of EAS with energy above 3 x 1018 eV, for all zenith angles between 03 and 603, independently of the position of the impact point and of the mass of the primary particl…

Emission of fragments in Ca+Ca reaction at 25 MeV/nucleon

We discuss experimental data concerning 40,48Ca+ 40,48Ca reactions at 25 MeV/nucleon; the 4π multi-detector Chimera has been used as detection device. Effects that can be attributed to the neutron to proton ratios (N/Z) degree of freedom have been investigated. From the analysis of experimental data it seems that the neutron richness of the interacting system plays an important role on the evolution of fusion-like sources formed in semi-central collisions. In particular, it is observed that the larger is the neutron content and the larger is the emission of heavy residues. Experimental data have been compared with CoMD-II model calculations; a moderately stiff symmetry energy should be used…

FARCOS: a versatile and modular Femtoscopy Array for Correlations and Spectroscopy

In the framework of multi-fragmentation experiments the evolution towards two- (or more) particle correlations with stable and radioactive beams calls for the development of a novel detection system featuring high angular and energy resolution and able to reconstruct the particles momentum at high precision. The proposed detection system, named FARCOS (Femtoscopy ARray for COrrelations and Spectroscopy) will be beneficial for different physical cases. To this aim we are building a prototype detection system featuring four telescopes. Each telescope features an active area of 6.4 cm × 6.4 cm and is composed of three detection stages. The first ΔE stage is a Double Sided Silicon Strip Detecto…

Correlation of the highest-energy cosmic rays with the positions of nearby active galactic nuclei

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory provide evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of the cosmic rays with the ighest-energies, which are correlated with the positions of relatively nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) [Pierre Auger Collaboration, Science 318 (2007) 938]. The correlation has maximum significance for cosmic rays with energy greater than ~6 x 1019 eV and AGN at a distance less than ~75 Mpc. We have confirmed the anisotropy at a confidence level of more than 99% through a test with parameters specified a priori, using an independent data set. The observed correlation is compatible with the hypothesis that cosmic rays with the highest-energies originate fro…