Can EMMA solve the puzzle of the knee?

Abstract The knee is a change in the slope of the cosmic ray spectrum at approximate energy of 3 PeV. There are multiple competing models for the knee giving conflicting predictions about this change for different masses of the primary particle. Accurate mass measurements of cosmic rays spectra around 3 PeV would be able to exclude some of these models. Cosmic-ray experiment EMMA uses a new method for studying the composition of cosmic rays at the knee area. It is able to determine the multiplicity, the lateral distribution, and the arrival direction of incoming muons produced early in the shower evolution on an event-by-event basis and deduce from these measurements the mass and the energy…

Background and muon counting rates in underground muon measurements with a plastic scintillator counter based on a wavelength shifting fibre and a multi-pixel avalanche photodiode readout

AbstractIn this short note we present results of background measurements carried out with polystyrene based cast plastic 12.0×12.0×3.0 cm3 size scintillator counter with a wavelength shifting fibre and a multi-pixel Geiger mode avalanche photodiode readout in the Baksan underground laboratory at a depth of 200 metres of water equivalent. The total counting rate of the scintillator counter measured at this depth and at a threshold corresponding to ∼0.37 of a minimum ionizing particle is approximately 1.3 Hz.

EMMA - A New Underground Cosmic-Ray Experiment

A new type of cosmic-ray experiment is under construction in the Pyh\"asalmi mine in the underground laboratory of the University of Oulu, Finland. It aims to study the composition of cosmic rays at and above the knee region. The experiment, called EMMA, will cover approximately 150 square-metres of detector area. The array is capable of measuring the multiplicity and the lateral distribution of underground muons, and the arrival direction of the air shower. The full-size detector is expected to run by the end of 2007.

Underground multi-muon experiment EMMA

EMMA is a new experiment designed for cosmic- ray composition studies around the knee energy operating at the shallow depth underground in the Pyh¨ asalmi mine, Fin- land. The array has sufficient coverage and resolution to de- termine the multiplicity, the lateral density distribution and the arrival direction of high-energy muons on an event by event basis. Preliminary results on the muon multiplicity ex- tracted using one detector station of the array are presented.

Geiger mode APD’s for the underground cosmic ray experiment EMMA

Underground multi-muon experiment EMMA

EMMA is a new experiment designed for cosmic-ray composition studies around the knee energy operating at the shallow depth underground in the Pyhäsalmi mine, Finland. The array has sufficient coverage and resolution to determine the multiplicity, the lateral density distribution and the arrival direction of high-energy muons on an event by event basis. Preliminary results on the muon multiplicity extracted using one detector station of the array are presented. peerReviewed

The features of electronics structure of the multichannel scintillation module for the EMMA experiment

A brief description of the developed structural electric diagrams of 16-channel scintillation module for the underground EMMA experiment, the basic characteristics and parameters of the electrical diagrams of this module are presented. Multi-pixel photodiodes operating in a limited Geiger mode are used for photoreadout of the scintillator detectors in 16-channel scintillation module. The method of the automatic tuning of the photosensors gain based on the stabilization of an average counting rate of the scintillation detectors from gamma rays of a natural radioactive background is described. peerReviewed