Search results for "COSMIC"
showing 10 items of 656 documents
Recent results from AMANDA II
2003
Abstract We present new data taken with the AMANDA-II neutrino telescope array. The AMANDA-II upgrade was completed at the beginning of 2000. It significantly extends the sensitivity of the 10-string AMANDA-B10 detector to high- and ultrahigh-energy neutrino fluxes into regions of interest for probing current astrophysical models which remain unexplored by other experiments.
EUSO-A Space mission searching for Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays and neutrinos
2004
The “Extreme Universe Space Observatory – EUSO” is an international, multi-agency mission, led by ESA, aimed at measuring from a Low Altitude Earth Orbiting Space Platform the flux and investigating the nature and origin of the charged and neutral particles of the Extreme Energy Cosmic Ray (EECR) with energy above the conventional value (E = 5×10 19 eV) of the Greisen Zatsepin and Kuzmin (GZK) effect E GZK = 5×10 19 eV). EUSO will pioneer the observation from Space of EECR-induced Extensive Air Showers (EASs), making measurements of the primary energy, arrival direction and possibly composition of the incoming flux by using a sensitive area and target volume far greater than achievable from…
Measurements of the muon component of extensive air showers at 320m.w.e. underground
2003
Abstract The ALEPH detector at LEP has been supplemented with five scintillator telescopes to measure the muon component of cosmic ray air showers underground. The emphasis of the present analysis of a new data set is to measure coincidences over distances up to about 1 km which are sensitive to the forward production of hadronic interactions and the chemical composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range around 1015 eV. First results indicate that the observed decoherence curve of muons is compatible with a light primary composition and the arrival directions of muons show no obvious clustering in galactic coordinates.
High energy gamma ray counterparts of astrophysical sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
2004
If ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are accelerated at astrophysical point sources, the identification of such sources can be achieved if there is some kind of radiation at observable wavelengths that may be associated with the acceleration and/or propagation processes. No radiation of this type has so far been detected or at least no such connection has been claimed. The process of photopion production during the propagation of UHECRs from the sources to the Earth results in the generation of charged and neutral pions. The neutral (charged) pions in turn decay to gamma quanta and electrons that initiate an electromagnetic cascade in the universal photon background. We calculate the f…
Rejection Power of A Horizontal Rpc Telescope For Left and Right Coming Cosmic Muons
1993
Abstract The possibility of performing neutrino astronomy by means of a detector above the ground depends critically on the feasibility of a rejection power on the order of 10 11 required to discriminate the enormous background of cosmic downward going muons from the signal of upward going muons produced by neutrinos. In order to check whether and how this rejection is obtainable, we have built in the Physics Department of the University of Bari a horizontal cosmic muon telescope (MINI) instrumented with resistive plate counters. By performing time-of-flight measurements, we have estimated the rejection power of our telescope for left and right coming cosmic muons. The rejection dependence …
Layout and performance of RPC used in the Argo-YBJ experiment
2006
The layout of the RPCs, used in the Argo-YBJ experiment to image with a high space-time granularity the atmospheric shower, is described in this paper. The detector has been assembled to provide both digital and analog informations in order to cover a wide particle density range with a time accuracy of 1 ns. The experimental results obtained operating the chambers in streamer mode at sea level with a standard gas mixture are presented. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Study of the background on a ZnS(Ag) alpha counter with a plastic veto detector
2006
Alpha counters based on the scintillation of ZnS(Ag) have been used widely to measure total alpha activity in environmental samples. The main difficulties for this kind of detectors consist of having a reasonable low background, i.e., around 10−3 counts/s. It is assumed that the background comes from natural sources (mainly radon) and there is no contribution from cosmic, beta or gamma rays since the efficiency for these sources is extremely low. However, the study of the background using a thin plastic veto detector shows that the cosmic ray contribution to the alpha background is about 5–50%, whereas the estimated gamma contribution is below 10%. Therefore, this anti-coincidence set-up ca…
Background in low Earth orbits measured by LEGRI telescope – short and long term variability
1999
Abstract In this paper we present the first Low Energy Gamma Ray Imager (LEGRI) background measurements which were carried out in the earlier nominal operation activities of LEGRI Instrument on board MINISAT-01, after initial spacecraft and instrument check-up procedures. Short term (daily) and expected long term background variability is presented. A background model is also discussed in order to be used for celestial γ-ray emitters observations.
Constraints on massive sterile neutrino species from current and future cosmological data
2011
Sterile massive neutrinos are a natural extension of the Standard Model of elementary particles. The energy density of the extra sterile massive states affects cosmological measurements in an analogous way to that of active neutrino species. We perform here an analysis of current cosmological data and derive bounds on the masses of the active and the sterile neutrino states as well as on the number of sterile states. The so-called (3+2) models with three sub-eV active massive neutrinos plus two sub-eV massive sterile species is well within the 95% CL allowed regions when considering cosmological data only. If the two extra sterile states have thermal abundances at decoupling, Big Bang Nucle…
Neutrino magnetic moments and low-energy solar neutrino-electron scattering experiments
1998
The scattering of solar neutrinos on electrons is sensitive to the neutrino magnetic moments through an interference of electromagnetic and weak amplitudes in the cross section. We show that future low-energy solar neutrino experiments with good angular resolution can be sensitive to the resulting azimuthal asymmetries in event number and should provide useful information on non-standard neutrino properties such as magnetic moments. We compare asymmetries expected at HELLAZ (mainly pp neutrinos) with those at the Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande experiments (Boron neutrinos), both for the case of Dirac and Majorana neutrinos and discuss the advantages of low energies. Potentially interesting…