Estimation of the proton energy spectrum in knee region by analog read-out of ARGO-YBJ experiment

Based on the six months data set of ARGO-YBJ experiment with analog read-out and its Monte Carlo simulation,we study the difference between different primaries induced showers by using the space-time information of the charged particles in Extensive Air Showers.With five parameters which can efficiently pick out primary proton induced showers as inputs of an artificial neural network,the proton spectrum from 100 TeV to 10 PeV can be obtained.     

羊八井ARGO实验中原初γ和质子的区分

利用Ｍｏｎｔｅ Ｃａｒｌｏ模拟数据研究由γ和质子引起的空气簇射中的粒子在羊八井ＡＲＧＯ实验中的空间分布和时间分布的不同,提出了利用人工神经网络区分原初γ和质子的方法,结果表明在１００ＧｅＶ～１０ＴｅＶ能区可以较好地区分γ和质子。     

Study on Multifractal Structure of the Distribution Fluctuation of Secondary Perticles in the Core Region of EAS

The differences of space distributions and time profiles between the γ-ray and proton induced shower particles are studied using Monte Carlo simulation data. The multifractal analysis is performed with the G-moment method for the distribution fluctuation of secondary particles near the core of showers induced by γ-rays and protons. From the spectrum functions of γ and proton events, it is seen that this method can be adopted as a basis for the γ/proton separation. It is shown that the separation of γ and proton can be achieved with a good efficiency in the energy region of 1—10TeV.     

Identification of Primary Y-Rays by the Characteristics of Time-Space Structure of the Cosmic-Ray Air Showers

The time-space structure of particles for individual air showers induced by primary γ-rays and protons at the observation level is analysed by Monte Carlo simulation. It is shown that air showers induced by the primary γ-rays can be effectively separated from the air showers induced by protons (background) using the combination cuts on the arrival time fluctuation and the lateral distribution width of secondary particles in air showers. This method can be used for reducing the background of hadrons in searching for γ-ray point sources for ARGO experiment coorperated by China and Italy at Yangbajing. The effect of this method on the significance of γ-ray signals is also estimated.     

Measurement of longitudinal structure of hadron showers up to twenty nuclear interaction lengths

Longitudinal profiles of pion and proton showers are measured, up to 20 nuclear interaction lengths at the energies of 20–180 GeV, Measurements have been performed in the iron-scintillation hadron Tile calorimeter of the ATLAS Project on the beams of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN). Comparative analysis of longitudinal profiles of pion and proton showers was made. The experimental data were parameterized and compared with the results of Monte-Carlo simulation.     

Possible observations of new physics in ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

The muon lateral structure functions in giant air showers induced by primary photons have been simulated with the help of original codes. Particularly, the densities of muons with energies above 0.5 and 1 GeV at a distance of 1000 m from the shower core have been estimated for gamma-induced showers of various energies. A comparison with the results of calculations for hadronic showers shows a considerable deficit of muons in the gamma-induced showers. The density of muons at a distance of 1000 m from the shower core happened to be ≳ 10 times larger for the hadronic showers. Some possible constraints of the source models with superheavy-dark-matter particles and topological defects are discussed. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

质子辐照对国产“一”字型保偏光纤损伤效应研究

航天器在空间环境中运行时,会受到质子的辐照,光纤环作为航天器上光纤陀螺的重要组成部件受辐照影响 最为严重.为了研究国产“一”字型保偏光纤因质子辐照导致辐照诱导损耗的变化规律及其辐照损伤机理, 选择质子能量为5 MeV和10 MeV,光源波长为1310 nm,原位测量了光纤传输功率变化情况,计算出辐照诱导损耗. 利用SRIM软件,模拟能量分别为5 MeV和10 MeV质子辐照在光纤中的电离和位移损伤分布.借助X 射线光电子能谱仪分析辐照前后O 1s和Si 2p解析谱,借助傅里叶变换红外光谱仪观察光纤辐照前后光谱变化情况研究发现,在波长为1310 nm处, 光纤的辐照诱导损耗随着质子注量的增加而增长,主要原因是由于光纤纤芯中Si-OH的浓度增加所导致. 而且能量为5 MeV质子辐照造成光纤的辐照诱导损耗比10 MeV严重,这是因为5 MeV质子在光纤纤芯处造成的 位移和电离损伤均比10 MeV严重,即产生的Si-OH数量多.     

Radio-frequency component of transient radiation of an extensive air shower

The mechanism of radio emission induced by the transient radiation of oppositely charged particles from an extensive air shower in the geomagnetic field was studied for the first time. For showers with an energy of ∼10²² eV, the electric field strength at a distance of 500 km from the shower axis was found to be 60 μV/mMHz. Such showers attain their maximum at sea level. The spectral intensity of emission is maximum at frequencies of about 1 MHz (at these frequencies, the intensity of atmospheric disturbances is minimum). These specific features of radio emission can be used in experiments for radio detection of high-energy cosmic rays. An experimental setup of such detection is suggested.     

Kaluza-Klein gravitons at the LHC and in extensive air showers

The small curvature option of the Randall-Sundrum model with two branes is considered which has almost continuous spectrum of low-mass Kaluza-Klein gravitons. It is shown that gravity effects related with these excitations can be detected in double diffractive events at the LHC and in inclined air showers induced by interactions of cosmic neutrinos with atmospheric nucleons at ultra-high energies.     

Linear energy transfer dependence of Al2O3:C optically stimulated luminescence detectors exposed to therapeutic proton beams

Currently, there are no radiation detectors that can be used for routine measurements of linear energy transfer (LET) in particle therapy clinics. In this work, we characterized the LET dependence of Al₂O₃:C optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) detectors (OSLDs) exposed to therapeutic proton beams in order to evaluate their potential for clinical LET measurements. We evaluated OSLDs that were irradiated with an absorbed dose to water of 0.2 Gy in therapeutic proton beams with average energies ranging between approximately 25 MeV and 200 MeV, resulting in LET in water values between 0.45 and 2.29 keV/μm. We examined two properties of the OSL emission signal in terms of LET dependence: the signal intensities of the blue and ultraviolet (UV) emission bands, and the shapes of the OSL curves. We found that the signal intensity of the UV emission band increased consistently with LET within the range investigated, whereas the intensity of the blue emission band remained constant. Our results also demonstrated that the OSL curve shapes were more LET dependent for signals containing both the blue and UV emission bands than for signals containing only one of the bands. Both metrics we examined in this study – the relative UV/blue emission signal intensities and OSL curve shapes – show potential for LET detection in proton therapy.     

Interaction of relativistic alpha particles in emulsion at 2.1 GeV/c/nucleon

An analysis for 2,000 events produced by 2.1 GeV/c/n alpha particles in nuclear emulsion has been carried out. Multiplicity and angular distributions of charged secondaries have been measured and correlation among them are discussed. The presented data are compared with relevant values from proton and¹⁴N interactions with nuclei. The multiplicity distribution of showers has been tested by a modified independent nucleon-nucleus multiple scattering model (INAM) of reference [8], and by the model of reference [12].     

Small shower CORSIKA simulations

Extensive Air Showers (EAS) induced by cosmic ray particles of very low energies, owing to the significantly steep cosmic ray energy spectrum, dominate the secondary particle flux measured by single detectors and small shower arrays. Such arrays connected in extended networks can be used to determine potentially interesting spatial correlations between showers, which may shed new light on the nature of ultra high-energy cosmic rays. The quantitative interpretation of showers recorded by small local arrays requires a methodology that differs from that used by ordinary large EAS arrays operating in the "knee" region and above. We present "small EAS generator," a semi-analytical method for integrating cosmic ray spectra over energies of interest and summing over the mass spectra of primary nuclei in arbitrary detector configurations. Furthermore, we provide results on the EAS electron and muon fluxes and particle density spectra.     

Electromagnetic cascade showers with the LPM effect in standard rock initiated by extremely high-energy (1015 eV to 1021 eV) gamma-rays

Summary High-energy neutrinos produce finally high-energy electromagnetic cascade showers. For the detectio of high-energy neutrinos, it is necessary to examine the behaviour of the electromagnetic cascade showers in the higher-energy region. It is well known that the LPM effect plays a decisive role in the electromagnetic cascade shower development at higher energies. In the present paper, the behaviour of electromagnetic cascade showers including the LPM effect (LPM showers) in standard rock is examined using the calculational technique developed by Fujimaki and Misaki. In order to clarify the characteristics of LPM showers, similar calculations are also carried out for cascade showers in the absence of the LPM effect (BH showers). Comparisons between the two different kinds of cascade showers are made over electron transition curves, track lengths and fractional dissipated energies. Finally, the strong deviation of LPM showers from the normal BH showers is emphasized.     

A new method of discovering new meteor showers from the IMO single-station video meteor database

It has been found that unknown meteor showers could be efficiently discovered from the single station video meteor database of the International Meteor Organization (IMO) by assuming the geocentric velocity and adjusting it within the dynamically permitted range. The mean geocentric velocities of new meteor showers can be obtained, as well as the coordinates of the radiants. The activity period and maximum time can also be obtained if there are sufficient shower meteors. All single station video meteor observations between February 13 and 17 (from 2000 to 2005) in IMO’s database are processed with this method. As a result, two new meteor showers, one near RA=245.10°, Dec=41.82° in Hercules and the other near RA=233.03°, Dec=17.04° in Serpenids, are discovered. Some dynamical characteristics of the new meteor showers are also determined. Considering the random nature on the selection of period in this work, it is expected that there are some more potential new meteor showers in IMO’s video database. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10373004)     

Unified description of rapidity gaps and energy flows in DIS final states

We show that the ‘orthogonal’ characteristics of the observed rapidity gaps and large forward energy flows in deep inelastic scattering at HERA, can be described within a single framework. Our Monte Carlo model is based on perturbative QCD matrix elements and parton showers together with Lund string model hadronization, but has in addition a new mechanism for soft colour interactions which modifies the perturbative colour structure and thereby the hadronization. Effects of perturbative multiparton emission are investigated and the non-perturbative treatment of the proton remnant is discussed and comparison to the observed transverse energy flow is made. We investigate the resulting diffractive-like properties of the model; such as rapidity gap events, t- and M _X -distributions and the diffractive structure function in comparison to H1 data.     

Interactions of cosmic neutrinos with nucleons in the RS model

We consider the scattering of brane fields due to t-channel massive graviton exchanges in the Randall-Sundrum model. The eikonal amplitude is analytically calculated and both differential and total neutrino-nucleon cross sections are estimated. The event rate of quasi-horizontal air showers induced by cosmic neutrinos, which can be detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is presented for two different fluxes of cosmogenic neutrinos.Received: 27 December 2004, Published online: 8 June 2005     

New estimates of extensive-air-shower energies on the basis of signals in scintillation detectors

New formulas for estimating the energy of inclined extensive air showers (EASs) on the basis of signals in detectors by means of an original method and detailed tables of signals induced in scintillation detectors by photons, electrons, positrons, and muons and calculated with the aid of the GEANT4 code package were proposed in terms of the QGSJETII-04, EPOS LHC, and GHEISHA models. The parameters appearing in the proposed formulas were calculated by employing the CORSIKA code package. It is shown that, for showers of zenith angles in the range of 20?–45?, the standard constant-intensity-cut method, which is used to interpret data from the Yakutsk EAS array, overestimates the shower energy by a factor of 1.2 to 1.5. It is proposed to employ the calculated VEM (Vertical Equivalent Muon) signal units of 10.8 and 11.4 MeV for, respectively, ground-based and underground scintillation detectors and to take into account the dependence of signals on the azimuthal angle of the detector position and fluctuations in the development of showers.     

MARTA: a high-energy cosmic-ray detector concept for high-accuracy muon measurement

A new concept for the direct measurement of muons in air showers is presented. The concept is based on resistive plate chambers (RPCs), which can directly measure muons with very good space and time resolution. The muon detector is shielded by placing it under another detector able to absorb and measure the electromagnetic component of the showers such as a water-Cherenkov detector, commonly used in air shower arrays. The combination of the two detectors in a single, compact detector unit provides a unique measurement that opens rich possibilities in the study of air showers.     

Observation of double extensive air showers

Double extensive air showers were studied at the Tien Shan high-mountain scientific station of the Lebedev Physical Institute using two different installations. One measured the electron-photon shower component, the other measured Cherenkov radiation. Double showers separated by a time interval of ～100 ns were detected by both setups. The frequency of the occurrence of such showers in each setup is analyzed. It is shown that these frequencies are identical when observing vertical showers (the zenith angle ? < 60°).