On the theory of generation of a polarized muon-photon shower in crystals under different initial conditions

The process of formation of a polarized muon-photon shower in crystals has been investigated under the following initial conditions: (i) a shower is generated by a high-energy longitudinally polarized initial muon and (ii) a shower is generated by a circulaly polarized high-energy γ photon. Analytical expressions have been obtained for the distribution functions of polarized shower muons and γ photons in the medium and comparative analysis of the number of shower particles under different initial conditions has been performed.     

Baseline effect on the forward-scatter radar reflections from meteor trains

Summary The influence of the baseline orientation on the rate of recorded meteor echoes has been shown from the observations carried out during the Lyrid meteor shower periods in 1992 and 1993 with receivers rectangularly displaced from the transmitting station in Bologna with a baseline length of about 700 km. It is shown that the maximum echo rate precedes or occurs later than the shower radiant culminates (at heights of 80°), favouring the 45° radiant elevation and similar angle between the radiant and the beam axis. The consequences of the measured effect on the meteor flux within the shower and sporadic radiant distribution is discussed.     

Orientation dependences of the response of an electromagnetic spectrometer with oriented crystal converter

The experimental results of the study of orientation dependences of the response of a composite Cherenkov shower spectrometer with a converter made of a 1-mm tungsten crystal oriented along the 〈111〉 axis at an electron energy of 28 GeV and two converter temperatures, 293 and 77 K, are presented. The parameters of the cascade curve of the shower development are varied depending on the orientation angle and crystal temperature. It is found that there is a point S in the cascade curve of the shower development in the spectrometer, at which all cascade curves intersect at any converter orientation. The position of this point in the spectrometer depth depends on the converter temperature.     

Shower age in correlation with zenith angle

The variation of lateral shower age parameter with zenith angle for different shower size ranges is studied. The observed variation is in agreement with the electron-photon cascade theory and with the other EAS observations. It is found that up to zenith angle 30°, shower ‘age’ is practically independent of zenith angle. So it is difficult to correlate the reported high ‘age’ value of the excess showers from the direction of plausible point sources with zenith angle. The change in the value of shower age with atmospheric depth is studied and is found to be consistent with the prediction of cascade theory and simulation results. From the study of the variation of shower age with shower size for two different zenith angle intervals it is found that the shower age decreases with size but the rate of change of shower age decreases at higher sizes.     

Estimation of the parameters of the cascade curve of electromagnetic shower development in a spectrometer with oriented crystal converter

Based on the experimental results on the development of electromagnetic showers from 26-GeV electrons in misoriented and oriented along the 〈111〉 axis tungsten crystals 2.7, 5.8, 8.4mm thick and then in a composite Cherenkov shower spectrometer, the parameters of the cascade curve of shower development in a spectrometer with 1-mm tungsten crystal converter were estimated.     

PLASTEX: the palermo-leeds air shower tracking experiment

Summary An experiment is described in which air shower measurement are carried out by means of a ?track detector? placed in a test location near the center of a conventional array telescope currently in use for gamma-ray astronomy. This array, consisting of scintillators (GREX, operated at Haverah Park (U.K.) by the Department of Physics of the University of Leeds), provides, in the usual way, for each shower it selects, its own estimates of shower direction and shower particle density at the test location. Estimates of the muon density at the test location are provided by a large muon detector in operation nearby. The scintillator array triggers this muon detector and it is able to provide flexibly tailored trigger signals for the track detector. This detector named PLASTEX (acronym for Palermo Leeds Air Shower Tracking Experiment), consisting of tracking chambers above and below a thin sheet of lead, designed to provide data on charged particles incident from the air, on the stopping, scattering and multiplication of these particles in the lead sheet and on charged particles created in the lead sheet by shower photons. From these data estimates are derived of the densities and directional properties of the electrons, photons and muons striking the track detector. These results are to be compared with those given by the conventional detectors and with theoretical predictions given by simulations that are being carried out. The objective is to develop and assess optimal procedures for employing clusters of PLASTEX-type detectors as telescopes for the observation of UHE cosmic rays, including cosmic gammarays, over a very wide energy range. To speed up publication, the proofs were not sent to the authors and were supervised by the Scientific Committee.     

On the geomagnetic mechanism of the radiation of an extensive air shower

The radiation field of the elementary particles of an extensive air shower in the geomagnetic field has been examined. According to the solutions of Maxwell’s equation for an electron (positron) taking into account ionization losses, the radiation of the shower is determined only by the bremsstrahlung and geomagnetic mechanism. The Cherenkov component of radiation is almost absent.     

Methods for estimating the energy of extensive air showers

A multilevel scheme for calculating estimates of the energy of extensive air showers on the basis of signals in different detectors is considered. The numerical energy estimates at specified values of signals in scintillation detectors are smaller than the experimental ones by a factor of about 1.6. The results of the calculation confirmed that the total flux of Cherenkov light is proportional to the shower energy. The flux of fluorescent light generated within 100 m from the shower core is due to only 60% of the total energy.     

A study of hadronic shower development in the ECAL of the alpha magnetic spectrometer Ⅱ

In this paper, we studied the development of hadronic shower in an electromagnetic calorimeter of Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Ⅱ. Two parametrized empirical formulae were proposed to describe the hadronic shower shape in calorimeter. Using 100 GeV proton beam incident on the center of the ECAL, detailed plots of lateral and longitudinal hadronic shower behavior were given and we found the formulae can describe the development of the hadronic shower with the test beam data. The possible application of the parametrized formulae including e^±-π^± discrimination and tau jet reconstruction was discussed.     

Energy dependence of the response of an electromagnetic spectrometer with oriented crystal converter

The experimental results of the study of the dependence of the response of a composite Cherenkov shower spectrometer with a converter made of 〈111〉 tungsten crystal 1 mm thick on the electron energy of 26, 28, and 31 GeV are presented. It is found that the cascade curve maximum position and the energy release at the maximum of the cascade curve of shower development in the spectrometer with both oriented or misoriented converters have the logarithmic and proportional dependences on electron energy.     

STAR CLUSTER: a tracking array for gamma-ray astronomy

Summary A new type of extensive air shower array-telescope is being constructed, close to the GREX scintillator array at Haverah Park. The design of the new instrument is based on identification and measurement of individual shower particles by means of pattern recognition techniques applied to data from LST chambers above and below a thin sheet of high-Z material. Air showers will be detected in the range from 10¹⁴ eV to 10¹⁸ eV. The directions of the shower primaries will be reconstructed with an accuracy of a few tenths of a degree using triangulation between tracks of detected shower particles: >1 GeV electrons, photons and muons. Particle densities measured at the detector locations will be used to calculate shower sizes and core locations. Information about the height of production of the high-energy secondaries will be obtained for each shower. This information will be taken into account in calculating the primary energies. It will be used together with the observed muon content (ratio of muons to all particles), to draw conclusions about the nature of the primary particles. Paper presented at the V Cosmic Physics National Conference, S. Miniato, November 27–30, 1990.     

Detection of high-energy electrons by a directional spectrometer

A method for the detection of 26- and 28-GeV electrons by a directional spectrometer based on oriented tungsten, tungstate, and garnet crystals has been reported. In spite of an anomalous character of the development of an electromagnetic shower at the initial stage in a crystal oriented along the 〈111〉 axis, the relative energy release of the shower in the spectrometer behind the crystal at the final stage is described by the standard dependence of the development of the electromagnetic shower.     

A study of hadronic shower development in the ECAL of the alpha magnetic spectrometer Ⅱ

In this paper, we studied the development of hadronic shower in an electromagnetic calorimeter of Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Ⅱ. Two parametrized empirical formulae were proposed to describe the hadronic shower shape in calorimeter. Using 100 GeV proton beam incident on the center of the ECAL, detailed plots of lateral and longitudinal hadronic shower behavior were given and we found the formulae can describe the development of the hadronic shower with the test beam data. The possible application of the parametrized formulae including e^±-π^± discrimination and tau jet reconstruction was discussed.     

QED radiative correction for the single-W production using a parton shower method

A parton shower method for the photonic radiative correction is applied to single W-boson production processes. The energy scale for the evolution of the parton shower is determined so that the correct soft-photon emission is reproduced. Photon spectra radiated from the partons are compared with those from the exact matrix elements, and show a good agreement. Possible errors due to an inappropriate energy-scale selection or due to the ambiguity of the energy-scale determination are also discussed, particularly for the measurements on triple gauge couplings. Received: 22 February 2001 / Published online: 11 May 2001     

On the activity and orbit of the Geminids meteorid stream

Summary The activity of the Geminids meteor shower is studied on the basis of radio observations carried out by the Budrio meteor radar in 1986. The 1986 Geminids have displayed as a distinct meteor shower with an asymmetric curve of activity, the duration between the points of one-quarter strength being 6 days and the maximum at the solar longitude of about 260°.75 (1950.0). The mean orbit and radiant ephemeris of the Geminids are derived on the basis of 191 precise photographic orbits available from the IAU Meteor Data Centre in Lund. Over a time span of 50 years, the semi-major axis, eccentricity and perihelion distance of the stream exhibit variations following the trend of the stream evolution suggested by Williams and Wu.     

Determining the primary cosmic ray energy from the total flux of Cherenkov light measured at the Yakutsk EAS array

We present a method for determining the energy of the primary particle that generates an extensive air shower (EAS) of comic rays based on measuring the total flux of Cherenkov light from the shower. Applying this method to Cherenkov light measurements at the Yakutsk EAS array has allowed us to construct the cosmic ray energy spectrum in the range 10¹⁵ ? 3 × 10¹⁹ eV.     

Multiplicity distribution in proton-proton and proton-antiproton collisions at high energies

Multiplicity distributions of secondary hadrons produced in p $ \bar p $ \bar p and collisions are very different. There are three types of inelastic processes in p $ \bar p $ \bar p scattering. The first one is the production of a shower of secondary hadrons in gluon string decay. The second one is the shower produced from the decay of two quark strings, and the third one is the shower produced from the decay of three quark strings. At the same time, there are just two types of inelastic processes for pp scattering: the shower from the gluon string and the shower from two quark strings. The multiplicity distribution and the average multiplicity of charged hadrons for an energy of 14 TeV are predicted.     

Cascade showers in the NEVOD Cherenkov water detector

A technique for measuring the cascade shower energy in the NEVOD Cherenkov water detector with a spatial lattice of quasi-spherical modules is discussed. The technique allows the number of cascade particles that move near the shower axis to be reconstructed on the basis of analysis of response amplitudes of triggered photomultiplier tubes. The technique of cascade-curve reconstruction was applied to cascade showers generated by near-horizontal high-energy muons extracted by means of the DECOR coordinate-tracking detector arranged around the Cherenkov water detector. The first results of measuring the energy spectrum of cascade showers of 10–1000 GeV are presented.