Highlights of the ARGO-YBJ Experiment at 4,300 m a.s.l.

The ARGO-YBJ experiment in Tibet, China has been operated to survey the northern sky for gamma ray sources, transient or steady, for nearly 6 years. Many astrophysics observational results will be highlighted in this paper, such as the sky survey results, extended source observation, diffuse gamma rays from the galactic plane, and emission mechanism of AGNs and their flares. As the unique detector for EAS with a continuously sensitive area of 5,600 m ², the ARGO-YBJ array catches almost all particles in the central part of showers. The high-quality data set for showers above few TeV has been used for cosmic ray measurements such as the energy spectrum and composition. All those results are summarized here. As one of the next generation ground-based high-altitude air shower detector, LHAASO is briefly introduced as the successor of ARGO-YBJ in the end of the paper.     

Radon contribution to single particle counts of the ARGO-YBJ detector

The ARGO-YBJ experiment is an air shower detector for gamma ray astronomy and cosmic ray studies with an energy threshold of ∼500 GeV. Working in “single particle mode”, i.e. counting the single particles hitting the detector at fixed time intervals, ARGO-YBJ can monitor cosmic ray and gamma ray transients at energies of a few GeV.The single particle counting rate is modulated by the atmospheric pressure and temperature, and is affected by the local radioactivity from soil and air. Among the radioactive elements, radon gas is of particular importance since its concentration in air can vary significantly, according to environmental conditions. In this paper we evaluate the contribution of the radon daughter gamma ray emitters to the single particle counting rate measured by ARGO-YBJ. According to our analysis, the radon gas contribution is roughly 1–2%, producing a counting rate modulation of the same order of magnitude of the atmospheric effects.     

Energy spectrum of cosmic protons and helium nuclei by ahybrid measurement at 4300 m a.s.l.

The energy spectrum of cosmic Hydrogen and Helium nuclei has been measured below the so-called "knee" by using a hybrid experiment with a wide field-of-view Cherenkov telescope and the Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) array of the ARGO-YBJ experiment at 4300 m above sea level. The Hydrogen and Helium nuclei have been well separated from other cosmic ray components by using a multi-parameter technique. A highly uniform energy resolution of about 25% is achieved throughout the whole energy range (100-700 TeV). The observed energy spectrum is compatible with a single power law with index γ=-2.63±0.06.     

Expected energy spectrum of cosmic ray protons and helium below4 PeV measured by LHAASO

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory(LHAASO) is a composite cosmic ray observatory consisting of three detector arrays: kilometer square array(KM2 A), which includes the electromagnetic detector array and muon detector array, water Cherenkov detector array(WCDA) and wide field-of-view Cherenkov telescope array(WFCTA). One of the main scientific objectives of LHAASO is to precisely measure the cosmic rays energy spectrum of individual components from 10~(14) eV to 10~(18) eV. The hybrid observation will be employed by the LHAASO experiment, in which the lateral and longitudinal distributions of extensive air shower can be observed simultaneously. Thus, many kinds of parameters can be used for primary nuclei identification. In this paper, high purity cosmic ray simulation samples of the light nuclei component are obtained using multi-variable analysis. The apertures of 1/4 LHAASO array for pure proton and mixed proton and helium(HHe) samples are 900 m~2 Sr and1800 m~2 Sr, respectively. Prospect of obtaining proton and HHe spectra from 100 TeV to 4 PeV is discussed.     

A future project at tibet: the large high altitude air shower observatory (LHAASO)

Gamma ray source detection above 30 TeV is an encouraging approach for finding galactic cosmic ray sources. All sky survey for gamma ray sources using wide field of view detector is essential for population accumulation for various types of sources above 100 GeV. In order to target those goals, a large air shower particle detector array of 1 km~2 (the LHAASO project) at 4300 m a.s.l, is proposed. By adding two MagicII-type telescopes in the array as proposed, LHAASO will be enhanced in source morphologic investigation power. The proposed array will be utilized also for energy spectrum measurement for individual cosmic ray species above 30 TeV. By re-configuring the wide field of view telescopes into fluorescence light detector array, the aperture of the detector array can be enlarged to cover an energy region above 100 PeV where the second knee is located. Cosmic ray spectrum and composition will be measured in order to transfer an energy scale to ultra high energy cosmic ray experiments.     

Test of the LHAASO electron detector prototype using cosmic rays

The LHAASO project is to be built in south-west China, using an array of 5137 electron detectors for the measurement of incident electrons arriving at the detector plane. For quality control of the large number of electron detectors, a cosmic ray hodoscope with two-dimensional spatial sensitivity and good time resolution has been developed. The first prototype of the electron detector has been tested with the hodoscope and the performance of the detector is found to be consistent with the design.     

Online charge calibration of LHAASO-WCDA——a study with the engineering array

LHAASO-WCDA is a large ground-based water Cherenkov detector array planned to be built at ShangriLa, Yunnan Province, China. As a major component of the LHAASO project, the main purpose of LHAASO-WCDA is to survey the northern sky for very-high-energy（above 100 GeV） gamma ray sources and measure the spectrum. To gain full knowledge of the water Cherenkov technique and to investigate the engineering issues, a 9-cell detector array has been built at the Yang-Ba-Jing site, neighboring the ARGO-YBJ experiment. With the array, charge calibration methods for both low and high ranges of the PMT readout are studied, whose result shows that a precision at several percentages can be reached, which can satisfy the requirement of the detector array. During the long term operation, the charge calibration stability and environmental afection are studied; in this paper, the results are discussed. These calibration methods are proposed to be applied in the future LHAASO-WCDA project.     

Angular distribution of cosmic muons using INO–ICAL prototype detector at TIFR

The India-based Neutrino Observatory Collaboration is planning to set up a magnetized 50 kt iron calorimeter (ICAL) with resistive plate chambers (RPC) as active detectors to study neutrino oscillations and precisely measure its parameters.?A prototype detector stack is set up at TIFR (18°54??N, 72°48??E) to track cosmic ray muons.?Using the muon data, angular distribution of cosmic ray muons at the sea level is studied here.     

A future project at tibet： the large high altitude air shower observatory （LHAASO）

Gamma ray source detection above 30 TeV is an encouraging approach for finding galactic cosmic ray sources. All sky survey for gamma ray sources using wide field of view detector is essential for population accumulation for various types of sources above 100 GeV. In order to target those goals, a large air shower particle detector array of 1 km^2 （the LHAASO project） at 4300 m a.s.l, is proposed, By adding two MagicⅡ- type telescopes in the array as proposed, LHAASO will be enhanced in source morphologic investigation power. The proposed array will be utilized also for energy spectrum measurement for individual cosmic ray species above 30 TeV. By re-configuring the wide field of view telescopes into fluorescence light detector array, the aperture of the detector array can be enlarged to cover an energy region above 100 PeV where the second knee is located. Cosmic ray spectrum and composition will be measured in order to transfer an energy scale to ultra high energy cosmic ray experiments.     

A TRIGGER SCHEME FOR COSMIC RAY EXPERIMENT WITH A SAMPLE-AND-HOLD SYSTEM

This paper presents a trigger scheme which has been used in a cosmic ray experiment with a sample-hold readout system.The experiment shows that this trigger scheme can fully collect the whole output signals of the wire chamber for the random cosmic ray events and get rid of the problem of signal loss caused by the delay of sampling gate.Some disscussions about using this scheme for cosmic ray test of BES are also provided.     

The search for ultrashort bursts of cosmic ray intensity on the Andyrchi air shower array

A new data acquisition system that makes it possible to measure the count rate of each detector of the Andyrchi air shower array every millisecond is described. This new detection system allows us to search for ultrashort bursts of cosmic ray intensity when operating the array in the single-component detection mode. The method of data acquisition and analysis is discussed.     

The cosmic ray actinide charge spectrum derived from a 10 m array of solid state nuclear track detectors in Earth orbit

The DIAS-ESTEC Ultra Heavy Cosmic Ray Experiment (UHCRE) on the Long Duration Exposure Facility, collected approximately 3000 cosmic ray nuclei with Z>65 in the energy region E>1.5 GeVnucleon⁻¹ during a six year exposure in Earth orbit. The entire accessible collecting area of the solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) array has been scanned for actinides, yielding a sample of 30 from an exposure of ≈150 m² sryr. The UHCRE experimental setup is described and the observed charge spectrum presented. The current best value for the cosmic ray actinide relative abundance, (Z>88)/(74Z87), is reported.     

通过浅层地下多μ事例研究“膝”区宇宙线成分的一种途径

地下多μ现象的观测是研究“膝”区(1015—1016eV)宇宙线成分的一种重要方法.现有的地下探测器对于成分研究不甚理想,因为它们原本主要是为其它目的而设计的.我们提出一种新的途径:用一个探测器陈列在浅层地下观测多μ事例.这一方法对成分研究具有较高的灵敏度.     

Comparison of Proton Shower Developments in the BGO Calorimeter of the Dark Matter Particle Explorer between GEANT4 and FLUKA Simulations

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE) is a satellite-borne detector for high-energy cosmic rays and y-rays. To fully understand the detector performance and obtain reliable physical results, extensive simulations of the detector are necessary. The simulations are particularly important for the data analysis of cosmic ray nuclei, which relies closely on the hadronic and nuclear interactions of particles in the detector material. Widely adopted simulation softwares include the GEANT4 and FLUKA, both of which have been implemented for the DAMPE simulation tool. Here we describe the simulation tool of DAMPE and compare the results of proton shower properties in the calorimeter from the two simulation softwares. Such a comparison gives an estimate of the most significant uncertainties of our proton spectral analysis.     

Study of the RPC-Gd as thermal neutron detector

The BESⅢ RPC with Gd coating as thermal neutron detector was designed and constructed. Three prototypes were built with different techniques of producing the gadolinium converter. The performance of the cosmic ray test, the signal and the radiation spectrum were discussed in this paper. Lastly, the efficiency of one prototype with the best performance for detecting the thermal neutron was tested as 8.7%.     

利用ICCD定位宇宙线来测量探测器时间分辨的方法研究

本研究采用双层150 mm×150 mm闪烁条阵列定位宇宙线的入射和出射位置. 阵列信号光使用波移光纤吸收传输,在ICCD相机前插入前置像增强器,使信号光延迟大于200 ns, 使ICCD可以由外部高速触发信号控制,有效记录随机触发事例.该宇宙线定位系统可以同时多点密集测量 通用探测器测试平台的时间分辨和闪烁光的渡越时间.该新方法与传统时间分辨测量方法相比提高了30倍以上 的效率.实验结果显示:时间探测器的时间分辨好于200 ps,满足通用探测器测试平台的设计要求.     

An Approach to Study the Cosmic Ray ‘Knee’Composition From Underground Multimuon Events at a Shallower Depth

The observation of underground multimuon phenomena is an important way for the study of the cosmic ray composition in the 'knee' region (1015-1016 eV). It is noticed that the existing underground detectors are not very ideal for the composihon study because they were originally designed mainly for other aims. A new approach having higher sensitivity for this study by observing multimuon events using a detector array in a shallower depth underground is presented.     

Discriminating cosmic muons and X-rays based on rise time using a GEM detector

Gas electron multiplier(GEM) detectors have been used in cosmic muon scattering tomography and neutron imaging over the last decade.In this work,a triple GEM device with an effective readout area of 10 cm x10 cm is developed,and a method of discriminating between cosmic muons and X-rays based on rise time is tested.The energy resolution of the GEM detector is tested by ~(55)Fe ray source to prove the GEM detector has a good performance.Analysis of the complete signal-cycles allows us to get the rise time and pulse heights.The experiment result indicates that cosmic muons and X-rays can be discriminated with an appropriate rise time threshold.     

The Carpet-3 experiment to search for diffuse gamma rays with energies of more than 100 TeV

An experiment for measuring the flux of cosmic diffuse gamma rays with energies above 100 TeV (the Carpet-3 air shower array) is now being prepared at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory, Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences. The preparations entail a substantial increase of the areas of both the muon detector and the surface air shower array. The experiment’s sensitivity to showers generated by primary gamma rays is estimated for different configurations of the array. In addition, preliminary estimates of the upper limit on the flux of diffuse gamma rays with energies higher than 1.3 PeV, derived using experimental data from the old Carpet-2 array, are presented for a net exposure time of 9.2 years.     

小型宇宙射线探测仪的模拟和测量

介绍了一款小型宇宙射线探测仪。该仪器具有宇宙射线科普演示功能,主要用于实时测量μ子射线并显示计数,以及长时间尺度下（年）稳定地对不同角度的次级宇宙线通量进行监控记录。简要地展示了探测器的硬件构造和探测效率的模拟计算。探测仪单个探测器的探测效率为93.1%,两个探测器符合测量的探测效率为86.6%。根据探测器的计数率以及模拟计算的探测效率,估计了次级宇宙射线垂直地面方向的通量,为J=29±3 m-2 sr-1 s-1。另外,利用该宇宙射线探测仪,测量了兰州市区的次级宇宙射线的天顶角分布。其结果很好地满足I（θ）=IH+I₀ cosα θ经验公式,其中的角度依赖参数α=2.42±0.52。A small cosmic ray device is introduced in this paper.It has the demonstration function for popularization of science,and can be used mainly to display the μ counts in a real-time measurement,and to monitor the secondary cosmic ray flux at different angles in a very long time scale (years).We briefly show the hardware of the device and the detecting efficiency calculation by simulation.The detecting efficiency for one detector of the device is 93.1%,and the detecting efficiency is 86.6% for the coincidence measurement of two detectors.Based on the count rate by the detector and the simulated efficiency,the secondary cosmic ray flux perpendicular to the ground surface is measured,which is J=29±3 m-2sr-1 s-1.Moreover,with an application of the device,we measured the angular distribution of the secondary cosmic ray rate in Lanzhou City.The resulting angular distribution agrees well with the empirical formula as I(θ)=IH+I₀ cosα θ,in which the parameter for the angle-dependence is α=2.42±0.53.