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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

An optimization of the FPGA trigger based on the artificial neural network for a detection of neutrino-origin showers

Observations of ultra-high energy neutrinos became a priority in experimental astro-particle physics. Up to now, the Pierre Auger Observatory did not find any candidate on a neutrino event. This imposes competitive limits to the diffuse flux of ultra-high energy neutrinos in the EeV range and above. A very low rate of events potentially generated by neutrinos is a significant challenge for a detection technique and requires both sophisticated algorithms and high-resolution hardware. A trigger based on a artificial neural network was implemented into the Cyclone{sup R} V E FPGA 5CEFA9F31I7. The prototype Front-End boards for Auger-Beyond-2015 with Cyclone{sup R} V E can test the neural network algorithm in real pampas conditions in 2015. Showers for muon and tau neutrino initiating particles on various altitudes, angles and energies were simulated in CORSICA and Offline platforms giving pattern of ADC traces in Auger water Cherenkov detectors. The 3-layer 12-10-1 neural network was taught in MATLAB by simulated ADC traces according the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Results show that a probability of a ADC traces generation is very low due to a small neutrino cross-section. Nevertheless, ADC traces, if occur, for 1-10 EeV showers are relatively short and can be analyzed by 16-point input algorithm. For 100 EeV range traces are much longer, but with significantly higher amplitudes, which can be detected by standard threshold algorithms. We optimized the coefficients from MATLAB to get a maximal range of potentially registered events and for fixed-point FPGA processing to minimize calculation errors. Currently used Front-End boards based on no-more produced ACEXR PLDs and obsolete Cyclone{sup R} FPGAs allow an implementation of relatively simple threshold algorithms for triggers. New sophisticated trigger implemented in Cyclone{sup R} V E FPGAs with large amount of DSP blocks, embedded memory running with 120 - 160 MHz sampling may support to discover neutrino events in the Pierre Auger Observatory. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Probing the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with neutrinos in the EeV energy range using the Pierre Auger Observatory

Currently, neutrinos with energies above $10^{17}$ eV are detectable with the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Here, the identification is efficiently performed for neutrinos of all flavors interacting in the atmosphere at large zenith angles, as well as for Earth-skimming $\tau$ neutrinos with nearly tangential trajectories relative to the earth. No neutrino candidates were found in $\sim\,14.7$ years of data taken up to 31 August 2018. This leads to restrictive upper bounds on their flux. The $90\%$ C.L. single-flavor limit to the diffuse flux of ultra-high-energy neutrinos with an $E_\nu^{-2}$ spectrum in the energy range $1.0 \times 10^{17}~{\rm eV} - 2.5 \times 10^{19}~{\rm eV}$ is $E^2 {\rm d}N_\nu/{\rm d}E_\nu < 4.4 \times 10^{-9}~{\rm GeV~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}~sr^{-1}}$, placing strong constraints on several models of neutrino production at EeV energies and on the properties of the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Search for photons above 10 18 eV by simultaneously measuring the atmospheric depth and the muon content of air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the most sensitive instrument to detect photons with energies above 1 0 17 eV . It measures extensive air showers generated by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays using a hybrid technique that exploits the combination of a fluorescence detector with a ground array of particle detectors. The signatures of a photon-induced air shower are a larger atmospheric depth of the shower maximum ( X max ) and a steeper lateral distribution function, along with a lower number of muons with respect to the bulk of hadron-induced cascades. In this work, a new analysis technique in the energy interval between 1 and 30 EeV ( 1 EeV = 1 0 18 eV ) has been developed by combining the fluorescence detector-based measurement of X max with the specific features of the surface detector signal through a parameter related to the air shower muon content, derived from the universality of the air shower development. No evidence of a statistically significant signal due to photon primaries was found using data collected in about 12 years of operation. Thus, upper bounds to the integral photon flux have been set using a detailed calculation of the detector exposure, in combination with a data-driven background estimation. The derived 95% confidence level upper limits are 0.0403, 0.01113, 0.0035, 0.0023, and 0.0021 km − 2 sr − 1 yr − 1 above 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 EeV, respectively, leading to the most stringent upper limits on the photon flux in the EeV range. Compared with past results, the upper limits were improved by about 40% for the lowest energy threshold and by a factor 3 above 3 EeV, where no candidates were found and the expected background is negligible. The presented limits can be used to probe the assumptions on chemical composition of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and allow for the constraint of the mass and lifetime phase space of super-heavy dark matter particles. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Simulations for a next-generation UHECR observatory

We explore the potential of a future, ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) experiment, that is able to overcome the limitation of low statistics, to detect anisotropy in the arrival directions of UHECRs. We concentrate on the lower energy range of future instruments (E∼> 50 EeV), where, if the UHECR source number density is not too low, the sources should be numerous enough to imprint a clustering pattern in the sky, and thus possibly in the UHECR arrival directions. Under these limits, the anisotropy signal should be dominated by the clustering of astrophysical sources per se in the large-scale structures, and not the clustering of events around individual sources. We study the potential for a statistical discrimination between different astrophysical models which we parametrise by the number density of UHECR sources, the possible bias of the UHECR accelerators with respect to the galaxy distribution, and the unknown fraction of UHECRs that have been deflected by large angles. We demonstrate that an order-of-magnitude increase in statistics would allow to discriminate between a variety of astrophysical models, provided that a sub-sample of light elements can be extracted, and that it represents a fraction ∼> 70% of the overall flux, sensitive to the UHECR source number density. Discrimination should be possible even without knowledge of the composition of the UHECRs, as long as the data are proton-dominated. We find that an anisotropy at the 99.7% level should be detectable when the number of detected events exceeds 2000 beyond 50 EeV, as long as the composition is proton dominated, and the number density of UHECR sources is relatively high, n-bar ≥ 10{sup −3} Mpc{sup −3}. If the UHECR sources are strongly biased relative to the galaxy distribution, as are for example galaxy clusters, in which the sources might be embedded, an anisotropy at the 99.7% level should be detectable once the number of detected events exceeds 1000, if the fraction of protons at the highest energies is ∼> 60%.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Searches for ultra-high energy neutrinos at the Pierre Auger observatory

Neutrinos in the sub-EeV energy range and above can be detected and identified with the Surface Detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The identification can be efficiently done for neutrinos of all flavours interacting in the atmosphere, typically above 60° (downward-going), as well as for “Earth-skimming” neutrino interactions in the case of tau neutrinos (upward-going). Three sets of identification criteria were designed to search for downward-going neutrinos in the zenith angle bins 60° − 75° and 75° − 90° as well as for upward-going neutrinos. The three searches have been recently combined, providing, in the absence of candidates in data from 1 January 04 until 31 December 12, a stringent limit to the diffuse flux of ultra-high energy neutrinos.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

ORIGIN OF ULTRA-HIGH-ENERGY GALACTIC COSMIC RAYS: THE ISOTROPY PROBLEM

We study the propagation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) in the Galaxy, concentrating on the energy range below the ankle in the spectrum at 4 EeV. A Monte Carlo method, based on analytical solutions to the time-dependent diffusion problem, is used to account for intermittency by placing sources at random locations. Assuming a source population that scales with baryon mass density or star formation (e.g., long GRB), we derive constraints arising from intermittency and the observational limits on the composition and anisotropy. It is shown that the composition and anisotropy at 10{sup 18} eV are difficult to reproduce and require that either (1) the particle mean free path is much smaller than a gyroradius, implying the escape time is very long, (2) the composition is heavier than suggested by recent Auger data, (3) the ultra-high-energy sub-ankle component is mostly extragalactic, or (4) we are living in a rare lull in the UHECR production, and the current UHECR intensity is far below the Galactic time average. We therefore recommend a strong observational focus on determining the UHECR composition around 10{sup 18} eV.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

A model for dark matter, naturalness and a complete gauge unification

We consider dark matter in a minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM) which breaks electroweak symmetry dynamically and leads to a complete unification of the SM and technicolor coupling constants. The unification scale is determined to be M{sub U}≈2.2×10{sup 15} GeV and the unified coupling α{sub U}≈0.0304. Moreover, unification strongly suggest that the technicolor sector of the model must become strong at the scale of O(TeV). The model also contains a tightly constrained sector of mixing neutral fields stabilized by a discrete symmetry. We find the lightest of these states can be DM with a mass in the range m{sub DM}≈30–800 GeV. We find a large set of parameters that satisfy all available constraints from colliders and from dark matter search experiments. However, most of the available parameter space is within the reach of the next generation of DM search experiments. The model is also sensitive to a modest improvement in the measurement of the precision electroweak parameters.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Scalaron production in contracting astrophysical objects

We study the creation of high-energy SM particles in the Starobinsky model of dark energy (a variant of F(R)-gravity) inside the regions contracting due to the Jeans instability. In this modification of gravity, the additional degree of freedom—a scalaron—behaves as a particle with the mass depending on matter density. Therefore, when the mass changes, light scalarons could be created at a nonadiabatic stage. Later, the scalaron mass grows and can reach large values, even the value 10{sup 13} GeV, favored by early time inflation. Heavy scalarons decay contributing to the cosmic ray flux. We analytically calculate the number density of created particles for the exponential (Jeans) contraction and find it negligibly small for the phenomenologically viable and cosmologically interesting range of model parameters. We expect similar results for a generic model of F(R)-gravity mimicking the cosmological constant.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Cosmic rays: the spectrum and chemical composition from 10{sup 10} to 10{sup 20} eV

The production of energetic particles in the universe remains one of the great mysteries of modern science. The mechanisms of acceleration in astrophysical sources and the details about the propagation through the galactic and extragalactic media are still to be defined. In recent years, the cosmic ray flux has been measured with high precision in the energy range from 10{sup 10} to 10{sup 20.5} eV by several experiments using different techniques. In some energy ranges, it has been possible to determine the flux of individual elements (hydrogen to iron nuclei). This paper explores an astrophysical scenario in which only our Galaxy and the radio galaxy Cen A produce all particles measured on Earth in the energy range from 10{sup 10} to 10{sup 20.5} eV . Data from AMS-02, CREAM, KASCADE, KASCADE-Grande and the Pierre Auger Observatories are considered. The model developed here is compared to the total and if available to the individual particle flux of the experiments considered.The flux of each element as determined by AMS-02, CREAM, KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande and the mass sensitivity parameter X{sub max} measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory above 10 eV are also explored within the framework of the model. The transition from 10{sup 16} to 10{sup 18} eV is carefully analyzed. It is shown that the flux measured in this energy range suggest the existence of an extra component of cosmic rays yet to be understood.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Type-II seesaw dominance in nonsupersymmetric and split-supersymmetry SO(10) models and proton lifetime

Recently type-II seesaw in a supersymmetricSO(10) framework has been found useful in explaining large solar and atmospheric mixing angles as well as a larger value of {theta}{sub 13} while unifying quark and lepton masses. An important question in these models is whether there exists consistency between coupling unification and type-II seesaw dominance. Scenarios where this consistency can be demonstrated have been given in a SUSY framework. In this paper we give examples where type-II dominance occurs in SO(10) models without supersymmetry but with additional TeV-scale particles and also in models with split-supersymmetry. Grand unification is realized in a two step process via breaking of SO(10) to SU(5) and then to a TeV-scale standard model supplemented by extra fields and an SU(5) Higgs multiplet 15{sub H} at a scale of about 10{sup 12} GeV to give a type-II seesaw. The predictions for proton lifetime in these models are in the range {tau}{sub p}{sup 0}=2x10{sup 35} yrs. to 6x10{sup 35} yrs. A number of recent numerical fits to GUT-scale fermion masses can be accommodated within this model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A technique for detection of PeV neutrinos using a phased radio array

The detection of high energy neutrinos (10{sup 15}–10{sup 20} eV) is an important step toward understanding the most energetic cosmic accelerators and would enable tests of fundamental physics at energy scales that cannot easily be achieved on Earth. In this energy range, there are two expected populations of neutrinos: the astrophysical flux observed with IceCube at lower energies (∼1 PeV) and the predicted cosmogenic flux at higher energies (∼10{sup 18} eV) . Radio detector arrays such as RICE, ANITA, ARA, and ARIANNA exploit the Askaryan effect and the radio transparency of glacial ice, which together enable enormous volumes of ice to be monitored with sparse instrumentation. We describe here the design for a phased radio array that would lower the energy threshold of radio techniques to the PeV scale, allowing measurement of the astrophysical flux observed with IceCube over an extended energy range. Meaningful energy overlap with optical Cherenkov telescopes could be used for energy calibration. The phased radio array design would also provide more efficient coverage of the large effective volume required to discover cosmogenic neutrinos.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Cosmic rays and hadronic interactions

The cosmic ray spectrum extends to particles with energy E{approx} 10{sup 20} eV, that corresponds (assuming that the primary particle is a proton) to a nucleon-nucleon c.m. energy {radical}(s) Asymptotically-Equal-To 430TeV, 50 times higher than the current LHC energy. These very high energy particles can be studied via the observation of the showers they generate in the atmosphere. The interpretation of the data requires therefore the modeling of hadronic interactions in an energy range beyond what can be studied in accelerator experiments. The theoretical problem of estimating the relevant properties of hadronic interactions in this energy range is therefore of central importance for the interpretation of the cosmic ray data. Viceversa, it is in principle possible to obtain information about hadronic interactions from the cosmic ray observations, but this program has to confront the fact that the (freely available) cosmic ray beam has an unknown energy spectrum and an unknown mass composition.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

LARGE-SCALE DISTRIBUTION OF ARRIVAL DIRECTIONS OF COSMIC RAYS DETECTED ABOVE 10{sup 18} eV AT THE PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY

A thorough search for large-scale anisotropies in the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays detected above 10{sup 18} eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory is presented. This search is performed as a function of both declination and right ascension in several energy ranges above 10{sup 18} eV, and reported in terms of dipolar and quadrupolar coefficients. Within the systematic uncertainties, no significant deviation from isotropy is revealed. Assuming that any cosmic-ray anisotropy is dominated by dipole and quadrupole moments in this energy range, upper limits on their amplitudes are derived. These upper limits allow us to test the origin of cosmic rays above 10{sup 18} eV from stationary Galactic sources densely distributed in the Galactic disk and predominantly emitting light particles in all directions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Reinterpreting the development of extensive air showers initiated by nuclei and photons

Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) interacting with the atmosphere generate extensive air showers (EAS) of secondary particles. The depth corresponding to the maximum development of the shower, X{sub max}, is a well-known observable for determining the nature of the primary cosmic ray which initiated the cascade process. In this paper, we present an empirical model to describe the distribution of X{sub max} for EAS initiated by nuclei, in the energy range from 10{sup 17} eV up to 10{sup 21} eV, and by photons, in the energy range from 10{sup 17} eV up to 10{sup 19.6} eV. Our model adopts the generalized Gumbel distribution motivated by the relationship between the generalized Gumbel statistics and the distribution of the sum of non-identically distributed variables in dissipative stochastic systems. We provide an analytical expression for describing the X{sub max} distribution for photons and for nuclei, and for their first two statistical moments, namely (X{sub max}) and σ{sup 2}(X{sub max}). The impact of the hadronic interaction model is investigated in detail, even in the case of the most up-to-date models accounting for LHC observations. We also briefly discuss the differences with a more classical approach and an application to the experimental data based on information theory.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

An ultra-high-energy-neutrino detector using rock salt and ice as detection media for radar method

We had found radio-wave-reflection effect in rock salt for detection of an ultra-high energy neutrino (UHE{nu}) which is generated in GZK processes in the universe. When an UHE{nu} interacts with rock salt or ice as a detection medium, the energy converts to a thermal energy. Consequently, a temperature gives rise along an UHE{nu} shower at the interaction location. The permittivity arises with respect to the temperature at ionization processes of the UHE{nu} shower which is composed of hadronic and electromagnetic multiplication processes. The irregularity of the refractive index in the medium for radio wave rises to a reflection. The reflection effect with a long attenuation length of radio wave in rock salt and ice would yield a new method to detect UHE{nu}. They could be used for detection media in which the UHE{nu} interacts with. We could find a huge amount of rock salt or ice over 50 Gt in a natural rock salt formation or Antarctic ice sheet. Radio wave transmitted into the medium generated by a radar system could be reflected by the irregularity of the refractive index at the shower. Receiving the reflected radio wave yields information about the UHE{nu}.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

On the possibility to discriminate the mass of the primary cosmic ray using the muon arrival times from extensive air showers: Application for Pierre Auger Observatory

In this paper we study the possibility to discriminate the mass of the primary cosmic ray by observing the muon arrival times in ground detectors. We analyzed extensive air showers (EAS) induced by proton and iron nuclei with the same energy 8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 17} eV simulated with CORSIKA, and analyzed the muon arrival times at ground measured by the infill array detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO). From the arrival times of the core and of the muons the atmospheric depth of muon generation locus is evaluated. The results suggest a potential mass discrimination on the basis of muon arrival times and of the reconstructed atmospheric depth of muon production. An analysis of a larger set of CORSIKA simulations carried out for primary energies above 10{sup 18} eV is in progress.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗