117567170
The average mass number of primary cosmic rays around the knee region derived from Grapes III array at Ooty
We analyzed three months data on air showers (total 10 showers in 10<Ne<10) observed with the GRAPES III experiment during 2001. The shower array consists of 257 scintillation detectors (1m each) and 16 muon detectors (35 m each). Very large area (560m) of the muon detectors gives good statistics for estimating the number of muons even for small air showers. We present the correlation between muon multiplicity distribution and shower size. This result is compared with simulation (Corsika code with QGS Jet model) for primary energy between 10 eV and 10 eV. We find the average mass number in this energy region follows gradual increase and mixing of proton and heavy nuclei model fits well our observed data.
10726039
A micron resolution optical scanner for characterization of silicon detectors.
The emergence of high position resolution (∼10 μm) silicon detectors in recent times have highlighted the urgent need for the development of new automated optical scanners of micron level resolution suited for characterizing microscopic features of these detectors. More specifically, for the newly developed silicon photo-multipliers (SiPM) that are compact, possessing excellent photon detection efficiency with gain comparable to photo-multiplier tube. In a short time, since their invention the SiPMs are already being widely used in several high-energy physics and astrophysics experiments as the photon readout element. The SiPM is a high quantum efficiency, multi-pixel photon counting detector with fast timing and high gain. The presence of a wide variety of photo sensitive silicon detectors with high spatial resolution requires their performance evaluation to be carried out by photon beams of very compact spot size. We have designed a high resolution optical scanner that provides a monochromatic focused beam on a target plane. The transverse size of the beam was measured by the knife-edge method to be 1.7 μm at 1 - σ level. Since the beam size was an order of magnitude smaller than the typical feature size of silicon detectors, this optical scanner can be used for selective excitation of these detectors. The design and operational details of the optical scanner, high precision programmed movement of target plane (0.1 μm) integrated with general purpose data acquisition system developed for recording static and transient response photo sensitive silicon detector are reported in this paper. Entire functionality of scanner is validated by using it for selective excitation of individual pixels in a SiPM and identifying response of active and dead regions within SiPM. Results from these studies are presented in this paper.
121254838
Sporadic emission of ultra high energy gamma rays from Crab pulsar
In a further study of sporadic emission from pulsars we find evidence for short lived intense emission from the Crab pulsar.
55926788
A large area muon tracking detector for ultra-high energy cosmic ray astrophysics — the GRAPES-3 experiment
Certain aspects of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic ray astrophysics require correlated studies on the electron and muon components of air showers, namely, the search for cosmic ray sources through g-ray astronomy and studies on the variation of the nuclear composition of primary cosmic rays with energy. While studies on the electron component provide basic information about the arrival direction and energy, it is the muon component that plays a crucial role in distinguishing primary g-rays from charged cosmic ray particles and in determining the composition. A large area (560m), tracking muon detector of the GRAPES-3 experiment, operating at Ooty in southern India, has been designed for detailed studies on both of these aspects of UHE cosmic ray astrophysics. We present here the details of the muon detector, associated electronics and the data acquisition system. A brief discussion of the potential of the muon detector is presented through simulation studies. r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 98.70.Sa; 96.40.Pq; 96.40.De; 98.70.Rz; 95.55.Vj; 13.85.Tp
123618858
An experimental system for detection of high energy cosmic gamma ray bursts
Abstract While bursts of cosmic gamma rays of energies 0.1–10 MeV can be detected and studied only with satellite-borne detectors, bursts of gamma rays at GeV energies can be detected using sensitive ground-based detectors. An experimental system to detect these high energy gamma ray bursts is being operated at the mountain altitude laboratory at Ootacamund, India. The design features and the experimental details related to this system are described.
8554087
An episode of ultrahigh energy radiation from the gamma -ray source Geminga: GRAPES I observations at Ooty during 1984-1987.
A study of showers arriving from the direction of the γ-ray source Geminga (1E0630 + 178) has shown evidence for emission of ultrahigh energy radiation during the one week interval October 10-16, 1986. 83 showers were observed in the source bin as against an expected background of 44.1. The probability of observing this excess based on Monte Carlo simulations is less than 10 −4 . The flux observed during this period (1.00±0.24)×10 −11 cm −2 s −1 at energies ≥10 14 eV corresponds to a time-averaged luminosity of 6×10 32 erg s −1
13571448
Apparent and Actual Shifts in Mass and Width of ϕ Mesons Produced in Heavy-Ion Collisions
We present a method of analyzing invariant-mass spectra of kaon pairs resulting from decay of ϕ mesons produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. It can be used to extract the shifts in the mass and the width (ΔM and ΔΓ) of the ϕ mesons when they are inside the dense matter formed in these collisions. We illustrate our method with the help of available preliminary data. Extracted values of ΔM and ΔΓ are significantly larger than those obtained with an earlier method. Our results are consistent with the experimentally observed pT dependence of the mass shift. Finally, we present a phenomenological relation between ΔM and ΔΓ. It provides a useful constraint on theories which predict the values of these two quantities.
119675401
Gluonic two-particle potential
A method developed recently by us for the derivation of the electromagnetic and gravitational two-particle potentials is applied to a model of scalars and gluons based on the gauge group $\mathrm{SU}(N)$, and thus the fourth-order gluonic two-particle potential is derived to order ${c}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$. Besides the leading term in our gluonic potential, which is in agreement with the results of earlier authors, we obtain the next-to-leading terms representing a shorter-range massdependent interaction.
118484055
Symmetry energy from fragment observables in the canonical thermodynamic model
Different formulas relating measurable fragment isotopic observables to the symmetry energy of excited nuclei were proposed and applied to the analysis of heavy ion collision data in the recent literature. In this article, we examine the quality of the different expressions in the framework of the McGill canonical thermodynamic model (CTM). We show that even in the idealized situation of canonical equilibrium and in the absence of secondary decay, these formulas do not give a precise reconstruction of the symmetry energy of the fragmenting source. However, both isotopic widths and isoscaling appear very well correlated to the physical symmetry energy.
118286245
Same sign top-pairs in a non-universal Z' model at the LHC
We analyse same sign dilepton signatures in a non-universal flavor changing Z' model. These arise due to tt (or t_bar t_bar) production processes due to the semi-leptonic decays of (anti)tops. We also discuss top reconstruction and spin measurement using the variable MT2 and MT2-Assisted On-Shell (MAOS) Momentum} techniques and will also provide a comparison with the on-shell mass relation method. Sensitivities to the flavor-changing top coupling has also been estimated for different LHC energies and projected LHC luminosities corresponding to them.
122335370
Transverse energy distributions in participant number model for ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions
The transverse energy distribution in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions has been obtained as a convolution over the number of projectile and target participants. The latter is computed using the geometrical overlap model as a function of impact parameter. The data from 10 A GeV to 200 A GeV heavy ion beams on various targets in different pseudo-rapidity domains have been successfully described.