50358222
The decay of 'mesotrons' (1939-1943), experimental particle physics in the age of innocence
An account is given of the experimental work carried out by the author and his associates during the years 1939 through 1943, which produced the first unambiguous evidence of the spontaneous decay of “mesotrons,” showed that this decay occurred according to an exponential law, as expected, and measured the mean life with a 3% accuracy. A by product of this work was a verification of the relativistic equation for the dilation of time intervals.
16952539
Variation of the Rate of Decay of Mesotrons with Momentum
In order to determine the dependence of the probability of decay on momentum, mesotrons with range between 196 and 311 g/cm' of lead and mesotrons with range larger than 311 g/cm' of lead were investigated separately. The softer group of mesotrons was found to disintegrate at a rate about three times faster than the more penetrating group, in agreement with the theoretical predictions based on the relativity change in rate of a moving clock. A new value of the proper lifetime of mesotrons of (2.4+0.3) &(10 ' sec. is determined, based upon measurements with particles with momentum of approximately 5 &&10' ev/c.
119999230
Early days in cosmic rays
Early in 1928, shortly after receiving my PhD at the University of Bologna, I was offered the position of assistant at the Physics Institute of the University of Florence. The Institute rose among olive trees, on the hill of Arcetri, a short distance from the villa where Galileo had spent the last years of his life as a political exile. The chair of physics was held by Professor Antonio Garbasso who, in earlier years, had done some creditable scientific work. But the first world war and subsequent events had diverted his interests toward politics. He was now a senator and the mayor of Florence. However, he still went to Arcetri three times a week to deliver his lectures, and he still had a strong desire to see the Institute, which he had built, become an important center of research.
124758213
The Variation of the Hard Component of Cosmic Rays With Height and the Disintegration of Mesotrons
120635227
Cosmic-Ray Theory
50358222
The decay of 'mesotrons' (1939-1943), experimental particle physics in the age of innocence
An account is given of the experimental work carried out by the author and his associates during the years 1939 through 1943, which produced the first unambiguous evidence of the spontaneous decay of “mesotrons,” showed that this decay occurred according to an exponential law, as expected, and measured the mean life with a 3% accuracy. A by product of this work was a verification of the relativistic equation for the dilation of time intervals.
14164208
A prototype liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber for the study of UV laser multi-photonic ionization
This paper describes the design, realization and operation of a prototype liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) detector dedicated to the development of a novel online monitoring and calibration system exploiting UV laser beams. In particular, the system is intended to measure the lifetime of the primary ionization in LAr, in turn related to the LAr purity level. This technique could be exploited by present and next generation large mass LAr TPCs for which monitoring of the performance and calibration play an important role. Results from the first measurements are presented together with some considerations and outlook.
34004355
Pulse-shape discrimination of scintillation from alpha and beta particles with liquid scintillator and Geiger-mode multipixel avalanche diodes
A successfull application of Geiger-mode multipixel avalanche diodes (GMAPDs) for pulse-shape discrimination in alpha-beta spectrometry using organic liquid scintillator is described in this paper. Efficient discrimination of alpha and beta components in the emission of radioactive isotopes is achieved for alpha energies above 0.3 MeV. The ultra-compact design of the scintillating detector helps to efficiently suppress cosmic-ray and ambient radiation background. This approach allows construction of hand-held robust devices for monitoring of radioactive contamination in various environmental conditions.
52244461
Design and operation of ARGONTUBE: a 5 m long drift liquid argon TPC
The Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) is a prime type of detector for future large-mass neutrino observatories and proton decay searches. In this paper we present the design and operation, as well as experimental results from ARGONTUBE, a LArTPC being operated at the AEC-LHEP, University of Bern. The main goal of this detector is to prove the feasibility of charge drift over very long distances in liquid argon. Many other aspects of the LArTPC technology are also investigated, such as a voltage multiplier to generate high voltage in liquid argon (Greinacher circuit), a cryogenic purification system and the application of multi-photon ionization of liquid argon by a UV laser. For the first time, tracks induced by cosmic muons and UV laser beam pulses have been observed and studied at drift distances of up to 5 m, the longest reached to date.
118084361
Calibration and analysis of the 2007 data
he physics program of the NA61/SHINE (SHINE = SPS Heavy Ion and Neutrino Experiment) experiment at the CERN SPS consists of three subjects. In the first stage of data taking (2007-2009) measurements of hadron production in hadron-nucleus interactions needed for neutrino (T2K) and cosmic-ray (Pierre Auger and KASCADE) experiments will be performed. In the second stage (2009-2010) hadron production in proton-proton and proton-nucleus interactions needed as reference data for a better understanding of nucleus-nucleus reactions will be studied. In the third stage (2009-2013) energy dependence of hadron production properties will be measured in p+p, p+Pb interactions and nucleus-nucleus collisions, with the aim to identify the properties of the onset of deconfinement and find evidence for the critical point of strongly interacting matter. The NA61 experiment was approved at CERN in June 2007. The first pilot run was performed during October 2007. Calibrations of all detector components have been performed successfully and preliminary uncorrected spectra have been obtained. High quality of track reconstruction and particle identification similar to NA49 has been achieved. The data and new detailed simulations confirm that the NA61 detector acceptance and particle identification capabilities cover the phase space required by the T2K experiment. This document reports on the progress made in the calibration and analysis of the 2007 data.
122307837
First measurements with ARGONTUBE, a 5m long drift Liquid Argon TPC
Abstract The Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) technique is a promising technology for future neutrino detectors. At LHEP of the University of Bern (Switzerland), an R&D program towards large detectors are on-going. The main goal is to show the feasibility of long drift paths over many meters. Therefore, a liquid Argon TPC with 5 m of drift distance was constructed. Many other aspects of the liquid Argon TPC technology are also investigated, such as a new device to generate high voltage in liquid Argon (Greinacher circuit), a recirculation filtering system and the multi-photon ionization of liquid Argon with a UV laser. Two detectors are built: a medium size prototype for specific detector technology studies, and ARGONTUBE, a 5 m long device.