17242237
High-rigidity Forbush decreases: due to CMEs or shocks?
Aims. We seek to identify the primary agents causing Forbush decreases (FDs) in high-rigidity cosmic rays observed from the Earth. In particular, we ask if these FDs are caused mainly by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun that are directed towards the Earth, or by their associated shocks. Methods. We used the muon data at cutoff rigidities ranging from 14 to 24 GV from the GRAPES-3 tracking muon telescope to identify FD events. We selected those FD events that have a reasonably clean profile, and can be reasonably well associated with an Earth-directed CME and its associated shock. We employed two models: one that considers the CME as the sole cause of the FD (the CME-only model) and one that considers the shock as the only agent causing the FD (the shock-only model). We used an extensive set of observationally determined parameters for both models. The only free parameter in these models is the level of MHD turbulence in the sheath region, which mediates cosmic ray diffusion (into the CME for the CME-only model, and across the shock sheath for the shock-only model). Results. We find that good fits to the GRAPES-3 multi-rigidity data using the CME-only model require turbulence levels in the CME sheath region that are only slightly higher than those estimated for the quiescent solar wind. On the other hand, reasonable model fits with the shock-only model require turbulence levels in the sheath region that are an order of magnitude higher than those in the quiet solar wind. Conclusions. This observation naturally leads to the conclusion that the Earth-directed CMEs are the primary contributors to FDs observed in high-rigidity cosmic rays.
67815721
The angular resolution of the GRAPES-3 array from the shadows of the Moon and the Sun
Abstract The absence of a well established point source of very high energy ( ≳ 10 TeV ) γ-rays in the sky, makes the measurement of the angular resolution and the absolute pointing accuracy of an extensive air shower (EAS) array a challenging task. In the past, several groups have utilized the reduction in the isotropic flux of cosmic rays due to the shadows of the Moon and the Sun, to measure the angular resolution and the absolute pointing accuracy of their arrays. The data collected from the GRAPES-3 EAS array, over the period of 4 years from 2000 to 2003, has been used to observe the shadow of the Moon at a level of ∼ 5 σ and that of the Sun at a lower level of significance. The high density of the detectors in GRAPES-3 enabled an angular resolution of 0.7° to be obtained at energies as low as 30 TeV. The angular resolution studies were further extended by using two other techniques, namely, the even–odd and the left–right methods. All three techniques have yielded nearly identical results on the energy dependent angular resolution.
119032709
Emission of Radiation at Energies > 1014 eV: Binary X-Ray Sources SCO X-1, CYG X-1, HER X-1 and Others
55612742
Recent results from the GRAPES-3 experiment
The GRAPES-3 is a dense extensive air shower array operating with ~400 scintillator detectors and a 560 m 2 large tracking muon detector (E μ > 1 GeV), at Ooty in India. The muon detector has been used to observe acceleration of muons during thunderstorm conditions. The muon multiplicity distribution of the EAS is used to probe the composition of primary cosmic rays below 1 PeV, with an overlap with direct measurements. More recently we have explored the possibility of using the angular distribution of >1 GeV muons to identify the best from among several low- and high-energy hadronic interaction models. We have major expansion plans to enhance the sensitivity of the GRAPES-3 experiment in all of the areas listed above.
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
118402302
Superfield approach to nilpotent symmetries in 3D Jackiw-Pi model of massive non-Abelian theory
In the available literature, only the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) symmetries are known for the Jackiw-Pi model of the three (2 + 1)-dimensional (3D) massive non-Abelian gauge theory. We derive the off-shell nilpotent (s_{(a)b}^2 = 0) and absolutely anticommuting (s_b \,s_{ab} + s_{ab}\, s_b = 0) (anti-)BRST transformations s_{(a)b} corresponding to the usual Yang-Mills gauge transformations of this model by exploiting the "augmented" superfield formalism where the horizontality condition and gauge invariant restrictions blend together in a meaningful manner. There is a non-Yang-Mills (NYM) symmetry in this theory, too. However, we do not touch the NYM symmetry in our present endeavor. This superfield formalism leads to the derivation of an (anti-)BRST invariant Curci-Ferrari restriction which plays a key role in the proof of absolute anticommutativity of s_{(a)b}. The derivation of the proper anti-BRST symmetry transformations is important from the point of view of geometrical objects called gerbes. A novel feature of our present investigation is the derivation of the (anti-)BRST transformations for the auxiliary field \rho from our superfield formalism which is neither generated by the (anti-)BRST charges nor obtained from the requirements of nilpotency and/or absolute anticommutativity of the (anti-)BRST symmetries for our present 3D non-Abelian 1-form gauge theory.
118472525
Improvements to a model of projectile fragmentation
In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. C 044612 (2011)] we proposed a model for calculating cross-sections of various reaction products which arise from disintegration of projectile like fragment resulting from heavy ion collisions at intermediate or higher energy. The model has three parts: (1) abrasion, (2) disintegration of the hot abraded projectile like fragment (PLF) into nucleons and primary composites using a model of equilibrium statistical mechanics and (3) possible evaporation of hot primary composites. It was assumed that the PLF resulting from abrasion has one temperature T. Data suggested that while just one value of T seemed adequate for most cross-sections calculations, it failed when dealing with very peripheral collisions. We have now introduced a variable T=T(b) where b is the impact parameter of the collision. We argue there are data which not only show that T must be a function of b but, in addition, also point to an approximate value of T for a given b. We propose a very simple formula: T(b)=D_0+D_1(A_s(b)/A_0) where A_s(b) is the mass of the abraded PLF and A_0 is the mass of the projectile; D_0 and D_1 are constants. Using this model we compute cross-sections for several collisions and compare with data.
134826191
Nuclear deformation effects in Uranium on Uranium collisions
119299327
A Dual Beam H-alpha Doppler System to Acquire, Analyse and Anticipate Solar Eruptive Events Directed towards Earth
A new instrument with a dual-beam H-alpha Doppler system is being developed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO) in order to improve the quality and quantity of data on quiet, activated and erupting filaments and prominences on the Sun, especially those associated with geo-effective coronal mass ejections. These data can be potentially used to construct three-dimensional topology of erupting filaments as they leave the surface of the Sun and can be compared with multi-wavelength data obtained from space missions such as STEREO, SOHO, and Hinode. The characterization of various optical components for the instrument is being carried out, and some preliminary results are described in the paper.
118170067
Canonical brackets from continuous symmetries: Abelian 2-form gauge theory
We derive the canonical (anti-)commutation relations amongst the creation and annihilation operators of the various basic fields, present in the four (3 + 1)-dimensional (4D) free Abelian 2-from gauge theory, with the help of continuous symmetry transformations within the framework of Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) formalism. We show that all the six continuous symmetries of the theory lead to the exactly the same non-vanishing (anti-)commutator amongst the creation and annihilation operators of the normal mode expansion of the basic fields of the theory.