54200433
Status of the CUTE-FEL Project
We are building a Compact Ultrafast Terahertz FreeElectron Laser (CUTE-FEL) designed to lase at around 80 μm. Here we report on the present status. A 2 μs, 40 keV beam from a DC thermionic electron gun has been accelerated up to 4.5 MeV using a 21 cm long, 4-cell, Plane Wave Transformer (PWT) linac. Current measurements using a Fast Current Transformer (FCT) after a bending magnet energy spectrometer show a peak current of about 10 mA at 4.5 MeV. This beam was transported through a 1.25 m long undulator section. We have also built and tested the 476 MHz pre-buncher for the linac, and are in the midst of assembling the final FEL beamline.
30676639
Ultrahigh-energy pulsed emission from Hercules X-1 with anomalous air-shower muon production.
A search for bursts of air-shower events from Hercules X-1 at energies above 50 TeV during the calendar period 2 April 1986 to 5 July 1987 yielded two significant bursts, both occurring on UT 24 July 1986. The events during these bursts were pulsed with a period of 1.235 68 s, significantly different from estimates of the contemporaneous x-ray period. The probability that this represents random statistical fluctuations of the background is estimated to be 2 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$. The muon content of the burst events is anomalous when compared with expectations from $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray showers.
331919
Monte Carlo code G3sim for simulation of plastic scintillator detectors with wavelength shifter fiber readout.
A detailed description of a compact Monte Carlo simulation code "G3sim" for studying the performance of a plastic scintillator detector with wavelength shifter (WLS) fiber readout is presented. G3sim was developed for optimizing the design of new scintillator detectors used in the GRAPES-3 extensive air shower experiment. Propagation of the blue photons produced by the passage of relativistic charged particles in the scintillator is treated by incorporating the absorption, total internal, and diffuse reflections. Capture of blue photons by the WLS fibers and subsequent re-emission of longer wavelength green photons is appropriately treated. The trapping and propagation of green photons inside the WLS fiber is treated using the laws of optics for meridional and skew rays. Propagation time of each photon is taken into account for the generation of the electrical signal at the photomultiplier. A comparison of the results from G3sim with the performance of a prototype scintillator detector showed an excellent agreement between the simulated and measured properties. The simulation results can be parametrized in terms of exponential functions providing a deeper insight into the functioning of these versatile detectors. G3sim can be used to aid the design and optimize the performance of scintillator detectors prior to actual fabrication that may result in a considerable saving of time, labor, and money spent.
21268625
Search for signals from Cygnus X-3 at energies above 50 TeV.
Upper limits for the time-averaged flux of air showers from the direction of Cygnus X-3 during the calendar period 2 April 1986 to 3 May 1987 are found to be 1.5 x 10/sup -13/ cm/sup -2/ sec/sup -1/ for all events, and 7.6 x 10/sup -14/ cm/sup -2/ sec/sup -1/ for events with no observed muons in a 44-m/sup 2/ muon detector. These are integral fluxes above 50 TeV on the assumption of an E/sup -1/ primary spectrum. A possible observation of a short-term signal from Cygnus X-3, with an anomalous muon content, phase correlated with the 4.8-h orbital period, with an integral flux above 50 TeV of (8.2 +- 2.0) x 10/sup -13/ cm/sup -2/ sec/sup -1/ is also reported.
124703371
FEL ACTIVITIES IN INDIA
We are building a Compact Ultrafast TErahertz FreeElectron Laser (CUTE-FEL), designed to lase from 50 – 100 μm. The FEL will be driven by a 10-15 MeV electron beam from a Plane-Wave Transformer (PWT) linac. The undulator is a 5 cm period, 2.5 m long PPM planar undulator. We present details of the FEL design and the present status of activities. We also present very preliminary plans for a short-wavelength SASE FEL in India.
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.
121068931
The thermodynamic model for relativistic heavy ion collisions
Abstract The collision between two heavy ions at high energies is discussed within the framework of a statistical model which is developed step by step so that it can be followed by a reader unfamiliar with this approach. As we hope to show, the statistical model forms a comprehensive framework for investigating various aspects of such collisions. When statistical thermodynamics is coupled with a one and two fireball model or a firestreak model, single particle and multiparticle inclusive cross sections can be evaluated. Specifically, single particle proton, deuteron, triton and pion cross sections are calculated and compared with experiment. Two particle correlations are discussed using the microcanonical ensemble. Multiplicity distributions are evaluated using the canonical ensemble and composite particle formation is simply obtained from the grand canonical ensemble. The power law behaviour of composite particle cross sections is studied. The thermodynamic model is justified by calculating various reaction rates. Many comparisons with experimental data are made.
55518164
The current status of the GRAPES-3 extensive air shower experiment
The GRAPES-3 is a dense extensive air shower array operating with ∼400 scintillator detectors and it also contains a 560 m 2 tracking muon detector ( E μ > 1 GeV ), at Ooty in India. 25% of scintillator detectors are instrumented with two fast photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) for extending the dynamic range to ∼ 5 × 10 3 particles m − 2 . The scintillators, signal processing electronics and data recording systems were fabricated in-house to cut costs and optimize performance. The muon multiplicity distribution of the EAS is used to probe the composition of primary cosmic rays below the ‘knee’, with an overlap with direct measurements. Search for multi-TeV γ -rays from point sources is done with the aid of the muon detector. A good angular resolution of 0.7° at 30 TeV, is measured from the shadow of the Moon on the isotropic flux of cosmic rays. A sensitive limit on the diffuse flux of 100 TeV γ -rays is placed by using muon detector to filter the charged cosmic ray background. A tracking muon detector allows sensitive measurements on coronal mass ejections and solar flares through Forbush decrease events. We have major expansion plans to enhance the sensitivity of the GRAPES-3 experiment in the areas listed above.
92994920
Energy and spatial resolution of a Shashlik calorimeter and a silicon preshower detector
New projective prototypes of a scintillator/lead sandwich type sampling calorimeter Shashlik with a silicon preshower detector have been constructed and tested with an electron beam at CERN-SPS. The energy resolution is measured to be 8.7%E(GeV) in stochastic term, 0.330/E(GeV) in noise term and 0.5% in constant term. The angular resolution is better than 70 mradE(GeV).
54084723
Tracking the phase-transition energy in the disassembly of hot nuclei
In efforts to determine phase transitions in the disintegration of highly excited heavy nuclei, a popular practice is to parametrise the yields of isotopes as a function of temperature in the form $Y(z)=z^{-\tau}f(z^{\sigma}(T-T_0))$, where $Y(z)$'s are the measured yields and $\tau, \sigma$ and $T_0$ are fitted to the yields. Here $T_0$ would be interpreted as the phase transition temperature. For finite systems such as those obtained in nuclear collisions, this parametrisation is only approximate and hence allows for extraction of $T_0$ in more than one way. In this work we look in detail at how values of $T_0$ differ, depending on methods of extraction. It should be mentioned that for finite systems, this approximate parametrisation works not only at the critical point, but also for first order phase transitions (at least in some models). Thus the approximate fit is no guarantee that one is seeing a critical phenomenon. A different but more conventional search for the nuclear phase transition would look for a maximum in the specific heat as a function of temperature $T_2$. In this case $T_2$ is interpreted as the phase transition temperature. Ideally $T_0$ and $T_2$ would coincide. We invesigate this possibility, both in theory and from the ISiS data, performing both canonical ($T$) and microcanonical ($e=E^*/A$) calculations. Although more than one value of $T_0$ can be extracted from the approximate parmetrisation, the work here points to the best value from among the choices. Several interesting results, seen in theoretical calculations, are borne out in experiment.
41569642
Speed of sound and specific heat in the QCD plasma: Hydrodynamics, fluctuations, and conformal symmetry
We report the continuum limits of the speed of sound, ${C}_{s}$, and the specific heat at constant volume, ${C}_{V}$, in quenched QCD at temperatures of $2{T}_{c}$ and $3{T}_{c}$. At these temperatures, ${C}_{s}$ is within 2-$\ensuremath{\sigma}$ of the ideal gas value, whereas ${C}_{V}$ differs significantly from the ideal gas. However, both are compatible with results expected in a theory with conformal symmetry. We investigate effective measures of conformal symmetry in the high temperature phase of QCD.