122266663
Methods to determine the angular resolution of the HEGRA extended air shower scintillator array
A precise knowledge of the angular resolution of scintillator arrays used to observe extended air showers (EAS) is of key importance in the search for VHE/UHE γ point sources. Four independent methods have been used to determine the mean resolution for which a value of 〈ΔΘ63〉 of 0.8°(1.0°) at a proton threshold of 50 (40) TeV has been found for the HEGRA EAS-array.
210155517
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory VI: Neutrino Oscillations, Supernova Searches, Ice Properties
IceCube DeepCore can study atmospheric neutrino oscillations through a combination of its low energy reach, as low as about 10 GeV, and its unprecedented statistical sample, of about 150,000 triggered atmospheric muon neutrinos per year. With the diameter of the earth as a baseline, the muon neutrino disappearance minimum and tau neutrino appearance maximum are expected at about 25 GeV, which is considerably lower energy than typical IceCube neutrino events, but higher than the energies at which accelerator-based experiments have detected oscillations. νμ disappearance and ντ appearance from neutrino oscillation can be measured in IceCube DeepCore. We present here the status of the newly developed low energy reconstruction algorithms, the expected experimental signatures, and the proposed approach for such neutrino oscillation measurements. Corresponding authors: Sebastian Euler (seuler@icecube.wisc.edu), Laura Gladstone(gladstone@icecube.wisc.edu), Jason Koskinen(koskinen@psu.edu), Donglian Xu(dxu@crimson.ua.edu) III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, D-52056 Aachen, Germany Dept. of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA Dept. of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
40898720
A fast embedded system for radio detection of cosmic rays
For the detection of radio signals from ultra high energy (> 1017 eV) cosmic rays in the frequency range up to 80 MHz an embedded system was designed, built, and tested. A steep band-pass filter in the range of 30 to 80 MHz suppresses the main source of radio frequency interferences. To fulfill the data acquisition (DAQ) task, four 180 MHz twelve bit ADCs have to be read-out by a FPGA into a two gigabyte buffer memory. Furthermore the FPGA contains the trigger and a Altera NIOS II soft-core processor for data management. A GPS receiver controls the timing of the system. For the read-out an Ethernet-link and a CAN interface to a WLAN communication board is foreseen. The architecture of the system and the measured performance of the DAQ-board are described.
109075983
Development of a new first level trigger for the surface array in the Pierre Auger Observatory based on the CycloneTM Altera® FPGA
Abstract The development of a new first level trigger for the surface array in the Pierre Auger Observatory is described. It utilizes the new Altera ® family Cyclone TM which is available since March 2003. Different from previous and the currently used design based on the APEX TM and ACEX ® families, respectively, it offers much higher capacity of logic registers and memories, a simplified board design, lower power consumption, and lower cost. The paper describes the board design, internal structures of the programming routines, various trigger implementations and test results obtained in the laboratory.
120215184
A search for gamma radiation above 24 TeV energy from cosmic point sources
Abstract The HEGRA collaboration has searched for γ-ray emission from 36 potential cosmic point sources with the wide angle air Cerenkov detector AIROBICC which is part of the HEGRA cosmic ray detector complex on La Palma. AIROBICC has a γ-ray energy threshold of around 24 TeV and a mean angular resolution of 0.29 °. None of the sources could be found. Upper limits to their fluxes are given. For the VHE γ-ray emitters, the Crab nebula and Mrk 421, these flux limits are below those extrapolated from lower energy observations. Our lower limit for Mrk 421 might be interpreted either as being due to an energy cut-off in the acceleration mechanism or to the onset of γ-interaction with photons of the universal infrared background.
123338629
IceCube: A Multipurpose Neutrino Telescope
IceCube is a new high-energy neutrino telescope which will be coming online in the near future. IceCube will be capable of measuring fluxes of all three flavors of neutrino, and its peak neutrino energy sensitivity will be in the TeV–PeV range. Here, after a brief description of the detector, we describe its anticipated performance with a selection of physics topics: supernovae, extraterrestrial diffuse and point sources of neutrinos, gamma-ray bursts, neutrinos from WIMP annihilation, and cosmic ray composition.
15117408
Moduli Stabilization in Non-Geometric Backgrounds
Abstract Type II orientifolds based on Landau–Ginzburg models are used to describe moduli stabilization for flux compactifications of type II theories from the world-sheet CFT point of view. We show that for certain types of type IIB orientifolds which have no Kahler moduli and are therefore intrinsically non-geometric, all moduli can be explicitly stabilized in terms of fluxes. The resulting four-dimensional theories can describe Minkowski as well as anti-de Sitter vacua. This construction provides the first string vacuum with all moduli frozen and leading to a 4D Minkowski background.
15604382
Interactions in the SL(2, R)/U(1) black hole background
Abstract We calculate two- and three-point tachyon amplitudes of the SL(2, R )/U(1) two-dimensional euclidean black hole for spherical topologies in the continuum approach proposed by Bershadsky and Kutasov. We find an interesting relation to the tachyon scattering amplitudes of standard noncritical string theory.
124085377
Geometric Transitions, Non-Kahler Geometries and String Vacua
We summarize an explicit construction of a duality cycle for geometric transitions in type II and heterotic theories. We emphasize that the manifolds with torsion constructed with this duality cycle are crucial for understanding different phenomena appearing in effective field theories.
6918482
Faint Scattering Around Pulsars: Probing the Interstellar Medium on Solar System Size Scales
We have made high-resolution, high-sensitivity dynamic spectra of a sample of strong pulsars at 430 MHz with the Arecibo radio telescope. For four pulsars we find faint but sharply delineated features in the secondary spectra. These are examples of the previously observed "crisscross" or "multiple drift slope" phenomenon presumed to be due to multiple imaging of the pulsar by the interstellar medium (ISM). The unprecedented resolution and dynamic range of our observations allow a deeper level of analysis. Distances to the dominant scattering screen along the line of sight are determined and are shown to agree well with those inferred from other scintillation phenomena. Multiple imaging of the pulsar by the ISM is required. A compact central image surrounded by a faint scattering halo, roughly circularly symmetric, is consistent with the data. Scattering from filaments may also be consistent. The angular extent of the scattering material parallel to the direction of the pulsar velocity is ~5 mas, corresponding to a linear extent of ~2 AU. Further observations of these features should allow better discrimination between models and an identification of the scattering structures.
4231
DOUBLE SCALING LIMIT OF THE SUPER-VIRASORO CONSTRAINTS
We obtain the double scaling limit of a set of superloop equations recently proposed to describe the coupling of two-dimensional supergravity to minimal superconformal matter of type (2,4m). The continuum loop equations are described in terms of a theory with a Z2-twisted scalar field and a Weyl–Majorana fermion in the Ramond sector. We have computed correlation functions in genus zero, one and partially in genus two. An integrable supersymmetric hierarchy describing our model has not yet been found. We present a heuristic argument showing that the purely bosonic part of our model is described by the KdV hierarchy.