scholarly journals Analysis of atmospheric attenuation using the Telescope Array central laser data

2019 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 01003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tareq AbuZayyad
Keyword(s):  
Uv Light ◽  
Light Attenuation ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Atmospheric Attenuation ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Laser Facility ◽  
Scintillator Detectors

Located in the western desert of the state of Utah, the Telescope Array (TA) experiment measures the properties of ultra high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) induced extensive air showers. TA employs a hybrid detector comprised of a large surface array of scintillator detectors overlooked by three fluorescence telescopes stations. The TA Low Energy extension (TALE) detector has operated as a monocular Cherenkov/fluorescence detector for nearly five years, and has recently been complemented by a closely spaced surface array to operate in hybrid mode. The TAx4 upgrade is underway and aims to, as the name suggests, quadruple the size of the surface array to improve statistics at the highest energies (post-GZK events). The analysis of the TA fluorescence detectors (FD) data requires knowledge of the degree of the atmospheric attenuation of UV light produced by shower particles. This attenuation depends partially on the amount of aerosols present in the atmosphere at the time of shower observation. Being highly variable, real time measurement of the aerosols light attenuation is accomplished through the use of a central laser facility (CLF) located at the center of the surface array, and in the field of view of the three FDs, as well as, the TALE FD. In this proceeding we will describe the experiment, and the CLF data and analysis, and give results on measured aerosols attenuation, yearly averaged. FD measurements of shower energy and Xmax, involve corrections for atmospheric attenuation due to the presence of aerosols. We discuss the errors introduced into the shower parameters reconstruction due to uncertainty about aerosols attenuation.

scholarly journals Measurements of UHECR Mass Composition by Telescope Array

2019 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 01008
Author(s):  
William Hanlon
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Mass Composition ◽  
Ultra High Energy ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Second Moments ◽  
Systematic Uncertainties ◽  
Surface Detector

Telescope Array (TA) has recently published results of nearly nine years of Xmax observations providing its highest statistics measurement of ultra high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) mass composition to date for energies exceeding 1018.2 eV. This analysis measured agreement of observed data with results expected for four different single elements. Instead of relying only on the first and second moments of Xmax distributions, we employ a morphological test of agreement between data and Monte Carlo to allow for systematic uncertainties in data and in current UHECR hadronic models. Results of this latest analysis and implications of UHECR composition observed by TA are presented. TA can utilize different analysis methods to understand composition as both a crosscheck on results and as a tool to understand systematics affecting Xmax measurements. The different analysis efforts utilizing fluorescence detector stereo, surface detector and fluorescence detector hybrid, and surface detector-only, currently underway at TA performed to understand composition are also discussed.

scholarly journals TA Anisotropy Summary

2019 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 01004 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kawata ◽  
A. di Matteo ◽  
T. Fujii ◽  
D. Ivanov ◽  
C.C.H. Jui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Ultra High Energy ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Directional Anisotropy

The Telescope Array (TA) is the largest ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray (UHECR) detector in the northern hemisphere. It consists of an array of 507 surface detectors (SD) covering a total 700 km2 and three fluorescence detector stations overlooking the SD array. In this proceedings, we summarize recent results on the search for directional anisotropy of UHECRs using the latest dataset collected by the TA SD array. We obtained hints of the anisotropy of the UHECRs in the northern sky from the various analyses.

scholarly journals Search for point sources of ultra-high-energy photons with the Telescope Array surface detector

2020 ◽  
Vol 492 (3) ◽  
pp. 3984-3993 ◽  
Author(s):  
R U Abbasi ◽  
M Abe ◽  
T Abu-Zayyad ◽  
M Allen ◽  
R Azuma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Point Source ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Ultra High Energy ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Air Shower ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Surface Detector ◽  
Blind Search

ABSTRACT The surface detector (SD) of the Telescope Array (TA) experiment allows us to detect indirectly photons with energies of the order of 1018 eV and higher, and to separate photons from the cosmic ray background. In this paper, we present the results of a blind search for point sources of ultra-high-energy (UHE) photons in the Northern sky using the TA SD data. The photon-induced extensive air showers are separated from the hadron-induced extensive air shower background by means of a multivariate classifier based upon 16 parameters that characterize the air shower events. No significant evidence for the photon point sources is found. The upper limits are set on the flux of photons from each particular direction in the sky within the TA field of view, according to the experiment’s angular resolution for photons. The average 95 per cent confidence level upper-limits for the point-source flux of photons with energies greater than 1018, 1018.5, 1019, 1019.5 and 1020 eV are 0.094, 0.029, 0.010, 0.0073 and 0.0058 km−2yr−1, respectively. For energies higher than 1018.5 eV, the photon point-source limits are set for the first time. Numerical results for each given direction in each energy range are provided as a supplement to this paper.

scholarly journals Telescope Array Experiment

2019 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 08002
Author(s):  
Shoichi Ogio
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Air Shower ◽  
Primary Particles ◽  
Shower Array ◽  
Air Shower Array

The Telescope Array is the largest hybrid cosmic ray detector in the Northern hemisphere designed to measure primary particles in 4 PeV to 100 EeV range. The main TA detector consists of an air shower array of 507 plastic scintillation counters on a 1.2 km square grid and fluorescence detectors at three stations overlooking the sky above the air shower array. The experiment and its recent measurements - spectrum, composition, and anisotropy - is reviewed. Recently the construction of the TA Low energy Extension (TALE) detector, which consists of an additional fluorescence detector and an infill array, was finished. TALE lowers the energy threshold of TA down to 4 PeV. We are also constructing the TAx4 detector to increase statistics in particular at the highest energies. The current status and the future prospects of these new TAx4 experiments is reported.

scholarly journals Atmospheric aerosol attenuation effect on FD data analysis at the Pierre Auger Observatory

2019 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 05008
Author(s):  
Laura Valore ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Aerosol ◽  
Uv Light ◽  
Pierre Auger Observatory ◽  
Event Analysis ◽  
Air Showers ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
Attenuation Effect ◽  
Laser Facility ◽  
Shower Maximum ◽  
Light Profiles

The atmospheric aerosol monitoring system of the Pierre Auger Observatory has been operating smoothly since 2004. Two laser facilities (Central Laser Facility, CLF and eXtreme Laser Facility, XLF) fire sets of 50 shots four times per hour during FD shifts to measure the highly variable hourly aerosol attenuation to correct the longitudinal UV light profiles of the Extensive Air Showers detected by the Fluorescence Detector. Hourly aerosol attenuation loads (Vertical Aerosol Optical Depth) are used to correct the measured profiles. Two techniques are used to determine the aerosol profiles, which have been proven to be fully compatible. The uncertainty in the VAOD profiles measured consequently leads to an uncertainty on the energy and on the estimation of the depth at the maximum development of a shower (Xmax) of the event in analysis. To prove the validity of the aerosol attenuation measurements used in FD event analysis, the flatness of the ratio of reconstructed SD to FD energy as a function of the aerosol transmission to the depth of shower maximum has been verified.

scholarly journals The Detection of UHECRs with the EUSO-TA Telescope

2019 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 05005
Author(s):  
F. Bisconti ◽  
J.W. Belz ◽  
M.E. Bertaina ◽  
M. Casolino ◽  
T. Ebisuzaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Laser Pulses ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Detection Capability ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
High Energy Cosmic Rays ◽  
Focal Surface ◽  
Fresnel Lenses ◽  
Fluorescence Light

EUSO-TA is a cosmic ray detector developed by the JEM-EUSO (Joint Experiment Missions for Extreme Universe Space Observatory) Collaboration, observing during nighttime the fluorescence light emitted along the path of extensive air showers in the atmosphere. It is installed at the Telescope Array site in Utah, USA, in front of the fluorescence detector station at Black Rock Mesa. It serves as a ground-based pathfinder experiment for future space-based missions. EUSO-TA has an optical system with two Fresnel lenses and a focal surface with 6 × 6 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes with 64 channels each, for a total of 2304 channels. The overall field of view is ∼10.6°× 10.6°. This detector technology allows the detection of cosmic ray events with high spatial resolution, having each channel a field of view of about ∼0.2° × 0.2° and a temporal resolution of 2.5 µs. First observations of ultra-high energy cosmic rays revealed the cosmic ray detection capability of EUSO-TA. The foreseen upgrade of EUSO-TA will improve the efficiency of the detector and will increase the statistics of detected events. In this work we present recent results of the detection capability of EUSO-TA and its limits. Moreover, other results about the analysis of laser pulses, stars and meteors will be discussed.

scholarly journals Cloud monitoring system at Telescope Array site by Visible Fisheye CCD

2019 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 05016
Author(s):  
Ryo Nakamura ◽  
Takayuki Tomida ◽  
Yasunori Saito ◽  
Katsuya Yamazaki
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Rays ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Ccd Camera ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Energy Estimation ◽  
High Energy Cosmic Rays ◽  
Observation Area ◽  
Cloud Monitoring

The Telescope Array (TA) is an international experiment studying ultra-high energy cosmic rays. TA uses the fluorescence detection technique to observe cosmic rays. In order to estimate the energy of cosmic rays with a fluorescence detector (FD), it is necessary to measure the condition of the observation area. Clouds affect the accuracy of the energy estimation. It is necessary to measure the existence of clouds and their direction in the Field Of View (FOV) of the FD. We developed a cloud monitoring system to measure the night sky weather using a CCD camera. In this report, we present our progress on our CCD cloud monitoring system.

scholarly journals Performance optimization of the air shower simulation program for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

2019 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 05041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Arrabito ◽  
Konrad Bernlöhr ◽  
Johan Bregeon ◽  
Gernot Maier ◽  
Philippe Langlois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Cherenkov Telescope ◽  
Cpu Time ◽  
Very High Energy ◽  
Under Construction ◽  
Very High

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), currently under construction, is the next-generation instrument in the field of very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. The first data are expected by the end of 2018, while the scientific operations will start in 2022 for a duration of about 30 years. In order to characterize the instrument response to the Cherenkov light emitted when cosmic ray showers develop in the atmosphere, detailed Monte Carlo simulations will be regularly performed in parallel to CTA operation. The estimated CPU time associated to these simulations is very high, of the order of 200 millions HS06 hours per year. Reducing the CPU time devoted to simulations would allow either to reduce infrastructure cost or to better cover the large phase space. In this paper, we focus on the main computing step (70% of the whole CPU time) implemented in the CORSIKA program, and specifically on the mod-ule responsible for the propagation of Cherenkov photons in the atmosphere. We present our preliminary studies about different options of code optimization, with a particular focus on vectorization facilities (SIMD instructions). Our proposals take care, as automatically as possible, of the hardware portability constraints introduced by the grid computing environment that hosts these simulations. Performance evaluation in terms of running-time and accuracy is provided.

scholarly journals Prospects for strangelet detection with large-scale cosmic ray observatories

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (14) ◽  
pp. 1650103 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Pshirkov
Keyword(s):  
Quark Matter ◽  
High Velocity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Pierre Auger Observatory ◽  
Ultra High Energy ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Strange Matter ◽  
The Earth

Quark matter which contains [Formula: see text]-quarks in addition to [Formula: see text]- and [Formula: see text]- could be stable or metastable. In this case, lumps made of this strange matter, called strangelets, could occasionally hit the Earth. When travelling through the atmosphere they would behave not dissimilar to usual high-velocity meteors with only exception that, eventually, strangelets reach the surface. As these encounters are expected to be extremely rare events, very large exposure is needed for their observation. Fluorescence detectors utilized in large ultra-high energy cosmic ray observatories, such as the Pierre Auger observatory and the Telescope Array are well suited for a task of the detection of these events. The flux limits that can be obtained with the Telescope Array fluorescence detectors could be as low as 2.5 × 10−22 cm−2s−1sr−1 which would improve by two orders of magnitude of the strongest present limits obtained from ancient mica crystals.

scholarly journals Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum with the Pierre Auger Observatory

2019 ◽  
Vol 209 ◽  
pp. 01029
Author(s):  
Daniela Mockler
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Rays ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Pierre Auger Observatory ◽  
Detector Array ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Fluorescence Detector ◽  
High Energy Cosmic Rays ◽  
Systematic Uncertainties ◽  
Surface Detector

The flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays above 3×1017 eV has been measured with unprecedented precision at the Pierre Auger Observatory. The flux of the cosmic rays is determined by four different measurements. The surface detector array provides three data sets, two formed by dividing the data into two zenith angle ranges, and one obtained from a nested, denser detector array. The fourth measurement is obtained with the fluorescence detector. By combing all four data sets, the all-sky flux of cosmic rays is determined. The spectral features are discussed in detail and systematic uncertainties are addressed.

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