A new limit on the resonant absorption of solar axions obtained via 169Tm-containing bolometer

A newly developed experimental technique based on 169Tm-containing cryogenic bolometer detector was employed in order to perform the search for solar axions. The inclusion of target material into the active detector volume allowed for significant increase in sensitivity to axion parameters. A short 6.6 days measurement campaign with 8.18 g detector crystal yielded the following limits on axion couplings: | g A γ ( g A N 0 + g A N 3 ) ≤ 1.44 × 10 − 14 GeV − 1 and | g A e ( g A N 0 + g A N 3 ) ≤ 2.81 × 10 − 16 . The achieved results demonstrate high scalability potential of presented experimental approach.

The Application of Electromagnetic Sensors for Determination of Cherenkov Cone Inside and in the Vicinity of the Detector Volume in Any Environment Known

The neutrinos of cosmic radiation, due to interaction with any known medium in which the Cherenkov detector is used, produce energy radiation phenomena in the form of a Cherenkov cone, in very large frequency spectrum. These neutrinos carry with them the information about the phenomena that produced them and by detecting the electromagnetic energies generated by the Cherenkov cone, we can find information about the phenomena that formed in the universe, at a much greater distance, than possibility of actually detection with current technologies. At present, a very high number of sensors for detection electromagnetic energy is required. Thus, some sensors may detect very low energy levels, which can lead to the erroneous determination of the Cherenkov cone, thus leading to information errors. As a novelty, we propose, to use these sensors for determination of the dielectrically permittivity of any known medium in which the Cherenkov detector is used, by preliminary measurements, the subsequent simulation of the data and the reconstruction of the Cherenkov cone, leading to a significant reduction of problems and minimizing the number of sensors, implicitly the cost reductions. At the same time, we offer the possibility of reconstructing the Cherenkov cone outside the detector volume.

Improvement of the minimum detectable activity of a free release monitor for small articles

This paper presents results of the development of a small-sized free release monitor designed for the release of materials, various hand tools, equipment and instruments of nuclear enterprises and laboratories staff that weight up to 50 kg, from radiation control. To increase the registration sensitivity of controlled radionuclides, 12 scintillation units based on a 3"x3" sized NaI (Tl) crystal were used as gamma-radiation detector. Volume of the measuring chamber of the monitor amounted to 200 liters, the thickness of the low-background shielding was chosen 50 mm. The values of the minimum detectable activity of the designed monitor for the point sources 123I, 131I, 99mTc, 18F were better than 100 Bq with measurement time not exceeding 60 s.

Searches for exotica and dark matter with neutrino telescopes

Neutrino telescopes are designed to search for neutrino sources in the Universe, exploiting the Cherenkov light emitted along the path of the charged particles produced in interactions occurring close to the detector volume. Their huge size and the shield offered by large water or ice overburden make them excellent tools to search for exotic and rare particles in the cosmic radiation. In particular, they are sensitive to particles not predicted by the Standard Model that could be messenger of new physics. An overview of the experimental scenario and the relevant results obtained looking for magnetic monopoles, dark matter candidates and other exotic relic particles with neutrino telescopes is given, together with the description of possible new perspectives. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Topological avatars of new physics’.

Atmospheric Muons Measured with IceCube

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov detector in the deep ice at the geographic South Pole. The dominant event yield is produced by penetrating atmospheric muons with energies above several 100 GeV. Due to its large detector volume, IceCube provides unique opportunities to study atmospheric muons with large statistics in detail. Measurements of the energy spectrum and the lateral separation distribution of muons offer insights into hadronic interactions during the air shower development and can be used to test hadronic models. We will present an overview of various measurements of atmospheric muons in IceCube, including the energy spectrum of muons between 10 TeV and 1 PeV. This is used to derive an estimate of the prompt contribution of muons, originating from the decay of heavy (mainly charmed) hadrons and unflavored mesons. We will also present measurements of the lateral separation distributions of TeV muons between 150m and 450m for several initial cosmic ray energies between 1 PeV and 16 PeV. Finally, the angular distribution of atmospheric muons in IceCube will be discussed.

Properties of the Lunar Detection Mode for ZeV-Scale Particles with LOFAR

The steep decrease of the flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) provides a challenge to answer the long standing question about their origin and nature. A significant increase in detector volume may be achieved byemploying Earth’s moon as a detector that is read out using existing Earth-bound radio telescopes by searching for the radio pulses emitted by the particle shower in the lunar rock. In this contribution we will report on the properties of a corresponding detection mode currently under development for the LOFAR Radio telescope.