| 1. |
- Abdellaoui, G., et al.
(författare)
-
Meteor studies in the framework of the JEM-EUSO program
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Planetary and Space Science. - : Elsevier. - 0032-0633 .- 1873-5088. ; 143, s. 245-255
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We summarize the state of the art of a program of UV observations from space of meteor phenomena, a secondary objective of the JEM-EUSO international collaboration. Our preliminary analysis indicates that JEM-EUSO, taking advantage of its large FOV and good sensitivity, should be able to detect meteors down to absolute magnitude close to 7. This means that JEM-EUSO should be able to record a statistically significant flux of meteors, including both sporadic ones, and events produced by different meteor streams. Being unaffected by adverse weather conditions, JEM-EUSO can also be a very important facility for the detection of bright meteors and fireballs, as these events can be detected even in conditions of very high sky background. In the case of bright events, moreover, exhibiting some persistence of the meteor train, preliminary simulations show that it should be possible to exploit the motion of the ISS itself and derive at least a rough 3D reconstruction of the meteor trajectory. Moreover, the observing strategy developed to detect meteors may also be applied to the detection of nuclearites, exotic particles whose existence has been suggested by some theoretical investigations. Nuclearites are expected to move at higher velocities than meteoroids, and to exhibit a wider range of possible trajectories, including particles moving upward after crossing the Earth. Some pilot studies, including the approved Mini-EUSO mission, a precursor of JEM-EUSO, are currently operational or in preparation. We are doing simulations to assess the performance of Mini-EUSO for meteor studies, while a few meteor events have been already detected using the ground-based facility EUSO-TA.
|
|
| 2. |
- Abdellaoui, G., et al.
(författare)
-
First observations of speed of light tracks by a fluorescence detector looking down on the atmosphere
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1748-0221 .- 1748-0221. ; 13
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- EUSO-Balloon is a pathfinder mission for the Extreme Universe Space Observatory onboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EUSO). It was launched on the moonless night of the 25(th) of August 2014 from Timmins, Canada. The flight ended successfully after maintaining the target altitude of 38 km for five hours. One part of the mission was a 2.5 hour underflight using a helicopter equipped with three UV light sources (LED, xenon flasher and laser) to perform an inflight calibration and examine the detectors capability to measure tracks moving at the speed of light. We describe the helicopter laser system and details of the underflight as well as how the laser tracks were recorded and found in the data. These are the first recorded laser tracks measured from a fluorescence detector looking down on the atmosphere. Finally, we present a first reconstruction of the direction of the laser tracks relative to the detector.
|
|
| 3. |
- Adriani, O., et al.
(författare)
-
A statistical procedure for the identification of positrons in the PAMELA experiment
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Astroparticle physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0927-6505 .- 1873-2852. ; 34:1, s. 1-11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The PAMELA satellite experiment has measured the cosmic-ray positron fraction between 1.5 GeV and 100 GeV. The need to reliably discriminate between the positron signal and proton background has required the development of an ad hoc analysis procedure. In this paper, a method for positron identification is described and its stability and capability to yield a correct background estimate is shown. The analysis includes new experimental data, the application of three different fitting techniques for the background sample and an estimate of systematic uncertainties due to possible inaccuracies in the background selection. The new experimental results confirm both solar modulation effects on cosmic-rays with low rigidities and an anomalous positron abundance above 10 GeV. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
|
|
| 4. |
- De Simone, N., et al.
(författare)
-
Latitudinal and radial gradients of galactic cosmic ray protons in the inner heliosphere - PAMELA and Ulysses observations
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Astrophysics and Space Sciences Transactions (ASTRA). - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1810-6528 .- 1810-6536. ; 7:3, s. 425-434
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ulysses, launched on 6 October 1990, was placed in an elliptical, high inclined (80.2°) orbit around the Sun, and was switched off in June 2009. It has been the only spacecraft exploring high-latitude regions of the inner heliosphere. The Kiel Electron Telescope (KET) aboard Ulysses measures electrons from 3 MeV to a few GeV and protons and helium in the energy range from 6 MeV/nucleon to above 2 GeV/nucleon. The PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) space borne experiment was launched on 15 June 2006 and is continuously collecting data since then. The apparatus measures electrons, positrons, protons, anti-protons and heavier nuclei from about 100 MeV to several hundreds of GeV. Thus the combination of Ulysses and PAMELA measurements is ideally suited to determine the spatial gradients during the extended minimum of solar cycle 23. For protons in the rigidity interval 1.6-1.8 GV we find a radial gradient of 2.7%/AU and a latitudinal gradient of -0.024%/degree. Although the latitudinal gradient is as expected negative, its value is much smaller than predicted by current particle propagation models. This result is of relevance for the study of propagation parameters in the inner heliosphere.
|
|
| 5. |
- Adriani, O., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurement of the flux of primary cosmic ray antiprotons with energies of 60 MeV to 350 GeV in the PAMELA experiment
- 2013
-
Ingår i: JETP Letters. - 0021-3640 .- 1090-6487. ; 96:10, s. 621-627
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is interesting to measure the antiproton galactic component in cosmic rays in order to study the mechanisms by which particles and antiparticles are generated and propagate in the Galaxy and to search for new sources of, e.g., annihilation or decay of dark matter hypothetical particles. The antiproton spectrum and the ratio of the fluxes of primary cosmic ray antiprotons to protons with energies of 60 MeV to 350 GeV found from the data obtained from June 2006 to January 2010 in the PAMELA experiment are presented. The usage of the advanced data processing method based on the data classification mathematical model made it possible to increase statistics and analyze the region of higher energies than in the earlier works.
|
|
| 6. |
- Adriani, O., et al.
(författare)
-
Measurements of quasi-trapped electron and positron fluxes with PAMELA
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 114, s. A12218-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents precise measurements of the differential energy spectra of quasi-trapped secondary electrons and positrons and their ratio between 80 MeV and 10 GeV in the near-equatorial region (altitudes between 350 km and 600 km). Latitudinal dependences of the spectra are analyzed in detail. The results were obtained from July until November 2006 onboard the Resurs-DK satellite by the PAMELA spectrometer, a general purpose cosmic ray detector system built around a permanent magnet spectrometer and a silicon-tungsten calorimeter.
|
|
| 7. |
- Adriani, O., et al.
(författare)
-
OBSERVATIONS OF THE 2006 DECEMBER 13 AND 14 SOLAR PARTICLE EVENTS IN THE 80 MeV n(-1)-3 GeV n(-1) RANGE FROM SPACE WITH THE PAMELA DETECTOR
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 742:2, s. 102-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the space spectrometer PAMELA observations of proton and helium fluxes during the 2006 December 13 and 14 solar particle events. This is the first direct measurement of the solar energetic particles in space with a single instrument in the energy range from similar to 80 MeV n(-1) up to similar to 3 GeV n(-1). For the December 13 event, measured energy spectra of solar protons and helium are compared with results obtained by neutron monitors and other detectors. Our measurements show a spectral behavior different from those derived from the neutron monitor network. No satisfactory analytical fitting was found for the energy spectra. During the first hours of the December 13 event, solar energetic particles spectra were close to the exponential form, demonstrating rather significant temporal evolution. Solar He with energy up to 1 GeV n(-1) was recorded on December 13. For the December 14 event, energy of solar protons reached 600 MeV, whereas the maximum energy of He was below 100 MeV n(-1). The spectra were slightly bent in the lower energy range and preserved their form during the second event. Differences in the particle flux appearance and temporal evolution of these two events may argue for special conditions leading to the acceleration of solar particles up to relativistic energies.
|
|
| 8. |
- Adriani, O., et al.
(författare)
-
PAMELA Measurements of Cosmic-Ray Proton and Helium Spectra
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 332:6025, s. 69-72
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Protons and helium nuclei are the most abundant components of the cosmic radiation. Precise measurements of their fluxes are needed to understand the acceleration and subsequent propagation of cosmic rays in our Galaxy. We report precision measurements of the proton and helium spectra in the rigidity range 1 gigavolt to 1.2 teravolts performed by the satellite-borne experiment PAMELA (payload for antimatter matter exploration and light-nuclei astrophysics). We find that the spectral shapes of these two species are different and cannot be described well by a single power law. These data challenge the current paradigm of cosmic-ray acceleration in supernova remnants followed by diffusive propagation in the Galaxy. More complex processes of acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays are required to explain the spectral structures observed in our data.
|
|
| 9. |
- Adriani, O., et al.
(författare)
-
PAMELA Results on the Cosmic-Ray Antiproton Flux from 60 MeV to 180 GeV in Kinetic Energy
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 105:12, s. 121101-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The satellite-borne experiment PAMELA has been used to make a new measurement of the cosmic-ray antiproton flux and the antiproton-to-proton flux ratio which extends previously published measurements down to 60 MeV and up to 180 GeV in kinetic energy. During 850 days of data acquisition approximately 1500 antiprotons were observed. The measurements are consistent with purely secondary production of antiprotons in the Galaxy. More precise secondary production models are required for a complete interpretation of the results.
|
|
| 10. |
- Bazilevskaya, G. A., et al.
(författare)
-
Solar proton events at the end of the 23rd and start of the 24th solar cycle recorded in the PAMELA experiment
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Physics. - 1062-8738. ; 77:5, s. 493-496
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The PAMELA magnetic spectrometer was launched into a near-Earth orbit on board the Resurs-DK1 satellite in June 2006; in December 2006, it recorded the last strong solar high-energy particle event of the 23rd solar cycle. A deficit was thereafter observed in solar energetic particle events because of the lengthy solar activity minimum and the weak evolution of the next (24th) solar cycle. As a result, only a few solar events involving protons with energies of more than 100 MeV were recorded between 2010 and 1012. This work presents the preliminary results from measurements of charged particle fluxes in these events, recorded by the Pamela spectrometer.
|
|
