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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Alves, S., Calvo, D., Carretero, V., Gozzini, R., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2023). Hint for a TeV neutrino emission from the Galactic Ridge with ANTARES. Phys. Lett. B, 841, 137951–7pp.
Abstract: Interactions of cosmic ray protons, atomic nuclei, and electrons in the interstellar medium in the inner part of the Milky Way produce gamma-ray flux from the Galactic Ridge. If the gamma-ray emission is dominated by proton and nuclei interactions, a neutrino flux comparable to the gamma-ray flux is expected from the same sky region. Data collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope are used to constrain the neutrino flux from the Galactic Ridge in the 1-100 TeV energy range. Neutrino events reconstructed both as tracks and showers are considered in the analysis and the selection is optimized for the search of an excess in the region |l| < 30 degrees, |b| < 2 degrees. The expected background in the search region is estimated using an off-zone region with similar sky coverage. Neutrino signal originating from a power-law spectrum with spectral index ranging from Gamma nu = 1to 4is simulated in both channels. The observed energy distributions are fitted to constrain the neutrino emission from the Ridge. The energy distributions in the signal region are inconsistent with the background expectation at similar to 96% confidence level. The mild excess over the background is consistent with a neutrino flux with a power law with a spectral index 2.45(-0.34)(+0.22) and a flux normalization dN nu/dE nu= 4.0(-2.0)(+2.7) x 10(-16) GeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) at 40 TeV reference energy. Such flux is consistent with the expected neutrino signal if the bulk of the observed gamma-ray flux from the Galactic Ridge originates from interactions of cosmic ray protons and nuclei with a power-law spectrum extending well into the PeV energy range.
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HAWC Collaboration(Alfaro, R. et al), & Salesa Greus, F. (2022). Gamma/hadron separation with the HAWC observatory. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 1039, 166984–13pp.
Abstract: The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory observes atmospheric showers produced by incident gamma rays and cosmic rays with energy from 300 GeV to more than 100 TeV. A crucial phase in analyzing gamma-ray sources using ground-based gamma-ray detectors like HAWC is to identify the showers produced by gamma rays or hadrons. The HAWC observatory records roughly 25,000 events per second, with hadrons representing the vast majority (> 99.9%) of these events. The standard gamma/hadron separation technique in HAWC uses a simple rectangular cut involving only two parameters. This work describes the implementation of more sophisticated gamma/hadron separation techniques, via machine learning methods (boosted decision trees and neural networks), and summarizes the resulting improvements in gamma/hadron separation obtained in HAWC.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Aiello, S. et al), Alves Garre, S., Calvo, D., Carretero, V., Colomer, M., Gozzini, S. R., et al. (2022). Nanobeacon: A time calibration device for the KM3NeT neutrino telescope. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 1040, 167132–13pp.
Abstract: The KM3NeT Collaboration is currently constructing a multi-site high-energy neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea consisting of matrices of pressure-resistant glass spheres, each holding a set of 31 small-area photomultipliers. The main goals of the telescope are the observation of neutrino sources in the Universe and the measurement of the neutrino oscillation parameters with atmospheric neutrinos. A relative time synchronisation between photomultipliers of the nanosecond order needed to guarantee the required angular resolution of the detector. Due to the large detector volumes to be instrumented by KM3NeT, a cost reduction of the different systems is a priority. To this end, the inexpensive Nanobeacon has been designed and developed by the KM3NeT Collaboration to be used for detector time-calibration studies. At present, more than 600 & nbsp;Nanobeacons have been already produced. The characterisation of the optical pulse and the wavelength emission profile of the devices is critical for the time calibration. The optical pulse rise time has been quantified as less than 3 ns, while the Full Width Half Maximum is less than 6 ns. The wavelength drift, due to a variation of the supply voltage, has also been qualified as lower than 10 nm for the full range of the Nanobeacon. In this paper, more details about the main features of the Nanobeacon design, production and operation, together with the main properties of the light pulse generated are described.
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HAWC Collaboration(Abeysekara, A. U. et al), & Salesa Greus, F. (2023). The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory in Mexico: The primary detector. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 1052, 168253–18pp.
Abstract: The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a second-generation continuously operated, wide field-of-view, TeV gamma-ray observatory. The HAWC observatory and its analysis techniques build on experience of the Milagro experiment in using ground-based water Cherenkov detectors for gamma-ray astronomy. HAWC is located on the Sierra Negra volcano in Mexico at an elevation of 4100 meters above sea level. The completed HAWC observatory principal detector (HAWC) consists of 300 closely spaced water Cherenkov detectors, each equipped with four photomultiplier tubes to provide timing and charge information to reconstruct the extensive air shower energy and arrival direction. The HAWC observatory has been optimized to observe transient and steady emission from sources of gamma rays within an energy range from several hundred GeV to several hundred TeV. However, most of the air showers detected are initiated by cosmic rays, allowing studies of cosmic rays also to be performed. This paper describes the characteristics of the HAWC main array and its hardware.
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