|
Jordan, D., Tain, J. L., Algora, A., Agramunt, J., Domingo-Pardo, C., Gomez-Hornillos, M. B., et al. (2013). Measurement of the neutron background at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory LSC. Astropart Phys., 42, 1–6.
Abstract: The energy distribution of the neutron background was measured for the first time at Hall A of the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. For this purpose we used a novel approach based on the combination of the information obtained with six large high-pressure He-3 proportional counters embedded in individual polyethylene blocks of different size. In this way not only the integral value but also the flux distribution as a function of neutron energy was determined in the range from 1 eV to 10 MeV. This information is of importance because different underground experiments show different neutron background energy dependence. The high sensitivity of the setup allowed to measure a neutron flux level which is about four orders of magnitude smaller that the neutron background at sea level. The integral value obtained is Phi(Hall A) = (3.44 +/- 0.35) x 10(-6) cm(-2) s(-1).
|
|
|
KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Aguilar, J. A., Bigongiari, C., Calvo Diaz-Aldagalan, D., Emanuele, U., Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P., et al. (2013). Detection potential of the KM3NeT detector for high-energy neutrinos from the Fermi bubbles. Astropart Phys., 42, 7–14.
Abstract: A recent analysis of the Fermi Large Area Telescope data provided evidence for a high-intensity emission of high-energy gamma rays with a E-2 spectrum from two large areas, spanning 50 above and below the Galactic centre (the “Fermi bubbles”). A hadronic mechanism was proposed for this gamma-ray emission making the Fermi bubbles promising source candidates of high-energy neutrino emission. In this work Monte Carlo simulations regarding the detectability of high-energy neutrinos from the Fermi bubbles with the future multi-km(3) neutrino telescope KM3NeT in the Mediterranean Sea are presented. Under the hypothesis that the gamma-ray emission is completely due to hadronic processes, the results indicate that neutrinos from the bubbles could be discovered in about one year of operation, for a neutrino spectrum with a cutoff at 100 TeV and a detector with about 6 km(3) of instrumented volume. The effect of a possible lower cutoff is also considered.
|
|
|
Capozziello, S., Harko, T., Koivisto, T. S., Lobo, F. S. N., & Olmo, G. J. (2013). Galactic rotation curves in hybrid metric-Palatini gravity. Astropart Phys., 50-52, 65–75.
Abstract: Generally, the dynamics of test particles around galaxies, as well as the corresponding mass deficit, is explained by postulating the existence of a hypothetical dark matter. In fact, the behavior of the rotation curves shows the existence of a constant velocity region, near the baryonic matter distribution, followed by a quick decay at large distances. In this work, we consider the possibility that the behavior of the rotational velocities of test particles gravitating around galaxies can be explained within the framework of the recently proposed hybrid metric-Palatini gravitational theory. The latter is constructed by modifying the metric Einstein-Hilbert action with an f(R) term in the Palatini formalism. It was shown that the theory unifies local constraints and the late-time cosmic acceleration, even if the scalar field is very light. In the intermediate galactic scale, we show explicitly that in the hybrid metric-Palatini model the tangential velocity can be explicitly obtained as a function of the scalar field of the equivalent scalar-tensor description. The model predictions are compared model with a small sample of rotation curves of low surface brightness galaxies, respectively, and a good agreement between the theoretical rotation Curves and the observational data is found. The possibility of constraining the form of the scalar field and the parameters of the model by using the stellar velocity dispersions is also analyzed. Furthermore, the Doppler velocity shifts are also obtained in terms of the scalar field. All the physical and geometrical quantities and the numerical parameters in the hybrid metric-Palatini model can be expressed in terms of observable/measurable parameters, such as the tangential velocity, the baryonic mass of the galaxy, the Doppler frequency shifts, and the stellar dispersion velocity, respectively. Therefore, the obtained results open the possibility of testing the hybrid metric-Palatini gravitational models at the galactic or extra-galactic scale by using direct astronomical and astrophysical observations.
|
|
|
Pierre Auger Collaboration(Abreu, P. et al), & Pastor, S. (2013). Identifying clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using infrared satellite data. Astropart Phys., 50-52, 92–101.
Abstract: We describe a new method of identifying night-time clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using infrared data from the Imager instruments on the GOES-12 and GOES-13 satellites. We compare cloud. identifications resulting from our method to those obtained by the Central Laser Facility of the Auger Observatory. Using our new method we can now develop cloud probability maps for the 3000 km(2) of the Pierre Auger Observatory twice per hour with a spatial resolution of similar to 2.4 km by similar to 5.5 km. Our method could also be applied to monitor cloud cover for other ground-based observatories and for space-based observatories.
|
|
|
ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Bigongiari, C., Emanuele, U., Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Lambard, G., et al. (2013). Search for a correlation between ANTARES neutrinos and Pierre Auger Observatory UHECRs arrival directions. Astrophys. J., 774(1), 19–7pp.
Abstract: A multimessenger analysis optimized for a correlation of arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and neutrinos is presented and applied to 2190 neutrino candidate events detected in 2007-2008 by the ANTARES telescope and 69 UHECRs observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory between 2004 January 1 and 2009 December 31. No significant correlation is observed. Assuming an equal neutrino flux (E-2 energy spectrum) from all UHECR directions, a 90% CL upper limit on the neutrino flux of 5.0 x 10(-8) GeV cm(-2) s(-1) per source is derived.
|
|