Browsing by Author "Lopes, Luis"
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- A targeted search for point sources of EeV photons with the Pierre Auger ObservatoryPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (399 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Barreira Luz, Ricardo Jorge; Blanco, Alberto; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, João; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoSimultaneous measurements of air showers with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for EeV photon point sources. Several Galactic and extragalactic candidate objects are grouped in classes to reduce the statistical penalty of many trials from that of a blind search and are analyzed for a significant excess above the background expectation. The presented search does not find any evidence for photon emission at candidate sources, and combined p-values for every class are reported. Particle and energy flux upper limits are given for selected candidate sources. These limits significantly constrain predictions of EeV proton emission models from non-transient Galactic and nearby extragalactic sources, as illustrated for the particular case of the Galactic center region.
- An Indication of anisotropy in arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays through comparison to the flux pattern of extragalactic gamma-ray sourcesPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (392 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Barreira Luz, Ricardo Jorge; Blanco, Alberto; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, João; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Riehn, Felix; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoA new analysis of the data set from the Pierre Auger Observatory provides evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays on an intermediate angular scale, which is indicative of excess arrivals from strong, nearby sources. The data consist of 5514 events above with zenith angles up to 80° recorded before 2017 April 30. Sky models have been created for two distinct populations of extragalactic gamma-ray emitters: active galactic nuclei from the second catalog of hard Fermi-LAT sources (2FHL) and starburst galaxies from a sample that was examined with Fermi-LAT. Flux-limited samples, which include all types of galaxies from the Swift-BAT and 2MASS surveys, have been investigated for comparison. The sky model of cosmic-ray density constructed using each catalog has two free parameters, the fraction of events correlating with astrophysical objects, and an angular scale characterizing the clustering of cosmic rays around extragalactic sources. A maximum-likelihood ratio test is used to evaluate the best values of these parameters and to quantify the strength of each model by contrast with isotropy. It is found that the starburst model fits the data better than the hypothesis of isotropy with a statistical significance of 4.0σ, the highest value of the test statistic being for energies above . The three alternative models are favored against isotropy with 2.7σ–3.2σ significance. The origin of the indicated deviation from isotropy is examined and prospects for more sensitive future studies are discussed.
- Autonomous RPCs for a Cosmic Ray ground arrayPublication . Conceição, Ruben; Assis, Pedro; Blanco, Alberto; Carolino, Nuno; Cunha, Orlando; Dobrigkeit, Carola; Ferreira, Miguel; Fonte, Paulo; Lopes, Luis; Luz, Ricardo; Martins, Victor Barbosa; Mendes, Luis; Pereira, Américo; Pimenta, Mário; Sarmento, Raul; Shellard, Ronald; de Souza, Vitor; Tomé, BernardoWe report on the behaviour of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) developed for muon detection in ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) experiments. The RPCs were developed for the MARTA project and were tested on field conditions. These RPCs cover an area of $1.5 \times 1.2\,{m^2}$ and are instrumented with 64 pickup electrodes providing a segmentation better than $20\,$cm. By shielding the detector units with enough slant mass to absorb the electromagnetic component in the air showers, a clean measurement of the muon content is allowed, a concept to be implemented in a next generation of UHECR experiments. The operation of a ground array detector poses challenging demands, as the RPC must operate remotely under extreme environmental conditions, with limited budgets for power and minimal maintenance. The RPC, DAQ, High Voltage and monitoring systems are enclosed in an aluminium-sealed case, providing a compact and robust unit suited for outdoor environments, which can be easily deployed and connected. The RPCs developed at LIP-Coimbra are able to operate using a very low gas flux, which allows running them for few years with a small gas reservoir. Several prototypes have already been built and tested both in the laboratory and outdoors. We report on the most recent tests done in the field that show that the developed RPCs have operated in a stable way for more than 2 years in field conditions.
- Azimuthal Asymmetry in the Risetime of the Surface Detector Signals of the Pierre Auger ObservatoryPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (434 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Blanco, Alberto; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, Joao; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoThe azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of signals in Auger surface detector stations is a source of information on shower development. The azimuthal asymmetry is due to a combination of the longitudinal evolution of the shower and geometrical effects related to the angles of incidence of the particles into the detectors. The magnitude of the effect depends upon the zenith angle and state of development of the shower and thus provides a novel observable, (secθ)max, sensitive to the mass composition of cosmic rays above 3×1018 eV. By comparing measurements with predictions from shower simulations, we find for both of our adopted models of hadronic physics (QGSJETII-04 and EPOS-LHC) an indication that the mean cosmic-ray mass increases slowly with energy, as has been inferred from other studies. However, the mass estimates are dependent on the shower model and on the range of distance from the shower core selected. Thus the method has uncovered further deficiencies in our understanding of shower modeling that must be resolved before the mass composition can be inferred from (secθ)max.
- Calibration of the logarithmic-periodic dipole antenna (LPDA) radio stations at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an octocopterPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (404 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Barreira Luz, Ricardo Jorge; Blanco, Alberto; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, João; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoAn in-situ calibration of a logarithmic periodic dipole antenna with a frequency coverage of 30 MHz to 80 MHz is performed. Such antennas are part of a radio station system used for detection of cosmic ray induced air showers at the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the so-called Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) . The directional and frequency characteristics of the broadband antenna are investigated using a remotely piloted aircraft carrying a small transmitting antenna. The antenna sensitivity is described by the vector effective length relating the measured voltage with the electric-field components perpendicular to the incoming signal direction. The horizontal and meridional components are determined with an overall uncertainty of 7.4(+0.9)(−)(0.3)% and 10.3(+2.8)(−)(1.7)% respectively. The measurement is used to correct a simulated response of the frequency and directional response of the antenna. In addition, the influence of the ground conductivity and permittivity on the antenna response is simulated. Both have a negligible influence given the ground conditions measured at the detector site. The overall uncertainties of the vector effective length components result in an uncertainty of 8.8(+2.1)(−)(1.3)% in the square root of the energy fluence for incoming signal directions with zenith angles smaller than 60°.
- Combined fit of spectrum and composition data as measured by the Pierre Auger ObservatoryPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (399 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Barreira Luz, Ricardo Jorge; Blanco, Alberto; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, João; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoWe present a combined fit of a simple astrophysical model of UHECR sources to both the energy spectrum and mass composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The fit has been performed for energies above 5 ⋅ 10(18) eV, i.e. the region of the all-particle spectrum above the so-called 'ankle' feature. The astrophysical model we adopted consists of identical sources uniformly distributed in a comoving volume, where nuclei are accelerated through a rigidity-dependent mechanism. The fit results suggest sources characterized by relatively low maximum injection energies, hard spectra and heavy chemical composition. We also show that uncertainties about physical quantities relevant to UHECR propagation and shower development have a non-negligible impact on the fit results.
- Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger ObservatoryPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (450 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Blanco, Alberto; Brogueira, Pedro; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, Joao; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoThe Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30–80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy—corrected for geometrical effects—is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.
- Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the ‘ankle’ in the cosmic-ray spectrumPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (425 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Blanco, Alberto; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, João; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoWe report a first measurement for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the ‘ankle’ at lg(E/eV)=18.5–19.0 differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass A>4 . Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavored as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth.
- Impact of Atmospheric Effects on the Energy Reconstruction of Air Showers Observed by the Surface Detectors of the Pierre Auger ObservatoryPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (410 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Barreira Luz, Ricardo Jorge; Blanco, Alberto; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, João; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoAtmospheric conditions, such as the pressure (P), temperature (T) or air density ($\rho \propto P/T$), affect the development of extended air showers initiated by energetic cosmic rays. We study the impact of the atmospheric variations on the reconstruction of air showers with data from the arrays of surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory, considering separately the one with detector spacings of 1500 m and the one with 750 m spacing. We observe modulations in the event rates that are due to the influence of the air density and pressure variations on the measured signals, from which the energy estimators are obtained. We show how the energy assignment can be corrected to account for such atmospheric effects.
- Improved limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos from the Pierre Auger ObservatoryPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (464 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Blanco, Alberto; Brogueira, Pedro; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, Joao; Lopes, Luis; Pimenta, Mário; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoNeutrinos in the cosmic ray flux with energies near 1 EeV and above are detectable with the Surface Detector array (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We report here on searches through Auger data from 1 January 2004 until 20 June 2013. No neutrino candidates were found, yielding a limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos that challenges the Waxman-Bahcall bound predictions. Neutrino identification is attempted using the broad time structure of the signals expected in the SD stations, and is efficiently done for neutrinos of all flavors interacting in the atmosphere at large zenith angles, as well as for “Earth-skimming” neutrino interactions in the case of tau neutrinos. In this paper the searches for downward-going neutrinos in the zenith angle bins 60°–75° and 75°–90° as well as for upward-going neutrinos, are combined to give a single limit. The 90% C.L. single-flavor limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos with an E-2 spectrum in the energy range 1.0×1017 eV–2.5×1019 eV is Eν2dNν/dEν<6.4×10−9 GeV cm−2 s−1 sr−1.
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