231. Search for Anisotropy in the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Spectrum using the Telescope Array Surface DetectorR.U. Abbasi, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2017, other component parts Abstract: The Telescope Array (TA) experiment is located in the western desert of Utah, USA, and observes ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) in the Northern hemisphere. At the highest energies, E>10~EeV, the shape of cosmic ray energy spectrum may carry an imprint of the source density distribution along the line of sight different in different directions of the sky. In this study, we search for such directional variations in the shape of the energy spectrum using events observed with the Telescope Array's surface detector. We divide the TA field of view into two nearly equal-exposure regions: the "on-source" region which we define as ±30∘ of the supergalactic plane containing mostly nearby structures, and the complementary "off-source" region where the sources are further away on average. We compare the UHECR spectra in these regions by fitting them to the broken power law and comparing the resulting parameters. We find that the off-source spectrum has an earlier break at highest energies. The chance probability to obtain such or larger difference in statistically equivalent distributions is estimated as 6.2±1.1×10−4 (3.2σ) by a Monte-Carlo simulation. The observed difference in spectra is in a reasonable quantitative agreement with a simplified model that assumes that the UHECR sources trace the galaxy distribution from the 2MRS catalogue, primary particles are protons and the magnetic deflections can be neglected.
Keywords: cosmic radiation: UHE, detector: surface, cosmic radiation: spectrum, cosmic radiation: energy spectrum, deflection: magnetic, numerical calculations: Monte Carlo, anisotropy
Published in RUNG: 27.04.2020; Views: 2871; Downloads: 98
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232. Depth of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Induced Air Shower Maxima Measured by the Telescope Array Black Rock and Long Ridge FADC Fluorescence Detectors and Surface Array in Hybrid ModeR.U. Abbasi, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2018, original scientific article Abstract: The Telescope Array (TA) observatory utilizes fluorescence detectors and surface detectors (SDs) to observe air showers produced by ultra high energy cosmic rays in Earth's atmosphere. Cosmic-ray events observed in this way are termed hybrid data. The depth of air shower maximum is related to the mass of the primary particle that generates the shower. This paper reports on shower maxima data collected over 8.5 yr using the Black Rock Mesa and Long Ridge fluorescence detectors in conjunction with the array of SDs. We compare the means and standard deviations of the observed Xmax distributions with Monte Carlo Xmax distributions of unmixed protons, helium, nitrogen, and iron, all generated using the QGSJet II-04 hadronic model. We also perform an unbinned maximum likelihood test of the observed data, which is subjected to variable systematic shifting of the data Xmax distributions to allow us to test the full distributions, and compare them to the Monte Carlo to see which elements are not compatible with the observed data. For all energy bins, QGSJet II-04 protons are found to be compatible with TA hybrid data at the 95% confidence level after some systematic Xmax shifting of the data. Three other QGSJet II-04 elements are found to be compatible using the same test procedure in an energy range limited to the highest energies where data statistics are sparse.
Keywords: acceleration of particles, astrochemistry, astroparticle physics, cosmic rays, elementary particles, UHECR, composition
Published in RUNG: 27.04.2020; Views: 3135; Downloads: 0
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233. Evidence for Declination Dependence of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Ray Spectrum in the Northern HemisphereR.U. Abbasi, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2018, other component parts Abstract: The energy of the ultrahigh energy spectral cutoff was measured, integrating over the northern hemisphere sky, by the Telescope Array (TA) collaboration, to be 10^19.78±0.06 eV, in agreement with the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) experiment, whereas the Pierre Auger experiment, integrating over the southern hemisphere sky, measured the cutoff to be at 10^19.62±0.02 eV. An 11% energy scale difference between the TA and Auger does not account for this difference. However, in comparing the spectra of the Telescope Array and Pierre Auger experiments in the band of declination common to both experiments ( −15.7∘<δ<24.8∘ ) we have found agreement in the energy of the spectral cutoff. While the Auger result is essentially unchanged, the TA cutoff energy has changed to 10^19.59±0.06 eV. In this paper we argue that this is an astrophysical effect.
Keywords: Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, UHECR, Cosmic Rays, Anisotropy, Energy Spectrum
Published in RUNG: 27.04.2020; Views: 2991; Downloads: 92
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234. Testing a Reported Correlation between Arrival Directions of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays and a Flux Pattern from nearby Starburst Galaxies using Telescope Array DataR.U. Abbasi, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2018, original scientific article Abstract: The Pierre Auger Collaboration (Auger) recently reported a correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies above 39 EeV and the flux pattern of 23 nearby starburst galaxies (SBGs). In this Letter, we tested the same hypothesis using cosmic rays detected by the Telescope Array experiment (TA) in the 9-year period from May 2008 to May 2017. Unlike the Auger analysis, we did not optimize the parameter values but kept them fixed to the best-fit values found by Auger, namely 9.7% for the anisotropic fraction of cosmic rays assumed to originate from the SBGs in the list and 12.9◦ for the angular scale of the correlations. The energy threshold we adopted is 43 EeV, corresponding to 39 EeV in Auger when taking into account the energy-scale difference between two experiments. We find that the TA data is compatible with isotropy to within 1.1σ and with the Auger result to within 1.4σ, meaning that it is not capable to discriminate between these two hypotheses.
Keywords: astroparticle physics, cosmic rays, galaxies: starburst, methods: data analysis
Published in RUNG: 27.04.2020; Views: 2922; Downloads: 125
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235. Mass composition of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays with the Telescope Array Surface Detector dataR.U. Abbasi, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: The results on ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) mass composition obtained with the Telescope Array surface detector are presented. The analysis employs the Boosted Decision tree (BDT) multivariate analysis built upon 14 observables related to both the properties of the shower front and the lateral distribution function. The multivariate classifier is trained with Monte-Carlo sets of events induced by the primary protons and iron. An average atomic mass of UHECR is presented for energies 10^18.0–10^20.0 eV. The average atomic mass of primary particles shows no significant energy dependence and corresponds to ⟨lnA⟩=2.0±0.1 (stat.)±0.44(syst.). The result is compared to the mass composition obtained by the Telescope Array with Xmax technique along with the results of other experiments. Possible systematic errors of the method are discussed.
Keywords: UHECR, Cosmic rays, composition
Published in RUNG: 27.04.2020; Views: 2773; Downloads: 0
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237. On-orbit performance of the top and bottom counting detectors for the ISS-CREAM experiment on the international space stationS.C. Kang, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) instrument on the International Space Station (ISS) is an experiment to study origin, propagation, acceleration and elemental composition of cosmic rays. The Top Counting Detector (TCD) and Bottom Counting Detector (BCD) are parts of the detector suite of the ISS-CREAM experiment and are designed to separate electrons and protons for studying electron and gamma-ray physics. In addition, the TCD/BCD provide a redundant trigger to that of the calorimeter and a low energy trigger to the ISS-CREAM instrument. After launching, the TCD/BCD trigger was found to be working well. Also, the TCD/BCD have been stable and their hit positions were confirmed to be well matched with other detectors on board. We present the performance and status of the TCD/BCD in flight.
Keywords: ISS-CREAM, CREAM, Cosmic rays, TCD/BCD
Published in RUNG: 27.04.2020; Views: 2649; Downloads: 111
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238. Study of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray composition using Telescope Array’s Middle Drum detector and surface array in hybrid modeR.U. Abbasi, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2015, original scientific article Abstract: Previous measurements of the composition of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) made by the High Resolution Fly’s Eye (HiRes) and Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) are seemingly contradictory, but utilize different detection methods, as HiRes was a stereo detector and PAO is a hybrid detector. The five year Telescope Array (TA) Middle Drum hybrid composition measurement is similar in some, but not all, respects in methodology to PAO, and good agreement is evident between data and a light, largely protonic, composition when comparing the measurements to predictions obtained with the QGSJetII-03 and QGSJet-01c models. These models are also in agreement with previous HiRes stereo measurements, confirming the equivalence of the stereo and hybrid methods. The data is incompatible with a pure iron composition, for all models examined, over the available range of energies. The elongation rate and mean values of are in good agreement with Pierre Auger Observatory data. This analysis is presented using two methods: data cuts using simple geometrical variables and a new pattern recognition technique.
Keywords: Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays, Cosmic ray composition, Atmospheric fluorescence, Extensive air shower array, Hybrid, Telescope Array
Published in RUNG: 24.04.2020; Views: 3019; Downloads: 0
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239. Evidence of Intermediate-scale Energy Spectrum Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays E ≥ 10^19.2 eV with the Telescope Array Surface DetectorR.U. Abbasi, Jon Paul Lundquist, 2018, original scientific article Abstract: Evidence for an intermediate-scale energy spectrum anisotropy has been found in the arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays for energies greater than 10^19.2 eV in the northern hemisphere using 7 years of Telescope Array surface detector data. A relative energy distribution test is done comparing events inside oversampled spherical caps of equal exposure, to those outside, using the Poisson likelihood ratio. The center of maximum significance is at 9h16m, 45°, and has a deficit of events with energies 10^19.2 ≤ E < 10^19.75 eV and an excess for E ≥ 10^19.75 eV. The post-trial probability of this energy anisotropy, appearing by chance anywhere on an isotropic sky, is found by Monte Carlo simulation to be 9 × 10−5 (3.74σ global).
Keywords: astroparticle physics, cosmic rays, anisotropy, large-scale structure of universe
Published in RUNG: 24.04.2020; Views: 3019; Downloads: 196
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240. Eenergy Anisotropies of Proton-like Ultra-High Energy Cosmic RaysJon Paul Lundquist, doctoral dissertation Abstract: Evidence of a number of interrelated energy dependent intermediate-scale anisotropies have been found in the arrival directions of proton-like ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) using 7 years of Telescope Array (TA) data. These are found using analysis techniques that have been developed for this dissertation. Using surface detector (SD) data the reported TA “Hotspot” excess, E≥10^19.75 eV, is found to correspond to a deficit, or “Coldspot,” of events for 10^19.1≤E<10^19.75 eV at 142◦R.A., 40◦ Dec. The global post-trial significance of this Hot/Coldspot event density asymmetry is found to be 5.1σ (p = 1.56 × 10−7). This Hot/Coldspot feature is the combination, at the same location, of an energy spectrum anisotropy with a 3.74σ significance for energies E≥10^19.2 eV and an energy-distance correlation with a 3.34σ significance for energies E≥1019.3 eV. The UHECR Hotspot alone is analyzed using a new kernel density estimation (KDE) anisotropy method and found to have a 3.65σ significance (E≥1019.75 eV). These features suggest energy dependent magnetic deflection of UHECR. The composition of UHECR primary particles is also studied using a new “Quality Factor Analysis” pattern recognition event selection for fluorescence detectors (FD). This minimizes the energy dependence of the resolution of extensive air shower (EAS) Xmax depth. Also, a new statistical method making use of all higher moments than the mean shower depth distribution is developed – as there is large disagreement in between all EAS simulation models. There is also an uncertainty, just as large, for any particular model, given uncertainties in particle interaction parameters extrapolated to much higher energies from Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data. The TA hybrid FD/SD data is found to be statistically compatible with a pure proton composition, though not incompatible with a light mixed composition, for all models of EAS above E≥10^18.4 eV. There is also no statistically significant evidence of the composition getting heavier at the highest energies. The combined information of a proton-like light composition, and anisotropy evidence suggestive of energy dependent magnetic deflection of UHECR, should be useful for informing future source searches and models of intergalactic propagation through magnetic fields.
Keywords: cosmic rays, UHECR, composition, anisotropy
Published in RUNG: 24.04.2020; Views: 2903; Downloads: 0
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