61. Status of the AugerPrime upgrade of the Pierre Auger ObservatoryNiraj Dhital, Andrej Filipčič, Gašper Kukec Mezek, Ahmed Saleh, Samo Stanič, Marta Trini, Serguei Vorobiov, Lili Yang, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2019, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: The Pierre Auger Observatory has been very successful in determining many aspects of the highest-energy cosmic rays including, among others, the flux suppression at energies above
4 × 10[sup]19 eV, stringent upper limits on photon and neutrino fluxes at ultra-high energies and an unexpected evolution of the mass composition with energy.
We expect an extension of the frontiers of our knowledge on these aspects from a major
upgrade of the Observatory. The upgrade, known as AugerPrime, will include an addition
of a 4 sq. m Surface Scintillator Detector atop each water-Cherenkov station of the Surface
array. The new detectors will provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to perform
a complementary measurement of the shower particles and thus determine the primary
mass composition with good accuracy on an event-by-event basis. AugerPrime will also
include an upgrade of electronics, installation of the AMIGA Underground Muon Detector and a change of observation mode of the Fluorescence Detector, which will increase its current duty cycle by about 50%. Current status of the upgrade with the main focus on the Surface Scintillator Detectors will be presented, following a brief description of the physics motivation for the upgrade. Ključne besede: ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), Pierre Auger Observatory, AugerPrime upgrade Objavljeno v RUNG: 11.10.2023; Ogledov: 2561; Prenosov: 9 Celotno besedilo (2,05 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
62. Results from the Pierre Auger ObservatoryEsteban Roulet, Andrej Filipčič, Gašper Kukec Mezek, Ahmed Saleh, Samo Stanič, Marta Trini, Serguei Vorobiov, Lili Yang, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2019, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: Some of the results on ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays that have been obtained with the Pierre Auger Observatory are presented. These include measurements of the spectrum, composition and anisotropies. Possible astrophysical scenarios that account for these results are discussed. Ključne besede: ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), Pierre Auger Observatory, UHECR energy spectrum, UHECR anisotropies, UHECR mass composition Objavljeno v RUNG: 11.10.2023; Ogledov: 1754; Prenosov: 8 Celotno besedilo (811,90 KB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
63. Performance of the 433 m surface array of the Pierre Auger ObservatoryG. Silli, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: The Pierre Auger Observatory, located in western Argentina, is the world's largest cosmic-ray observatory. While it was originally built to study the cosmic-ray flux above 10^18.5 eV, several enhancements have reduced this energy threshold. One such enhancement is a surface array composed of a triangular grid of 19 water-Cherenkov detectors separated by 433 m (SD-433) to explore the energies down to about 10^16 eV. We are developing two research lines employing the SD-433. Firstly, we will measure the energy spectrum in a region where previous experiments have shown evidence of the second knee. Secondly, we will search for ultra-high energy photons to study PeV cosmic-ray sources residing in the Galactic center. In this work, we introduce the SD-433 and we show that it is fully efficient above 5×10^16 eV for hadronic primaries with θ<45∘. Using seven years of data, we present the parametrization of the lateral distribution function of measured signals. Finally, we show that an angular resolution of 1.8∘ (0.5∘) can be attained at the lowest (highest) primary energies. Our study lays the goundmark for measurements in the energy range above 10^16 eV by utilizing the SD-433 and thus expanding the scientific output of the Auger surface detector. Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, SD-433, indirect detection, surface detection, low energy extension, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, energy spectrum, photons, multimessenger Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 1693; Prenosov: 6 Celotno besedilo (893,20 KB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
64. Extraction of the Muon Signals Recorded with the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory Using Recurrent Neural NetworksJ.M. Carceller, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: We present a method based on the use of Recurrent Neural Networks to
extract the muon component from the time traces registered with
water-Cherenkov detector (WCD) stations of the Surface Detector of the Pierre
Auger Observatory. The design of the WCDs does not allow to separate the
contribution of muons to the time traces obtained from the WCDs from those of
photons, electrons and positrons for all events. Separating the muon and
electromagnetic components is crucial for the determination of the nature of
the primary cosmic rays and properties of the hadronic interactions at
ultra-high energies.
We trained a neural network to extract the muon and the
electromagnetic components from the WCD traces using a large set
of simulated air showers, with around 450 000 simulated events.
For training and evaluating the performance of the neural network,
simulated events with energies between 10^18.5 eV and 10^20 eV
and zenith angles below 60 degrees were used. We also study the
performance of this method on experimental data of the Pierre
Auger Observatory and show that our predicted muon lateral
distributions agree with the parameterizations obtained by the
AGASA collaboration. Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, indirect detection, surface detection, ground array, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, muons, machine learning, recurrent neural network Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 1951; Prenosov: 8 Celotno besedilo (1,08 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
65. Monte Carlo simulations for the Pierre Auger Observatory using the VO auger grid resourcesE. Santos, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: The Pierre Auger Observatory, located near Malargüe, Argentina, is the world’s largest cosmic-ray detector. It comprises a 3000 km^2 surface detector and 27 fluorescence telescopes, which measure the lateral and longitudinal distributions of the many millions of air-shower particles produced in the interactions initiated by a cosmic ray in the Earth’s atmosphere. The determination of the nature of cosmic rays and studies of the detector performances rely on extensive Monte Carlo simulations describing the physics processes occurring in extensive air showers and the detector responses.
The aim of the Monte Carlo simulations task is to produce and provide the Auger Collaboration with reference libraries used in a wide variety of analyses. All multipurpose detector simulations are currently produced in local clusters using Slurm and HTCondor. The bulk of the shower simulations are produced on the grid, via the Virtual Organization auger, using the DIRAC
middleware. The job submission is made via python scripts using the DIRAC-API.
The Auger site is undergoing a major upgrade, which includes the installation of new types of detectors, demanding increased simulation resources. The novel detection of the radio component of extensive air showers is the most challenging endeavor, requiring dedicated shower simulations with very long computation times, not optimized for the grid production.
For data redundancy, the simulations are stored on the Lyon server and the grid Disk Pool Manager and are accessible to the Auger members via iRODS and DIRAC, respectively. The CERN VMFile System is used for software distribution where, soon, the Auger Offline software will also be made available. Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, indirect detection, fluorescence detection, surface detection, radio detection, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, Monte Carlo simulation, computing resources, compute clusters, high capacity storage Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 1846; Prenosov: 8 Celotno besedilo (1,54 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
66. Status and performance of the underground muon detector of the Pierre Auger ObservatoryA.M. Botti, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: The Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array (AMIGA) is an enhancement of the Pierre Auger Observatory, whose purpose is to lower the energy threshold of the observatory down to 10^16.5 eV, and to measure the muonic content of air showers directly. These measurements will significantly contribute to the determination of primary particle masses in the range between the second knee and the ankle, to the study of hadronic interaction models with air showers, and, in turn, to the understanding of the muon puzzle. The underground muon detector of AMIGA is concomitant to two triangular grids of water-Cherenkov stations with spacings of 433 and 750 m; each grid position is equipped with a 30 m^2 plastic scintillator buried at 2.3 m depth. After the engineering array completion in early 2018 and general improvements to the design, the production phase commenced. In this work, we report on the status of the underground muon detector, the progress of its deployment, and the performance achieved after two years of operation. The detector construction is foreseen to finish by mid-2022. Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, AMIGA, indirect detection, surface detection, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, composition, muon detection Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 1772; Prenosov: 6 Celotno besedilo (2,21 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
67. Satellite Data for Atmospheric Monitoring at the Pierre Auger ObservatoryA. Puyleart, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: Atmospheric monitoring over the 3000 km^2 of the Pierre Auger Observatory can be supplemented by satellite data. Methods for night-time cloud detection and aerosol cross-checking were created using the GOES-16 and Aeolus satellites, respectively. The geostationary GOES-16 satellite provides a 100% up-time view of the cloud cover over the observatory. GOES-13 was used until the end of 2017 for cloud monitoring, but with its retirement a method based on GOES-16 data was developed. The GOES-16 cloud detection method matches the observatory’s vertical laser cloud detection method at a rate of ∼90%. The Aeolus satellite crosses the Pierre Auger Observatory several times throughout the year firing UV-laser shots. The laser beams leave a track of scattered light in the atmosphere that can be observed by the light sensors of the observatory fluorescence telescopes. Using a parametric model of the aerosol concentration, the laser shots can be reconstructed with different combinations of the aerosol parameters. A minimization procedure then yields the parameter set that best describes the aerosol attenuation. Furthermore, the possibility of studying horizontal homogeneity of aerosols across the array is being investigated. Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, indirect detection, fluorescence detection, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, atmospheric monitoring, satellite monitoring, cloud detection, aerosols, UV laser shots Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 1789; Prenosov: 7 Celotno besedilo (2,92 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
68. Operations of the Pierre Auger ObservatoryR. Caruso, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: The construction of the first stage of the Pierre Auger Observatory, designed for research of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, began in 2001 with a prototype system. The Observatory has been collecting data since early 2004 and was completed in 2008. The Observatory is situated at 1400 m above sea level near Malargüe, (Mendoza province) in western Argentina, covering a vast plain of 3000 squared km, known as the Pampa Amarillo. The Observatory consists of a hybrid detector, in which there are 1660 water-Cherenkov stations, forming the Surface Detector (SD) and 27 peripheral atmospheric fluorescence telescopes, comprising the Fluorescence Detector (FD). Over time, the Auger Observatory has been enhanced with different R&D prototypes and is recently being to an important upgrade called AugerPrime. In the present contribution, the general operations of the SD and FD will be described. In particular the FD shift procedure - executable locally in Malargüe or remotely by teams in control rooms abroad within the Collaboration - and the newly SD shifts (operating since 2019) will be explained. Additionally, the SD and FD maintenance campaigns, as well as the data taking and data handling at a basic level, will be reported Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, AugerPrime, indirect detection, fluorescence detectors, surface detectors, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, detector operation Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 2005; Prenosov: 5 Celotno besedilo (6,83 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
69. Update of the Offline Framework for AugerPrimeL. Nellen, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: Work on the Offline Framework for the Pierre Auger Observatory was
started in 2003 to create a universal framework for event
reconstruction and simulation. The development and installation of
the AugerPrime upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory require an
update of the Offline Framework to handle the additional detector
components and the upgraded Surface Detector Electronics.
The design of the Offline Framework proved to be sufficiently
flexible to accommodate the changes needed to be able to handle the
AugerPrime detector. This flexibility has been a goal since the
development of the code started. The framework separates data
structures from processing modules. The detector components map
directly onto data structures. It was straightforward to update or
add processing modules to handle the additional information from
the new detectors.
We will discuss the general structure of the Offline Framework,
explaining the design decisions that provided its flexibility and
point out the few of the features of the original design that
required deeper changes, which could have been avoided in
hindsight. Given the disruptive nature of the AugerPrime upgrade,
the developers decided that the update for AugerPrime was the moment
to change also the language standard for the implementation and move
to the latest version of C++, to break strict backward compatibility
eliminating deprecated interfaces, and to modernize the development
infrastructure. We will discuss the changes that were made to the
structure in general and the modules that were added to the
framework to handle the new detector components. Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, AugerPrime, indirect detection, surface detection, ground array, fluorescence detection, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays, event reconstruction, simulation, software framework Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 2021; Prenosov: 6 Celotno besedilo (1,12 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
70. The upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory with the Scintillator Surface Detector.G. Cataldi, Andrej Filipčič, Jon Paul Lundquist, Samo Stanič, Serguei Vorobiov, Danilo Zavrtanik, Marko Zavrtanik, Lukas Zehrer, 2022, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Opis: Since its full commissioning in 2008, the Pierre Auger Observatory has consistently demonstrated its scientific productivity. A major upgrade of the Surface Detector array (SD) improves the capabilities of measuring the different components of extensive air showers. One of the elements of the upgrade consists of new Scintillator Surface Detectors (SSD) placed on top of the Water-Cherenkov stations of the SD. At the Observatory, the integration of the SSD components and their deployment in the array is well advanced.
In this paper, the main challenges and characteristics of the construction and installation will be reviewed. Started in 2016, an Engineering Array of twelve upgraded stations has been taking data in the field. In March 2019, a preproduction array of 77 SSDs started data acquisition with an adapted version of non-upgraded electronics. It is collecting events and proving the goodness of SSD design. Since December 2020, the upgraded electronics boards are being deployed in the field together with the photomultiplier tubes, increasing the number of SSD detectors, which are taking data continuosly with good stability. In this paper, the-long term performance of a subset of stations acquiring data for more than two years will be discussed. The data collected so far demonstrate the quality of the new detectors and the physics potential of the upgrade project Ključne besede: Pierre Auger Observatory, indirect detection, surface detection, ground array, scintillator surface detectors, ultra-high energy, cosmic rays Objavljeno v RUNG: 04.10.2023; Ogledov: 1540; Prenosov: 6 Celotno besedilo (3,56 MB) Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |