Due to be launched in late 2021, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer mission designed to perform polarization measurements in the 2–8 keV band, complemented with imaging, spectroscopy and timing capabilities. At the heart of the focal plane is a set of three polarization-sensitive Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD), each based on a custom ASIC acting as a charge-collecting

The production spectrum of high-energy muons as a function of depth in the atmosphere is relevant for understanding properties of event rates in deep detectors. For a given atmospheric profile, cascades of heavy nuclei develop at higher altitude than proton showers, giving rise to larger separation of muons at depth. For a given type of primary cosmic ray, seasonal variations in muon rates reflect

Large fraction of studies of active galactic nuclei objects is based on performing follow-up observations using high-sensitivity instruments of high flux states observed by monitoring instruments (the so-called Target of Opportunity, ToO). Due to transient nature of such enhanced states it is essential to quickly evaluate if such a ToO event should be followed. We use a machine learning method to assess

We present the results of the long-term multiwavelength observations of the TeV-detected blazar PKS 2005−489. During the 15-yr period of the monitoring with X-ray Telescope (XRT) onboard Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the most extreme flaring event was recorded in 2009 June when the 2–10 keV flux boosted by a factor of ∼50 compared to the previous observation with the same instrument and was comparable

The main aim of this work is to construct an analytical expression of greybody factor (GBF) for regular Bardeen black hole (BH) surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter (PFDM). To this end, we first analyze the profile of effective potential by transforming the radial part of Klein–Gordon (KG) equation into standard Schrödinger equation. Afterwards, the two asymptotic solutions are found in distinct

Decays of mesons produced in cosmic ray induced air showers in Earth’s atmosphere can lead to a flux of light exotic particles which can be detected in underground experiments. We evaluate the energy spectra of the light neutral mesons π0, η, ρ0, ω, ϕ and J∕ψ produced in interactions of cosmic ray protons and helium nuclei with air using QCD inspired event generators. Summing up the mesons produced

Using Monte Carlo simulation of extensive air showers, we showed that the maximum depth of showers, Xmax can be estimated using P=Q(100)∕Q(200), the ratio of Cherenkov photon densities at 100 and 200 meters from the shower core, which is known as the steepness parameter of the lateral distribution of Cherenkov radiation on the ground. A simple quadratic model has been fitted to a set of data from simulated

Using a setup for testing a prototype for a satellite-borne cosmic-ray ion detector, we have operated a stack of scintillator and silicon detectors on top of the Princess Sirindhorn Neutron Monitor (PSNM), an NM64 detector at 2560-m altitude at Doi Inthanon, Thailand (18.59∘N, 98.49∘E). Monte Carlo simulations have indicated that about 15% of the neutron counts by PSNM are due to interactions (mostly

The most powerful particle accelerators operating in thunderclouds send in direction of the earth's millions and millions of electrons, gamma rays, and rarely neutrons. The emerging electrical structures in the atmosphere which make it possible to accelerate seed electrons from an ambient population of cosmic rays up to ≈70 MeV are still an area of intensive research. We discuss the main scenarios

At any epoch, particle physics must be open to completely unexpected discoveries, and that is reason enough to extend the reach of searches for ultra-high energy (UHE) photons. The observation of a population of photons with energies E≳100EeV would for example imply the existence of either a completely new physical phenomena, or particle acceleration mechanisms heretofore never seen or imagined. But

The standard Λ Cold Dark Matter cosmological model provides an amazing description of a wide range of astrophysical and astronomical data. However, there are a few big open questions, that make the standard model look like a first-order approximation to a more realistic scenario that still needs to be fully understood. In this Letter of Interest we will list a few important goals that need to be addressed

The current cosmological probes have provided a fantastic confirmation of the standard Λ Cold Dark Matter cosmological model, which has been constrained with unprecedented accuracy. However, with the increase of the experimental sensitivity, a few statistically significant tensions between different independent cosmological datasets emerged. While these tensions can be in part the result of systematic

A precise measurement of the curvature of the Universe is of prime importance for cosmology since it could not only confirm the paradigm of primordial inflation but also help in discriminating between different early-Universe scenarios. Recent observations, while broadly consistent with a spatially flat standard Λ Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) model, show tensions that still allow (and, in some cases, even

The standard Λ Cold Dark Matter cosmological model provides a wonderful fit to current cosmological data, but a few statistically significant tensions and anomalies were found in the latest data analyses. While these anomalies could be due to the presence of systematic errors in the experiments, they could also indicate the need for new physics beyond the standard model. In this Letter of Interest

We present a pioneering estimate of the global yearly greenhouse gas emissions of a large-scale Astrophysics experiment over several decades: the Giant Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND). The project aims at detecting ultra-high energy neutrinos with a 200,000 radio antenna array over 200,000 km2 as of the 2030s. With a fully transparent methodology based on open source data, we calculate the emissions

In 1967, the Yu.G. Shafer Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Aeronomy developed a global survey method that allowed application of the global network of neutron monitors as a single device, simultaneously oriented to various directions and providing information on distribution of cosmic rays per each measured moment. By analogy with this approach, a method for calculation of anisotropy parameters

In this paper a new semi-analytical model is used to describe the evolution of air showers in the atmosphere. The model is based on the interpretation of the shower as a branching processes which can be well described by generating functions. The method as introduced has a very general use and in this paper it is applied to study the evolution of the number of muons in the shower. The mean and the

The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is an Antarctic balloon experiment designed for low-energy (0.1–0.3 GeV/n) cosmic antinuclei as signatures of dark matter annihilation or decay. GAPS is optimized to detect low-energy antideuterons, as well as to provide unprecedented sensitivity to low-energy antiprotons and antihelium nuclei. The novel GAPS antiparticle detection technique, based on the

Deuterium represents the only bound isotope in the universe with atomic mass number A=2. Motivated by the possibility of other universes, where the strong force could be stronger, this paper considers the effects of bound diprotons and dineutrons on stars. We find that the existence of additional stable nuclei with A=2 has relatively modest effects on the universe. Previous work indicates that Big

The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass experiment for the International Space Station (ISS-CREAM) was installed on the ISS to measure high-energy cosmic-ray elemental spectra for the charge range Z=1 to 26. The ISS-CREAM instrument includes a tungsten scintillating-fiber calorimeter preceded by a carbon target for energy measurements. The carbon target induces hadronic interactions, and showers of secondary

COSINE-100 is a dark matter detection experiment that uses NaI(Tl) crystal detectors operating at the Yangyang underground laboratory in Korea since September 2016. Its main goal is to test the annual modulation observed by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment with the same target medium. Recently DAMA/LIBRA has released data with an energy threshold lowered to 1 keV, and the persistent annual modulation behavior

New deep learning techniques present promising new analysis methods for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) such as the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). In particular, the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) could provide a direct event classification method that uses the entire information contained within the Cherenkov shower image, bypassing the need to Hillas parameterise

We have used the recently published varying physical constants (VPC) approach in an attempt to resolve the primordial lithium abundance problem. The value of the ratio of 7Li to hydrogen 7Li/H = 1.400 ( ± 0.023) × 10−10 we have calculated using this approach is about four times lower than that estimated using the standard lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, and is consistent with the

We present the results of multiband observations of the blazar S5 0716+714 intra-night variability performed during 23 nights in the period from 04.2014 through 04.2015. The bluer-when-brighter trend is detected in both intra- and inter-night data. We assume that the jet component crossing the region where the medium becomes transparent to the optical radiation forms almost all optical emission of

Several attempts to detect extensive air showers (EAS) induced by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays have been conducted in the last decade based on the molecular Bremsstrahlung radiation (MBR) at GHz frequencies from quasi-elastic collisions of ionisation electrons left in the atmosphere after the passage of the cascade of particles. These attempts have led to the detection of a handful of signals only

The Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT) is a telescope concept proposed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array. It employs a dual-mirror optical design to remove comatic aberrations over an 8 ∘ field of view, and a high-density silicon photomultiplier camera (with a pixel resolution of 4 arcmin) to record Cherenkov emission from cosmic ray and gamma-ray initiated particle cascades in the atmosphere. The

Gravitational lensing caused by the gravitational field of massive objects has been studied and acknowledged for a long period of time. In this paper, however, we propose a different mechanism where the bending of light stems from the non-linear interaction of gravitational, electromagnetic and axion waves that creates the high curvature zone in the space-time fabric. The striking distinction in the

Microquasars (MQs) are binary systems composed by a star feeding mass to a compact object through an accretion disk. The compact object, usually a black hole, launches oppositely directed jets which are typically observed in our galaxy through their broadband electromagnetic emission. These jets are considered potential galactic neutrino sources. MQs can also have been formed by the first generations

The VERITAS array is a set of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) sensitive to gamma rays at energies between 85 GeV and 30 TeV. Each telescope is based on a tessellated mirror, 12 metres in diameter, which reflects light from a gamma-ray-induced air shower to form an image on a pixellated 'camera' comprising 499 photomultiplier tubes. The image brightness is the primary measure of

Abstract Tau neutrinos with energies in the PeV-EeV range produce up-going extensive air showers (UEAS) if they interact underground close enough to the surface of the Earth. This work studies detectability of the UEAS with a system of fluorescence telescopes overlooking dark, low reflectivity, area on the ground up to the distances 20-50 km from mountain top(s). Such system could provide sensitivity

Abstract Several experiments have been conducted in the YangYang Underground Laboratory in the Republic of Korea such as the search for dark matter and the search for neutrinoless double beta decay, which require an extremely low background event rate due to the detector system and the environment. In underground experiments, neutrons have been identified as one of the background sources. The neutron

Abstract We present an updated estimate of the cosmic radio background (CRB) and the corresponding attenuation lengths for ultra-high energy photons. This new estimate provides associated uncertainties as a function of frequency derived from observational constraints on key physical parameters. We also present the expected variation in the spectrum of the CRB as a function of these parameters, as well

We develop a general formalism to treat reflection of spherical electromagnetic waves from a spherical surface. Our main objective is interpretation of radio wave signals produced by cosmic ray interactions with Earth's atmosphere which are observed by the Antarctica based ANITA detector after reflection off the ice surface. The incident wave is decomposed into plane waves and each plane wave is reflected

Abstract XL-Calibur is a hard X-ray (15-80 keV) polarimetry mission operating from a stabilised balloon-borne platform in the stratosphere. It builds on heritage from the X-Calibur mission, which observed the accreting neutron star GX 301 - 2 from Antarctica, between December 29th 2018 and January 1st 2019. The XL-Calibur design incorporates an X-ray mirror, which focusses X-rays onto a polarimeter

We present a new approach for the identification of ultra-high energy cosmic rays from sources using dynamic graph convolutional neural networks. These networks are designed to handle sparsely arranged objects and to exploit their short- and long-range correlations. Our method searches for patterns in the arrival directions of cosmic rays, which are expected to result from coherent deflections in cosmic

Abstract The theory termed ‘special relativity (SR) with a preferred frame’ incorporates the preferred frame into special relativity while retaining the fundamental space-time symmetry which, in the standard SR, manifests itself as Lorentz invariance. In this paper, the theory is extended to particle dynamics based on the concept of the ‘modified spacetime symmetry’ which allows to develop the theory

Abstract This work explains a delayed-coincidence method to perform MeV-scale neutrino spectroscopy with electron-neutrino capture on gallium. An electron-neutrino possessing energy greater than 407.6 keV can be captured on gallium and produce a daughter germanium nucleus at its first excited state with a mean lifetime of 114 ns. The released electron and gammas before the first excited state of Ge

Abstract The surface 210Pb is one of the main background sources for dark-matter-search experiments using NaI(Tl) crystals, and its spectral features associated with the beta-decay events for energies less than 60 keV depends on the depth distribution of 210Pb in the surface of an NaI(Tl) crystal. Therefore, we must understand the profile of surface 210Pb to precisely model the background measurement

We performed a search for event bursts in the XMASS-I detector associated with 11 gravitational-wave events detected during LIGO/Virgo’s O1 and O2 periods. Simple and loose cuts were applied to the data collected in the full 832 kg xenon volume around the detection time of each gravitational-wave event. The data were divided into four energy regions ranging from keV to MeV. Without assuming any particular

Fanaroff-Riley (FR) 0 radio galaxies compose a new class of radio galaxies, which are usually weaker but much more numerous than the well-established class of FR 1 and FR 2 galaxies. The latter classes have been proposed as sources of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with energies reaching up to ∼1020 eV. Based on this conjecture, the possibility of UHECR acceleration and survival in an FR

Mixing between photons and low-mass bosons is well considered in the literature. The particular case of interest here is with hypothetical gravitons, as we are concerned with the direct conversion of gravitons into photons in the presence of an external magnetic field. We examine whether such a process could produce direct low-frequency radio counterparts to gravitational-wave events. Our work differs

We consider that electromagnetic pulses produced in the jets of the innermost part of the accretion disk accelerate charged particles (protons, ions, electrons) to very high energies including energies above 1020 eV for the case of protons and nucleus and 1012-15 eV for electrons by electromagnetic wave-particle interaction. The episodic eruptive accretion in the disk by the magneto-rotational instability

Focal plane X-ray polarimetry is intended for relatively bright sources with a negligible impact of background. However this might not be always possible for IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) when observing faint extended sources like supernova remnants. We present for the first time the expected background of IXPE by Monte Carlo simulation and its impact on real observations of point and extended

We are currently developing Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors for a next-generation space-borne hard X-ray telescope which can follow up on the highly successful NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) mission. Since the launch of NuSTAR in 2012, there have been major advances in the area of X-ray mirrors, and state-of-the-art X-ray mirrors can improve on NuSTAR’s angular resolution of

In-situ γ-ray measurements were performed using a portable high purity germanium spectrometer in Hall-C at the second phase of the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL-II) to characterise the environmental radioactivity background below 3 MeV and provide ambient γ-ray background parameters for next generation of China Dark Matter Experiment (CDEX). The integral count rate of the spectrum was

Abstract We re-examine the longstanding disagreement between the SIMPLE and PICASSO superheated liquid-based dark matter search projects regarding discrimination between neutron- and α-induced bubble nucleation events, and its dependence on the distribution of liquid droplet sizes. A simple analysis based on (1) the interaction of α and neutrons with the detector droplet size distribution, combined

We report on searches for neutrinos and antineutrinos from astrophysical sources performed with the Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. Electron antineutrinos ($\bar{\nu}_e$) are detected in an organic liquid scintillator through the inverse $\beta$-decay reaction. In the present work we set model-independent upper limits in the energy range 1.8-16.8 MeV on neutrino

Abstract In R-parity violating supersymmetry, the gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is a good candidate for dark matter, with the interesting characteristic to be detectable through γ-ray telescopes. We extend this analysis considering an axino next-to-LSP (NLSP) as a coexisting dark matter particle contributing with a detectable signal in the γ-ray spectrum. The analysis is carried

The Fermi-LAT telescope has measured the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) generated by the ensemble of all extragalactic sources. The energy distribution of the EGB is well described as a power-law with a spectral index approximately equal to 2.3, and an exponential cutoff, that is consistent with being the effect of absorption of high energy photons assuming an emission that is an unbroken

Abstract The dynamics of massive particles near the horizons of charged rotating and charged accelerating black holes is studied. This is done, in particular, from the point of view of studying the screening effect of Hawking radiation and shielding of the Penrose process for these two black holes. We do this by identifying the forbidden regions which are the regions where the particles have negative

We review the general construction of distribution functions for gases of fermions and bosons (photons), emphasizing the similarities and differences between both cases. The central object which describes polarization for photons is a tensor-valued distribution function, whereas for fermions it is a vector-valued one. The collision terms of Boltzmann equations for fermions and bosons also possess the

In the standard model of cosmology, Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) sky is expected to show no symmetry preferences. Following our previous studies, we explore the presence of any particular parity preference in the latest full-mission CMB temperature maps from ESA's Planck probe. Specifically, in this work, we will probe (a)symmetry in power between even and odd multipoles of CMB via it's angular

The LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter search aims to achieve a sensitivity to the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section down to (1-2) $\times$ $10^{-12}$ pb at a WIMP mass of 40 GeV/$c^2$. This paper describes the simulations framework that, along with radioactivity measurements, was used to support this projection, and also to provide mock data for validating reconstruction and analysis software. Of particular

Baryon asymmetry via non-thermal leptogenesis is explained in the framework of the standard Coleman-Weinberg inflationary model. The CP-violation asymmetry factor arises from the out-of-equilibrium decays of heavy right-handed neutrinos in supersymmetric SO(10) GUT models. All quantities of interest are computed in terms of the two parameters of the inflationary potential, namely the vacuum expectation

Abstract Prescriptions for electron injection into the diffusive shock acceleration process are required in many practical considerations of cosmic-ray astrophysics, particularly in modeling of the synchrotron emission of astrophysical sources. In particle-in-cell simulations of quasi-parallel magnetized collisionless shocks, we analyse the evolution of particle spectra. We find that in the later stages

Abstract During the era of primordial nucleosynthesis the background of non-equilibrium antineutrinos is being formed due to decays of neutrons and nuclei of tritium. The spectra of antineutrinos of this background were calculated taking into account the Coulomb interaction between electron and daughter nucleus in β -- -decay. The dependence of these spectra on the value of the baryon-to-photon ratio

Abstract The origin and nature of the cosmic rays is still uncertain. However, a big progress has been achieved in recent years due to the good quality data provided by current and recent cosmic-rays observatories. The cosmic ray flux decreases very fast with energy in such a way that for energies ≳ 10 15 eV, the study of these very energetic particles is performed by using ground based detectors.

Low-energy neutrinos are clean messengers from supernovae explosions and probably carry unique insights into the process of stellar evolution. We estimate the expected number of events considering coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off silicon nuclei, as would happen in Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) detectors. The number of expected events, integrated over a window of about 18 s, is $\sim$ 4 if

Abstract A method is proposed to reconstruct the depth at which showers reach the maximum number of charged particles (X max charged ) using atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The dependence of the Cherenkov signal with telescope distance from shower core is explored and a region in which the measurement is possible is determined (150 to 200 m). A parametrization is presented to reconstruct X max charged

Abstract Employing large thunderstorm ground enhancements (TGEs) as a manifestation of the strong electric field in thundercloud we measure fluxes of almost all species of secondary cosmic rays to estimate the strength of the intracloud electric field. The modulation that electric field poses on charged particle flux gives a sizable change in count rate of detectors measuring high energy muon flux