arXiv subjects

A. Bonardi

Publications and source records attributed to A. Bonardi.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Developments for coating, testing, and aligning Cherenkov Telescope Array mirrors in Tübingen

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation very-high energy gamma-ray air-shower Cherenkov observatory. CTA will consist of many segmented-mirror telescopes of three different diameters, placed in two arrays, one in the Northern hemisphere and one in the South, thus covering the whole sky. The total number of mirror tiles will be of the order of 10000, corresponding to a reflective area of ~10^4 m^2. The Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Tübingen is developing procedures to coat glass-substrate-based mirror tiles, is participating to the CTA mirror prototype testing, and is prototyping Active Mirror Control alignment mechanics, electronics and software. We will present the current status of our work and plans for future developments.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

Mirror Development for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a planned observatory for very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy. It will consist of several tens of telescopes of different sizes, with a total mirror area of up to 10,000 square meters. Most mirrors of current installations are either polished glass mirrors or diamond-turned aluminium mirrors, both labour intensive technologies. For CTA, several new technologies for a fast and cost-efficient production of light-weight and reliable mirror substrates have been developed and industrial pre-production has started for most of them. In addition, new or improved aluminium-based and dielectric surface coatings have been developed to increase the reflectance over the lifetime of the mirrors compared to those of current Cherenkov telescope instruments.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2008

Performances and stability of a 2.4 ton Gd organic liquid scintillator target for antineutrino detection

In this work we report the performances and the chemical and physical properties of a (2 x 1.2) ton organic liquid scintillator target doped with Gd up to ~0.1%, and the results of a 2 year long stability survey. In particular we have monitored the amount of both Gd and primary fluor actually in solution, the optical and fluorescent properties of the Gd-doped liquid scintillator (GdLS) and its performances as a neutron detector, namely neutron capture efficiency and average capture time. The experimental survey is ongoing, the target being continuously monitored. After two years from the doping time the performances of the Gd-doped liquid scintillator do not show any hint of degradation and instability; this conclusion comes both from the laboratory measurements and from the "in-tank" measurements. This is the largest stable Gd-doped organic liquid scintillator target ever produced and continuously operated for a long period.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2007

First CNGS events detected by LVD

The CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso (CNGS) project aims to produce a high energy, wide band $ν_μ$ beam at CERN and send it toward the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), 732 km away. Its main goal is the observation of the $ν_τ$ appearance, through neutrino flavour oscillation. The beam started its operation in August 2006 for about 12 days: a total amount of $7.6~10^{17}$ protons were delivered to the target. The LVD detector, installed in hall A of the LNGS and mainly dedicated to the study of supernova neutrinos, was fully operating during the whole CNGS running time. A total number of 569 events were detected in coincidence with the beam spill time. This is in good agreement with the expected number of events from Montecarlo simulations.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2007

On-line recognition of supernova neutrino bursts in the LVD detector

In this paper we show the capabilities of the Large Volume Detector (INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory) to identify a neutrino burst associated to a supernova explosion, in the absence of an "external trigger", e.g., an optical observation. We describe how the detector trigger and event selection have been optimized for this purpose, and we detail the algorithm used for the on-line burst recognition. The on-line sensitivity of the detector is defined and discussed in terms of supernova distance and electron anti-neutrino intensity at the source.

astro-ph↗