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D. Charrier

Publications and source records attributed to D. Charrier.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Simulation of a radial TPC for the detection of neutrinoless double beta decay

To search for $\beta\beta0\nu$ decay with unprecedented sensitivity, the R2D2 collaboration is developing a radial time projection chamber with a fiducial mass of half a tonne of $^{136}$Xe at high pressure. The various approaches implemented to eliminate the radioactive background are presented in terms of detector design, topological recognition of interactions, and event energy reconstruction. The developed tools enable the disentangling of the sought-after signal from the background. The projected sensitivity after ten years of data taking yields a half-life limit exceeding $10^{27}$ years, along with a constraint on the effective neutrino mass $m_{\beta\beta}$ that could cover a large fraction of the inverted mass hierarchy region, depending on the final experimental background.

physics.ins-det

Results of a self-triggered prototype system for radio-detection of extensive air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

We describe the experimental setup and the results of RAuger, a small radio-antenna array, consisting of three fully autonomous and self-triggered radio-detection stations, installed close to the center of the Surface Detector (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. The setup has been designed for the detection of the electric field strength of air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays, without using an auxiliary trigger from another detection system. Installed in December 2006, RAuger was terminated in May 2010 after 65 registered coincidences with the SD. The sky map in local angular coordinates (i.e., zenith and azimuth angles) of these events reveals a strong azimuthal asymmetry which is in agreement with a mechanism dominated by a geomagnetic emission process. The correlation between the electric field and the energy of the primary cosmic ray is presented for the first time, in an energy range covering two orders of magnitude between 0.1 EeV and 10 EeV. It is demonstrated that this setup is relatively more sensitive to inclined showers, with respect to the SD. In addition to these results, which underline the potential of the radio-detection technique, important information about the general behavior of self-triggering radio-detection systems has been obtained. In particular, we will discuss radio self-triggering under varying local electric-field conditions.

astro-ph.HE

The TIANSHAN Radio Experiment for Neutrino Detection

An antenna array devoted to the autonomous radio-detection of high energy cosmic rays is being deployed on the site of the 21 cm array radio telescope in XinJiang, China. Thanks in particular to the very good electromagnetic environment of this remote experimental site, self-triggering on extensive air showers induced by cosmic rays has been achieved with a small scale prototype of the foreseen antenna array. We give here a detailed description of the detector and present the first detection of extensive air showers with this prototype.

astro-ph.IM

Phase diagram of an extended classical dimer model

We present an extensive numerical study of the critical behavior of dimer models in three dimensions, focusing on the phase transition between Coulomb and crystalline columnar phases. The case of attractive interactions between parallel dimers on a plaquette was shown to undergo a continuous phase transition with critical exponents close to those of the O(N) tricritical universality class, a situation which is not easily captured by conventional field theories. That the dimer model is exactly fine-tuned to a highly symmetric point is a non trivial statement which needs careful numerical investigation. In this paper, we perform an extensive Monte Carlo study of a generalized dimer model with plaquette and cubic interactions and determine its extended phase diagram. We find that when both interactions favor alignment of the dimers, the phase transition is first order, in almost all cases. On the opposite, when interactions compete, the transition becomes continuous, with a critical exponent η~ 0.2. The existence of a tricritical point between the two regimes is confirmed by simulations on very large size systems and a flowgram method. In addition, we find a highly-degenerate crystalline phase at very low temperature in the frustrated regime which is separated from the columnar phase by a first order transition.

cond-mat.str-el

Quantum phase transitions in three-leg spin tubes

We investigate the properties of a three-leg quantum spin tube using several techniques such as the density matrix renormalization group method, strong coupling approaches and the non linear sigma model. For integer spins S, the model proves to exhibit a particularly rich phase diagram consisting of an ensemble of 2S phase transitions. They can be accurately identified by the behavior of a non local string order parameter associated to the breaking of a hidden symmetry in the Hamiltonian. The nature of these transitions are further elucidated within the different approaches. We carry a detailed DMRG analysis in the specific cases S = 1. The numerical data confirm the existence of two Haldane phases with broken hidden symmetry separated by a trivial singlet state. The study of the gap and of the von Neumann entropy suggest a first order phase transition but at the close proximity of a tricritical point separating a gapless and a first order transition line in the phase diagram of the quantum spin tube.

cond-mat.str-el

Groundstatable fermionic wavefunctions and their associated many-body Hamiltonians

In the vast majority of many-body problems, it is the kinetic energy part of the Hamiltonian that is best known microscopically, and it is the detailed form of the interactions between the particles, the potential energy term, that is harder to determine from first principles. An example is the case of high temperature superconductors: while a tight-binding model captures the kinetic term, it is not clear that there is superconductivity with only an onsite repulsion and, thus, that the problem is accurately described by the Hubbard model alone. Here we pose the question of whether, once the kinetic energy is fixed, a candidate ground state is {\it groundstatable or not}. The easiness to answer this question is strongly related to the presence or the absence of a sign problem in the system. When groundstatability is satisfied, it is simple to obtain the potential energy that will lead to such a ground state. As a concrete case study, we apply these ideas to different fermionic wavefunctions with superconductive or spin-density wave correlations and we also study the influence of Jastrow factors. The kinetic energy considered is a simple next nearest neighbor hopping term.

cond-mat.str-el

Radio emission of extensive air shower at CODALEMA: Polarization of the radio emission along the v*B vector

Cosmic rays extensive air showers (EAS) are associated with transient radio emission, which could provide an efficient new detection method of high energy cosmic rays, combining a calorimetric measurement with a high duty cycle. The CODALEMA experiment, installed at the Radio Observatory in Nancay, France, is investigating this phenomenon in the 10^17 eV region. One challenging point is the understanding of the radio emission mechanism. A first observation indicating a linear relation between the electric field produced and the cross product of the shower axis with the geomagnetic field direction has been presented (B. Revenu, this conference). We will present here other strong evidences for this linear relationship, and some hints on its physical origin.

astro-ph.HE

Geomagnetic origin of the radio emission from cosmic ray induced air showers observed by CODALEMA

The new setup of the CODALEMA experiment installed at the Radio Observatory in Nancay, France, is described. It includes broadband active dipole antennas and an extended and upgraded particle detector array. The latter gives access to the air shower energy, allowing us to compute the efficiency of the radio array as a function of energy. We also observe a large asymmetry in counting rates between showers coming from the North and the South in spite of the symmetry of the detector. The observed asymmetry can be interpreted as a signature of the geomagnetic origin of the air shower radio emission. A simple linear dependence of the electric field with respect to vxB is used which reproduces the angular dependencies of the number of radio events and their electric polarity.

astro-ph.HE

Gauge theory picture of an ordering transition in a dimer model

We study a phase transition in a 3D lattice gauge theory, a "coarse-grained" version of a classical dimer model. Duality arguments indicate that the dimer lattice theory should be dual to a XY model coupled to a gauge field with geometric frustration. The transition between a Coulomb phase with dipolar correlations and a long range ordered columnar phase is understood in terms of a Higgs mechanism. Monte Carlo simulations of the dual model indicate a continuous transition with exponents close but apparently different from those of the 3d XY model. The continuous nature of the transition is confirmed by a flowgram analysis.

cond-mat.str-el

Radio-Detection Signature of High Energy Cosmic Rays by the CODALEMA Experiment

Taking advantage of recent technical progress which has overcome some of the difficulties encountered in the 1960's in the radio detection of extensive air showers induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), a new experimental apparatus (CODALEMA) has been built and operated. We will present the characteristics of this device and the analysis techniques that have been developed for observing electrical transients associated with cosmic rays. We find a collection of events for which both time and arrival direction coincidences between particle and radio signals are observed. The counting rate corresponds to shower energies $\geq 5\times 10^{16}$ eV. The performance level which has been reached considerably enlarges the perspectives for studying UHECR events using radio detection.

astro-ph

Radioelectric Field Features of Extensive Air Showers Observed with CODALEMA

Based on a new approach to the detection of radio transients associated with extensive air showers induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays, the experimental apparatus CODALEMA is in operation, measuring about 1 event per day corresponding to an energy threshold ~ 5. 10^16 eV. Its performance makes possible for the first time the study of radio-signal features on an event-by-event basis. The sampling of the magnitude of the electric field along a 600 meters axis is analyzed. It shows that the electric field lateral spread is around 250 m (FWHM). The possibility to determine with radio both arrival directions and shower core positions is discussed.

astro-ph

Radio Detection of Extensive Air Showers with CODALEMA

The principle and performances of the CODALEMA experimental device, set up to study the possibility of high energy cosmic rays radio detection, are presented. Radio transient signals associated to cosmic rays have been identified, for which arrival directions and shower's electric field topologies have been extracted from the antenna signals. The measured rate, about 1 event per day, corresponds to an energy threshold around 5.10^16 eV. These results allow to determine the perspectives offered by the present experimental design for radiodetection of UHECR at a larger scale.

astro-ph

Radio Detection of Cosmic Ray Air Showers with Codalema

Studies of the radio detection of Extensive Air Showers is the goal of the demonstrative experiment CODALEMA. Previous analysis have demonstrated that detection around $5.10^{16}$ eV was achieved with this set-up. New results allow for the first time to study the topology of the electric field associated to EAS events on a event by event basis.

astro-ph

Evidence for Radio Detection of Extensive Air Showers Induced by Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays

Firm evidence for a radio emission counterpart of cosmic ray air showers is presented. By the use of an antenna array set up in coincidence with ground particle detectors, we find a collection of events for which both time and arrival direction coincidences between particle and radio signals are observed. The counting rate corresponds to shower energies $\gtrsim 5\times 10^{16}$ eV. These results open overwhelming perspectives to complete existing detection methods for the observation of ultra high-energy cosmic rays.

astro-ph

Radiodetection of Cosmic Ray Extensive Air Showers

We present the characteristics and performance of a demonstration experiment devoted to the observation of ultra high- energy cosmic ray extensive air showers using a radiodetection technique. In a first step, one antenna narrowed band filtered acting as trigger, with a 4 $σ$ threshold above sky background-level, was used to tag any radio transient in coincidence on the antenna array. Recently, the addition of 4 particle detectors has allowed us to observe cosmic ray events in coincidence with antennas.

astro-ph