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E. Parizot

Publications and source records attributed to E. Parizot.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

EUSO-TA ground based fluorescence detector: analysis of the detected events

EUSO-TA is a ground-based florescence detector built to validate the design of an ultra-high energy cosmic ray fluorescence detector to be operated in space. EUSO-TA detected the first air shower events with the technology developed within the JEM-EUSO program. It operates at the Telescope Array (TA) site in Utah, USA. With the external trigger provided by the Black Rock Mesa fluorescence detectors of Telescope Array (TA-FDs), EUSO-TA observed nine ultra-high energy cosmic ray events and several laser events from the Central Laser Facility of Telescope Array and portable lasers like the JEM-EUSO Global Light System prototype. The reconstruction parameters of the cosmic ray events which crossed the EUSO-TA field of view (both detected and not detected by EUSO-TA), were provided by the Telescope Array Collaboration. As the TA-FDs have a wider field of view than EUSO-TA ($\sim$30 times larger), they allow the cosmic ray energy reconstruction based on the observation of most of the extensive air-shower profiles, including the shower maximum, while EUSO-TA only observes a portion of the showers, usually far from the maximum. For this reason, the energy of the cosmic rays corresponding to the EUSO-TA signals appear lower than the actual ones. In this contribution, the analysis of the cosmic-ray events detected with EUSO-TA is discussed.

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Mini-EUSO engineering model: tests in open-sky condition

Mini-EUSO is a UV telescope that will look downwards to the Earth's atmosphere onboard the International Space Station. With the design of the ultra-high energy cosmic ray fluorescence detectors belonging to the JEM-EUSO program, it will make the first UV map of the Earth by observing atmospheric phenomena such as transient luminous events, sprites and lightning, as well as meteors and bioluminescence from earth. Diffused light from laser shots from the ground, which mimic the fluorescence light emitted by Nitrogen molecules when extensive air showers pass through the atmosphere, can be used to verify the capability of this kind of detector to observe ultra-high energy cosmic rays. To validate the electronics and the trigger algorithms developed for Mini-EUSO, a scaled down version of the telescope with 1:9 of the original focal surface and a lens of 2.5 cm diameter has been built. Tests of the Mini-EUSO engineering model have been made in laboratory and in open sky condition. In this paper, we report results of observations of the night sky, which include the detection of stars, meteors, a planet and a rocket body reflecting the sunlight. Interesting results of the observation of city lights are also reported.

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The EUSO@TurLab: Test of Mini-EUSO Engineering Model

The TurLab facility is a laboratory, equipped with a 5 m diameter and 1 m depth rotating tank, located in the Physics Department of the University of Turin. Originally, it was mainly built to study systems of different scales where rotation plays a key role in the fluid behavior such as in atmospheric and oceanic flows. In the past few years the TurLab facility has been used to perform experiments related to the observation of Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays (EECRs) from space using the fluorescence technique. For example, in the case of the JEM-EUSO mission, where the diffuse night brightness and artificial light sources can vary significantly in time and space inside the Field of View of the telescope. The Focal Surface of Mini-EUSO Engineering Model (Mini-EUSO EM) with the level 1 (L1) and 2 (L2) trigger logics implemented in the Photo-Detector Module (PDM) has been tested at TurLab. Tests related to the possibility of using an EUSO-like detector for other type of applications such as Space Debris (SD) monitoring and imaging detector have also been pursued. The tests and results obtained within the EUSO@TurLab Project on these different topics are presented.

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POEMMA (Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics) design

The Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) is a NASA Astrophysics probe-class mission designed to observe ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and cosmic neutrinos from space. Astro2020 APC white paper: Medium-class Space Particle Astrophysics Project.

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Supernova remnants in the very-high-energy gamma-ray domain: the role of the Cherenkov telescope array

Supernova remnants are often presented as the most probable sources of Galactic cosmic rays. This idea is supported by the accumulation of evidence that particle acceleration is happening at supernova remnant shocks. Observations in the TeV range have especially contributed to increase the understanding of the mechanisms, but many aspects of the particle acceleration at supernova remnant shocks are still debated. The Cherenkov telescope array is expected to lead to the detection of many new supernova remnants in the TeV and multi-TeV range. In addition to the individual study of each, the study of these objects as a population can help constrain the parameters describing the acceleration of particles and increase our understanding of the mechanisms involved.

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POEMMA: Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

The Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) mission is being designed to establish charged-particle astronomy with ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and to observe cosmogenic tau neutrinos (CTNs). The study of UHECRs and CTNs from space will yield orders-of-magnitude increase in statistics of observed UHECRs at the highest energies, and the observation of the cosmogenic flux of neutrinos for a range of UHECR models. These observations should solve the long-standing puzzle of the origin of the highest energy particles ever observed, providing a new window onto the most energetic environments and events in the Universe, while studying particle interactions well beyond accelerator energies. The discovery of CTNs will help solve the puzzle of the origin of UHECRs and begin a new field of Astroparticle Physics with the study of neutrino properties at ultra-high energies.

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The EUSO@TurLab Project

The TurLab facility is a laboratory, equipped with a 5 m diameter and 1 m depth rotating tank, located in the Physics Department of the University of Turin. The tank has been built mainly to study problems where system rotation plays a key role in the fluid behaviour such as in atmospheric and oceanic flows at different scales. The tank can be filled with different fluids of variable density, which enables studies in layered conditions such as sea waves. The tank can be also used to simulate the terrestrial surface with the optical characteristics of different environments such as snow, grass, ocean, land with soil, stones etc., fogs and clouds. As it is located in an extremely dark place, the light intensity can be controlled artificially. Such capabilities of the TurLab facility are applied to perform experiments related to the observation of Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays (EECRs) from space using the fluorescence technique, as in the case of the JEM-EUSO mission, where the diffuse night brightness and artificial light sources can vary significantly in time and space inside the Field of View (FoV) of the telescope. Here we will report the currently ongoing activity at the TurLab facility in the framework of the JEM-EUSO mission (EUSO@TurLab).

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A study of photons at ultra high energy using Auger surface detector

We present a new method to derive an upper limit on the ultra-high-energy (UHE) photon flux above a given energy, using the Auger SD events. As previous studies, it takes advantage of the fundamental differences between showers induced by hadrons and showers induced by photons (signal rise time, slope of the Lateral Distribution Function, radius of curvature), but it uses photon shower simulations adapted to the actually observed SD events, on an event-by-event basis. In particular, we find that a limited number of simulations per event allows to reach an upper limit that is very close to the ideal case that would be obtained with an infinite number of simulations. For instance, 10 simulated showers per event are sufficient to reach an upper limit only 10 percent higher than the ideal one. As an illustration, we apply this method to the SD events reconstructed above 55 EeV, which provides an optimized upper limit on the photon flux above 150 EeV, and indicate how this can be easily extended to the lower-energy events, to constrain the photon flux down to much lower energies.

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Acceleration of cosmic rays and gamma-ray emission from supernova remnants in the Galaxy

Galactic cosmic rays are believed to be accelerated at supernova remnant shocks. Though very popular and robust, this conjecture still needs a conclusive proof. The strongest support to this idea is probably the fact that supernova remnants are observed in gamma-rays, which are indeed expected as the result of the hadronic interactions between the cosmic rays accelerated at the shock and the ambient gas. However, also leptonic processes can, in most cases, explain the observed gamma-ray emission. This implies that the detections in gamma rays do not necessarily mean that supernova remnants accelerate cosmic ray protons. To overcome this degeneracy, the multi-wavelength emission (from radio to gamma rays) from individual supernova remnants has been studied and in a few cases it has been possible to ascribe the gamma-ray emission to one of the two processes (hadronic or leptonic). Here we adopt a different approach and, instead of a case-by-case study we aim for a population study and we compute the number of supernova remnants which are expected to be seen in TeV gamma rays above a given flux under the assumption that these objects indeed are the sources of cosmic rays. The predictions found here match well with current observational results, thus providing a novel consistency check for the supernova remnant paradigm for the origin of galactic cosmic rays. Moreover, hints are presented for the fact that particle spectra significantly steeper than E^-2 are produced at supernova remnants. Finally, we expect that several of the supernova remnants detected by H.E.S.S. in the survey of the galactic plane should exhibit a gamma-ray emission dominated by hadronic processes (i.e. neutral pion decay). The fraction of the detected remnants for which the leptonic emission dominates over the hadronic one depends on the assumed values of the physical parameters and can be as high as roughly a half.

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JEM-EUSO Science Objectives

JEM-EUSO, on board of the Japanese Exploration Module of the International Space Station, is being proposed as the first space observatory devoted to UHECR. Its privileged position at 430 km above the Earth surface, combined with a large field of view, innovative optics and a high efficiency focal surface, results in an unprecedented exposure which significantly surpasses that of the largest ground observatories. The large number of events expected above the GZK threshold for photo-pion production by protons will allow the directional identification of individual sources and the determination of their spectra, i.e., doing astronomy and astrophysics through the particle channel. Similar goals can be achieved in the case of light UHECR nuclei. Furthermore, the atmospheric target volume ($\sim 10^{12}$ ton) makes the possibility of neutrino observation a highlight of the mission. Other exploratory objectives include the detection of extreme energy gammas and the study of Galactic magnetic fields as well as global observations of the earth's atmosphere, including clouds, night-glows, plasma discharges, and meteors. In this contribution we will describe the scientific objectives of JEM-EUSO.

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The GZK horizon and constraints on the cosmic ray source spectrum from observations in the GZK regime

We discuss the GZK horizon of protons and present a method to constrain the injection spectrum of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) from supposedly identified extragalactic sources. This method can be applied even when only one or two events per source are observed and is based on the analysis of the probability for a given source to populate different energy bins, depending on the actual CR injection spectral index. In particular, we show that for a typical source density of $4\times 10^{-5} Mpc^{-3}$, a data set of 100 events above $6\times 10^{19}$ eV allows one in 97% of all cases to distinguish a source spectrum $dN/dE\propto E^{-1.1}$ from one with $E^{-2.7}$ at 95% confidence level.

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Implications of the cosmic ray spectrum for the mass composition at the highest energies

The significant attenuation of the cosmic-ray flux above $\sim 5 10^{19}$ eV suggests that the observed high-energy spectrum is shaped by the so-called GZK effect. This interaction of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with the ambient radiation fields also affects their composition. We review the effect of photo-dissociation interactions on different nuclear species and analyze the phenomenology of secondary proton production as a function of energy. We show that, by itself, the UHECR spectrum does not constrain the cosmic-ray composition at their extragalactic sources. While the propagated composition (i.e., as observed at Earth) cannot contain significant amounts of intermediate mass nuclei (say between He and Si), whatever the source composition, and while it is vastly proton-dominated when protons are able to reach energies above $10^{20}$ eV at the source, we show that the propagated composition can be dominated by Fe and sub-Fe nuclei at the highest energies, either if the sources are very strongly enriched in Fe nuclei (a rather improbable situation), or if the accelerated protons have a maximum energy of a few $10^{19}$ eV at the sources. We also show that in the latter cases, the expected flux above $3 10^{20}$ eV is very much reduced compared to the case when protons dominate in this energy range, both at the sources and at Earth.

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The Pierre Auger Observatory: status, results and perspective

While the completion of the Pierre Auger Observatory (or simply ``Auger'') is still underway, the 5165 km^2.sr.yr integrated acceptance accumulated since the January 1st, 2004 is now significantly larger than what was gathered by the previous experiments dedicated to the detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We report on the development status of Auger and present some results related to the cosmic-ray energy spectrum, composition and anisotropies, and the photon fraction at ultra-high energy. We briefly discuss the importance of the ankle region to understand the overall phenomenology of cosmic-rays, and mention future enhancements of Auger focusing on this energy range.

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Propagation of high-energy cosmic rays in extragalactic turbulent magnetic fields: resulting energy spectrum and composition

We extend previous studies of mixed-composition extragalactic cosmic-ray source models, by investigating the influence of a non-negligible extragalactic magnetic field on the propagated cosmic-ray spectrum and composition. We study the transport of charged particles in turbulent fields and the transition from a ballistic to a diffusive propagation regime. We introduce a method allowing a fast integration of the particle trajectories, which allows us to calculate extragalactic cosmic-ray spectra in the general case, without using either the diffusive or the rectilinear approximation. We find that the main features of the mixed-composition models -- regarding the interpretation of the ankle and the non-monotonous evolution of the average cosmic-ray mass -- remain essentially unchanged as long as the magnetic field intensity does not exceed a few nG.

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Signatures of the extragalactic cosmic-ray source composition from spectrum and shower depth measurements

We discuss the differences induced by the assumed composition of extragalactic sources on the predicted UHECR spectrum and the energy evolution of $ $, i.e. the mean value of the atmospheric depth at the cosmic-ray air shower maximum. We show that different assumptions for the source power evolution do not modify our earlier finding that in the case of a mixed composition the ankle can be interpreted as the end of the transition from galactic to extragalactic cosmic rays. We show the characteristic features in the shape of $ $(E) that are associated with this transition for each cosmic-ray composition model. These characteristic features are present whatever the hadronic model used for the calculation. In the mixed composition cases, a signature of the interactions of nuclei with the photon backgrounds is also expected above $10^{19}$ eV. The comparisons with Stereo HiRes and Fly's Eye data favour an extragalactic mixed composition and the corresponding interpretation of the ankle. Confrontation of model predictions with future data at the highest energies will allow a better determination of the transition features and of the cosmic-ray source composition, independently of hadronic models. We also emphasize that in the pure proton case, a combined analysis of the spectrum and composition below the ankle could lead to constraints on the source power evolution with redshift.

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On the transition from Galactic to extragalactic cosmic-rays: spectral and composition features from two opposite scenarios

We study the phenomenology of cosmic-rays (CRs) at the galactic/extragalactic transition, focusing on two opposite models for the composition of the extragalactic (EG) component. Model A assumes a mixed source composition, with nuclear abundances similar to that of the low-energy CRs, while model B assumes that the EG sources accelerate only protons. We study the limits within which both scenarios can reproduce the high-energy CR data, from the point of view of the energy spectrum, each with its own interpretation of the ankle (as the GCR/EGCR transition for model A; as a pair-production dip for model B) and its own source spectrum (in E?2.3 model A; in E?2.6 or E?2.7 for model B). We then focus on the energy evolution of the high-energy CR composition and compare our predictions for two main composition-related observables (Xmax and hlnAi) with the available data, to conclude that model A is currently favoured. Uncertainties are discussed and distinctive features of the two models are identified, which should allow one to distinguish between the models in the near future when more precise measurements are available with higher-statistics experiments.

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Cosmogenic Neutrinos from the propagation of Ultra High Energy Nuclei

We calculate the flux of neutrinos generated by the propagation of ultra-high energy nuclei over cosmological distances. The propagation takes into account the interactions with cosmic background radiations including the CMB and the most recent estimates of higher energy (infra-red, optical, and ultra violet) backgrounds. We assume that the composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at the source is the same as the observed one at low energies. This assumption fits well the present data at the highest energies. We compare the cosmogenic neutrino flux from mixed composition sources to pure proton sources. We find that the neutrino flux in the mixed composition case has a high energy peak, mainly due to photopion production off CMB photons, of similar shape and amplitude to the proton case. At low energies both composition cases have significant neutrino flux with a peak around 1014.5 eV due to the higher energy backgrounds. The mixed composition case induces a higher flux of neutrinos at energies below 1013 eV due to the neutron decay component that extends down to low energies. Detection of diffuse neutrino fluxes at ultra high energies can strongly constrain the source distribution of UHECR whereas fluxes at lower energies could be used to constrain confinement of VHE and UHE cosmic rays if combined with composition analysis from cosmic ray experiments.

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On the viability of holistic cosmic-ray source models

We consider the energy spectrum of cosmic-rays (CRs) from a purely phenomenological point of view and investigate the possibility that they all be produced by the same type of sources with a single power-law spectrum, in E^{-x}, from thermal to ultra-high energies. We show that the relative fluxes of the Galactic (GCR) and extra-galactic (EGCR) components are compatible with such a holistic model, provided that the index of the source spectrum be x \simeq 2.23\pm 0.07. This is compatible with the best-fit indices for both GCRs and EGCRs, assuming that their source composition is the same, which is indeed the case in a holistic model. It is also compatible with theoretical expectations for particle acceleration at relativistic shocks.

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