arXiv subjects

Federica Cuna

Publications and source records attributed to Federica Cuna.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Amerigo Vespucci as a traveling laboratory for studying the cosmic-ray fluxes at sea level

We have installed and operated a plastic scintillator detector counter to measure the flux of cosmic radiation during the 2023-2025 tour of the historical vessel Amerigo Vespucci. The Vespucci is the oldest ship of the Italian Navy and serves as a training vessel for Navy cadets. During its tour, some experiments were hosted onboard the vessel, providing unique opportunities for scientists working in different fields. We installed our detector upon the Vespucci's departure from Darwin in early October 2024. The detector collected cosmic-ray data during the journey from Darwin to Trieste, where the worldwide tour ended in March 2025. After about one month of stop in Trieste, the ship continued its tour in the Mediterranean sea, and arrived in Genova on June 10, 2025. We performed measurements of the cosmic radiation reaching the sea level across a wide latitude range, from 15{\deg} S to about 45{\deg} N. The lowest rate (averaged over all azimuth angles) was measured at a geographic latitude of about 7{\deg} N, and was about 16% less than the highest value, which was measured at Trieste, the northernmost location of the journey. Latitude effects on the cosmic radiation flux at sea level are due to the quasi-dipole geomagnetic field configuration, tilted by an angle of about 11{\deg} with respect to Earth's rotational axis.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Particle identification with the cluster counting technique for the IDEA drift chamber

IDEA (Innovative Detector for an Electron-positron Accelerator) is a general-purpose detector concept, designed to study electron-positron collisions in a wide energy range from a very large circular leptonic collider. Its drift chamber is designed to provide an efficient tracking, a high precision momentum measurement and an excellent particle identification by exploiting the application of the cluster counting technique. To investigate the potential of the cluster counting techniques on physics events, a simulation of the ionization clusters generation is needed, therefore we developed an algorithm which can use the energy deposit information provided by Geant4 toolkit to reproduce, in a fast and convenient way, the clusters number distribution and the cluster size distribution. The results obtained confirm that the cluster counting technique allows to reach a resolution 2 times better than the traditional dE/dx method. A beam test has been performed during November 2021 at CERN on the H8 to validate the simulations results, to define the limiting effects for a fully efficient cluster counting and to count the number of electron clusters released by an ionizing track at a fixed $βγ$ as a function of the track angle. The simulation and the beam test results will be described briefly in this issue.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

The Tracking performance for the IDEA drift chamber

The IDEA detector concept for a future e$^{+}$e$^{-}$ collider adopts an ultra-low mass drift chamber as a central tracking system. The He-based ultra-low mass drift chamber is designed to provide efficient tracking, a high-precision momentum measurement, and excellent particle identification by exploiting the cluster counting technique. This paper describes the expected tracking performance, obtained with full and fast simulation, for track reconstruction on detailed simulated physics events. Moreover, the details of the construction parameters of the drift chamber, including the inspection of new material for the wires, new techniques for soldering the wires, the development of an improved schema for the drift cell, and the choice of a gas mixture, will be described.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

The Search for $μ^+\to e^+ γ$ with 10$^{-14}$ Sensitivity: the Upgrade of the MEG Experiment

The MEG experiment took data at the Paul Scherrer Institute in the years 2009--2013 to test the violation of the lepton flavour conservation law, which originates from an accidental symmetry that the Standard Model of elementary particle physics has, and published the most stringent limit on the charged lepton flavour violating decay $μ^+ \rightarrow {\rm e}^+ γ$: BR($μ^+ \rightarrow {\rm e}^+ γ$) $<4.2 \times 10^{-13}$ at 90% confidence level. The MEG detector has been upgraded in order to reach a sensitivity of $6\times10^{-14}$. The basic principle of MEG II is to achieve the highest possible sensitivity using the full muon beam intensity at the Paul Scherrer Institute ($7\times10^{7}$ muons/s) with an upgraded detector. The main improvements are better rate capability of all sub-detectors and improved resolutions while keeping the same detector concept. In this paper, we present the current status of the preparation, integration and commissioning of the MEG II detector in the recent engineering runs.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

Simulation of particle identification with the cluster counting technique

In this paper we show the potential of the cluster counting technique for particle identification. Simulations based on Garfield++ software prove that this technique improves the particle separation capabilities with respect to the ones obtained with the traditional method of dE/dx. Moreover three different algorithms to reproduce the clusters number and the cluster size distribution with Geant4 software are discussed.

physics.ins-det↗