arXiv subjects

I. Kharuk

Publications and source records attributed to I. Kharuk.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The performance of the TA$\times$4 surface detector array: 4.3 years of the first-half expansion

The Telescope Array (TA) experiment aims to reveal the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) by observing air showers using surface detectors (SDs), which spread over an area of approximately 700 km$^2$, and fluorescence detectors (FDs) viewing the skies above the SD array. The TA experiment has been observing UHECRs since 2008, and has reported an indication of clustering in the arrival directions of cosmic-ray events with energy greater than 57 EeV. To improve the exposure for anisotropy studies of UHECRs, the TA$\times$4 upgrade was designed to expand the observational area by approximately 2,000 km$^2$ with 500 additional SDs. Half of the planned upgrade, consisting of 257 SDs, was completed, and the newly installed array began operation in 2019. In addition to the expanded SD array, two FD stations were constructed for the TA$\times$4 experiment. In this paper, we present a study of the performance of the expanded SD array, including the energy resolution, angular resolution, and effective aperture, over the first 4.3 years of data acquisition. While the effective aperture varied initially due to changing detector states, it has stabilized since June 2023 with more than 90% operational SDs. Furthermore, a new inter-tower trigger system was implemented to connect six new communication towers to form two geographically separated arrays, increasing the effective aperture. The time variation of this effective aperture, the resulting total exposure of approximately 3,500 km$^2$ sr yr, and a comparison with the original TA SD array are presented to demonstrate the performance of the expanded array.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

From raw data to neutrino candidates: a neural-network pipeline for Baikal-GVD

We present a neural-network-based data processing pipeline for Baikal-GVD, designed to improve event reconstruction quality and accelerate neutrino candidates selection. The pipeline comprises three stages: fast suppression of extensive air shower events, suppression of noise optical modules activations, and extraction of high confidence neutrino candidates. All three networks employ a transformer architecture that exploits inter-hit correlations through the attention mechanism. Applied sequentially, the pipeline achieves orders-of-magnitude speedup over the standard reconstruction chain. Moreover, noise suppression neural network surpasses the accuracy of algorithmic noise suppression algorithms and provides estimate for time residuals of the signal hits, which is crucial for identification of track-like hits. We address the domain shift between Monte Carlo simulations and experimental data by incorporating a domain adaptation technique, demonstrating improved agreement between the two domains. The resulting framework enables near-real-time event classification, with direct applications to multi-messenger alert systems and diffuse neutrino flux measurements.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Ising noise filter: physics-informed filtering for particle detectors

We present the Ising noise filter, a highly portable, graph-based pre-filtering algorithm for early-stage background suppression in particle accelerators and astrophysical detectors. Standard noise rejection methods relying on track fitting suffer from severe combinatorial explosion. Our method bypasses this by mapping individual detector hits to a network of binary spins and minimizing an energy functional. The interaction kernels are physics-informed, tailored to the underlying physics and geometry of the experiment. We demonstrate the efficacy of this approach in two distinct experimental regimes. Applied to the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope the filter yields fast, standard-quality noise rejection with 96.8\% recall for astrophysical neutrinos. For the SPD detector at the NICA collider the filter attains recall of 97\% on a toy Monte Carlo sample. Furthermore, when combined with a Peterson--Hopfield network for track finding, our physics-informed coupling improves the TrackML score from 0.5 to 0.95.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Cosmic ray mass composition measurement in the energy range from $10^{16.5}$ eV to $10^{18.5}$ eV observed with the TALE hybrid detector

We report on the cosmic ray mass composition measured by the Telescope Array Low-energy Extension (TALE) hybrid detector. The TALE detector consists of a fluorescence detector (FD) station with 10 FD telescopes located at the Telescope Array (TA) Middle Drum FD Station (itself made up of 14 FD telescopes), and a surface detector (SD) array of scintillators. The array consists of 40 SDs with 400 m spacing and 40 SDs with 600 m spacing. In this paper, we present results on the measurement of the depth of shower maxima ($X_\mathrm{max}$) in the energy range from $10^{16.5}$ eV to $10^{18.5}$ eV collected over five years of the TALE hybrid detector. The $X_\mathrm{max}$ distributions were analyzed and compared with Monte Carlo simulations of proton, helium, nitrogen, and iron primaries, using the QGSJet II-04 hadronic interaction model. Our results indicate that the elongation rate of the mean $X_\mathrm{max}$, which is defined as the slope of $\langle X_\mathrm{max} \rangle$ versus cosmic ray energy, exhibits a break around $10^{17}$ eV. Up to this energy, the composition becomes increasingly heavy, characterized by a growing dominance of heavy nuclei and a steadily decreasing fraction of light primaries. Beyond this energy, the proton fraction increases significantly with energy. These findings suggest a transition from Galactic to extra-Galactic cosmic ray sources around the so-called second knee.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Searching for EeV photons with Telescope Array Surface Detector and neural networks

Ultra-high-energy photons play an important role in probing astrophysical models and beyond-Standard-Model scenarios. We report updated limits on the diffuse photon flux using Telescope Array's Surface Detector data collected over 14 years of operation. Our method employs a neural network classifier to effectively distinguish between proton-induced and photon-induced events. The input data include both reconstructed composition-sensitive parameters and raw time-resolved signals registered by the Surface Detector stations. To mitigate biases from Monte Carlo simulations, we fine-tune the network with a subset of experimental data. The number of observed photon candidates is found to be consistent with the expected hadronic background, yielding upper limits on photon flux $\Phi_\gamma(E_\gamma > 10^{19} \text{eV}) < 2.3 \cdot 10^{-3} $, and $\Phi_\gamma(E_\gamma > 10^{20} \text{eV}) < 3.0 \cdot 10^{-4} $ $ (\text{km}^2 \cdot \text{sr} \cdot \text{yr})^{-1} $.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Design and Implementation of the Fast Data Processing System for the Baikal-GVD Neutrino Telescope

We present a fast data processing system for the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope, designed for rapid identification of astrophysical neutrino events. Leveraging Baikal-GVD's modular cluster architecture, the system implements parallelized file processing where raw data files undergo concurrent analysis across dedicated virtual machines. The system implements two pipelines: a fast per-file processing and a fully fledged (per-run) processing, which integrates dynamic detector geometry determined from acoustic and inertial positioning systems and data quality monitoring with a latency of about 27 hr. The fast processing pipeline delivers a total latency of about 1.5-18 minutes from event detection to reconstructed data availability, depending on water luminescence levels. This enables fast follow-up observations of transient astrophysical sources, fulfilling Baikal-GVD's role in multi-messenger networks. The article also highlights key features of the data acquisition system, the integration of advanced synchronization systems and a robust infrastructure for data handling and storage, ensuring efficient and reliable operation of the Baikal-GVD telescope.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2024

Mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays from distribution of their arrival directions with the Telescope Array

We use a new method to estimate the injected mass composition of ultrahigh cosmic rays (UHECRs) at energies higher than 10 EeV. The method is based on comparison of the energy-dependent distribution of cosmic ray arrival directions as measured by the Telescope Array experiment (TA) with that calculated in a given putative model of UHECR under the assumption that sources trace the large-scale structure (LSS) of the Universe. As we report in the companion letter, the TA data show large deflections with respect to the LSS which can be explained, assuming small extra-galactic magnetic fields (EGMF), by an intermediate composition changing to a heavy one (iron) in the highest energy bin. Here we show that these results are robust to uncertainties in UHECR injection spectra, the energy scale of the experiment and galactic magnetic fields (GMF). The assumption of weak EGMF, however, strongly affects this interpretation at all but the highest energies E > 100 EeV, where the remarkable isotropy of the data implies a heavy injected composition even in the case of strong EGMF. This result also holds if UHECR sources are as rare as $2 \times 10^{-5}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, that is the conservative lower limit for the source number density.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Isotropy of cosmic rays beyond $10^{20}$ eV favors their heavy mass composition

We report an estimation of the injected mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at energies higher than 10 EeV. The composition is inferred from an energy-dependent sky distribution of UHECR events observed by the Telescope Array surface detector by comparing it to the Large Scale Structure of the local Universe. In the case of negligible extra-galactic magnetic fields the results are consistent with a relatively heavy injected composition at E ~ 10 EeV that becomes lighter up to E ~ 100 EeV, while the composition at E > 100 EeV is very heavy. The latter is true even in the presence of highest experimentally allowed extra-galactic magnetic fields, while the composition at lower energies can be light if a strong EGMF is present. The effect of the uncertainty in the galactic magnetic field on these results is subdominant.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Observation of Declination Dependence in the Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum

We report on an observation of the difference between northern and southern skies of the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray energy spectrum with a significance of ${\sim}8\sigma$. We use measurements from the two largest experiments$\unicode{x2014}$the Telescope Array observing the northern hemisphere and the Pierre Auger Observatory viewing the southern hemisphere. Since the comparison of two measurements from different observatories introduces the issue of possible systematic differences between detectors and analyses, we validate the methodology of the comparison by examining the region of the sky where the apertures of the two observatories overlap. Although the spectra differ in this region, we find that there is only a $1.8\sigma$ difference between the spectrum measurements when anisotropic regions are removed and a fiducial cut in the aperture is applied.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Search for directional associations between Baikal Gigaton Volume Detector neutrino-induced cascades and high-energy astrophysical sources

Baikal-GVD has recently published its first measurement of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux, performed using high-energy cascade-like events. We further explore the Baikal-GVD cascade dataset collected in 2018-2022, with the aim to identify possible associations between the Baikal-GVD neutrinos and known astrophysical sources. We leverage the relatively high angular resolution of the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope (2-3 deg.), made possible by the use of liquid water as the detection medium, enabling the study of astrophysical point sources even with cascade events. We estimate the telescope's sensitivity in the cascade channel for high-energy astrophysical sources and refine our analysis prescriptions using Monte-Carlo simulations. We primarily focus on cascades with energies exceeding 100 TeV, which we employ to search for correlation with radio-bright blazars. Although the currently limited neutrino sample size provides no statistically significant effects, our analysis suggests a number of possible associations with both extragalactic and Galactic sources. Specifically, we present an analysis of an observed triplet of neutrino candidate events in the Galactic plane, focusing on its potential connection with certain Galactic sources, and discuss the coincidence of cascades with several bright and flaring blazars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

First High-speed Video Camera Observations of a Lightning Flash Associated with a Downward Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash

In this paper, we present the first high-speed video observation of a cloud-to-ground lightning flash and its associated downward-directed Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash (TGF). The optical emission of the event was observed by a high-speed video camera running at 40,000 frames per second in conjunction with the Telescope Array Surface Detector, Lightning Mapping Array, interferometer, electric-field fast antenna, and the National Lightning Detection Network. The cloud-to-ground flash associated with the observed TGF was formed by a fast downward leader followed by a very intense return stroke peak current of -154 kA. The TGF occurred while the downward leader was below cloud base, and even when it was halfway in its propagation to ground. The suite of gamma-ray and lightning instruments, timing resolution, and source proximity offer us detailed information and therefore a unique look at the TGF phenomena.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2023

Rejecting noise in Baikal-GVD data with neural networks

Baikal-GVD is a large ($\sim$1 km$^3$) underwater neutrino telescope installed in the fresh waters of Lake Baikal. The deep lake water environment is pervaded by background light, which is detectable by Baikal-GVD's photosensors. We introduce a neural network for an efficient separation of these noise hits from the signal ones, stemming from the propagation of relativistic particles through the detector. The model has a U-net-like architecture and employs temporal (causal) structure of events. The neural network's metrics reach up to 99\% signal purity (precision) and 96\% survival efficiency (recall) on Monte-Carlo simulated dataset. We compare the developed method with the algorithmic approach to rejecting the noise and discuss other possible architectures of neural networks, including graph-based ones.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Deep learning method for identifying mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays

We introduce a novel method for identifying the mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays using deep learning. The key idea of the method is to use a chain of two neural networks. The first network predicts the type of a primary particle for individual events, while the second infers the mass composition of an ensemble of events. We apply this method to the Monte-Carlo data for the Telescope Array Surface Detectors readings, on which it yields an unprecedented low error of 7% for 4-component approximation. We also discuss the problems of applying the developed method to the experimental data, and the way they can be resolved.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Observation of Variations in Cosmic Ray Single Count Rates During Thunderstorms and Implications for Large-Scale Electric Field Changes

We present the first observation by the Telescope Array Surface Detector (TASD) of the effect of thunderstorms on the development of cosmic ray single count rate intensity over a 700 km$^{2}$ area. Observations of variations in the secondary low-energy cosmic ray counting rate, using the TASD, allow us to study the electric field inside thunderstorms, on a large scale, as it progresses on top of the 700 km$^{2}$ detector, without dealing with the limitation of narrow exposure in time and space using balloons and aircraft detectors. In this work, variations in the cosmic ray intensity (single count rate) using the TASD, were studied and found to be on average at the $\sim(0.5-1)\%$ and up to 2\% level. These observations were found to be both in excess and in deficit. They were also found to be correlated with lightning in addition to thunderstorms. These variations lasted for tens of minutes; their footprint on the ground ranged from 6 to 24 km in diameter and moved in the same direction as the thunderstorm. With the use of simple electric field models inside the cloud and between cloud to ground, the observed variations in the cosmic ray single count rate were recreated using CORSIKA simulations. Depending on the electric field model used and the direction of the electric field in that model, the electric field magnitude that reproduces the observed low-energy cosmic ray single count rate variations was found to be approximately between 0.2-0.4 GV. This in turn allows us to get a reasonable insight on the electric field and its effect on cosmic ray air showers inside thunderstorms.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Evidence for Declination Dependence of the Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Ray Spectrum in the Northern Hemisphere

Telescope Array (TA) is the largest experiment in the Northern Hemisphere studying ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. TA measurements of the cosmic ray spectrum using the surface detector have the best statistical power in the experiment, and observe the ankle of the spectrum and the high energy cutoff. When the data are divided into two declination bands, above and below 24.8 degrees, the cutoff appears at $10^{19.64 \pm 0.04}$ ($10^{19.84 \pm 0.02}$) eV in the lower (higher) band, an energy difference of 58\%. The global significance of the difference is 4.3 standard deviations. The lack of an instrumental cause of this difference implies it is astrophysical in nature.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Indications of a Cosmic Ray Source in the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster

The Telescope Array Collaboration has observed an excess of events with $E \ge 10^{19.4} ~{\rm eV}$ in the data which is centered at (RA, dec) = ($19^\circ$, $35^\circ$). This is near the center of the Perseus-Pisces supercluster (PPSC). The PPSC is about $70 ~{\rm Mpc}$ distant and is the closest supercluster in the Northern Hemisphere (other than the Virgo supercluster of which we are a part). A Li-Ma oversampling analysis with $20^\circ$-radius circles indicates an excess in the arrival direction of events with a local significance of about 4 standard deviations. The probability of having such excess close to the PPSC by chance is estimated to be 3.5 standard deviations. This result indicates that a cosmic ray source likely exists in that supercluster.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Emergent Planck mass and dark energy from affine gravity

We introduce a novel model of affine gravity, which implements the no-scale scenario. Namely, Planck mass and Hubble constant emerge dynamically, through the mechanism of spontaneous breaking of scale-invariance. Moreover, in our model the time direction and non--degenerate metric emerge dynamically as well. This naturally gives rise to the inflation and may server as a starting point for the "birth" of the Universe. We show that our model is phenomenologically viable, both from the perspective of the direct tests of gravity and cosmological evolution.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Coset space construction for the conformal group. II. Spontaneously broken phase and inverse Higgs phenomenon

A self-contained method of obtaining effective theories resulting from the spontaneous breakdown of conformal invariance is developed. It allows to demonstrate that the Nambu-Goldstone fields for special conformal transformations always represent non-dynamical degrees of freedom. The standard approach to the same question, which includes the imposition of the inverse Higgs constraints, is shown to follow from the developed technique. This provides an alternative view on the nature of the inverse Higgs constraints for the conformal group.

hep-th↗