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J. Nishimura

Publications and source records attributed to J. Nishimura.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Measurements of cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra from the BESS-Polar long-duration balloon flights over Antarctica

The BESS-Polar Collaboration measured the energy spectra of cosmic-ray protons and helium during two long-duration balloon flights over Antarctica in December 2004 and December 2007, at substantially different levels of solar modulation. Proton and helium spectra probe the origin and propagation history of cosmic rays in the galaxy, and are essential to calculations of the expected spectra of cosmic-ray antiprotons, positrons, and electrons from interactions of primary cosmic-ray nuclei with the interstellar gas, and to calculations of atmospheric muons and neutrinos. We report absolute spectra at the top of the atmosphere for cosmic-ray protons in the kinetic energy range 0.2-160 GeV and helium nuclei 0.15-80 GeV/nucleon. The corresponding magnetic rigidity ranges are 0.6-160 GV for protons and 1.1-160 GV for helium. These spectra are compared to measurements from previous BESS flights and from ATIC-2, PAMELA, and AMS-02. We also report the ratio of the proton and helium fluxes from 1.1 GV to 160 GV and compare to ratios from PAMELA and AMS-02.

astro-ph.HE

Atmospheric Electron Spectrum above 30 GeV at the high altitude

We have observed the primary electron spectrum from 30 GeV to 3 TeV using emulsion chambers flown by balloons at the top of the atmosphere, for the purpose of exploring the origin of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. The atmospheric gamma rays have been simultaneously observed in the 30 GeV $\sim$ 8 TeV energy range. In this paper, we estimate the atmospheric electron spectrum in the upper atmosphere ($<$ 10 ${\rm g/cm^2}$) from our observed gamma-ray spectrum using the electromagnetic shower theory in order to derive the primary cosmic-ray electron spectrum. The transport equations of the electron and gamma-ray spectrum are analytically solved and the results are compared with those of Monte Carlo simulation (MC). Since we used the observed atmospheric gamma rays as the source of atmospheric electrons, our solutions are free from ambiguities on the primary cosmic-ray nuclear spectra and nuclear interaction models included in MC. In the energy range above several hundred GeV, the Dalitz electrons produced directly from neutral pions contribute around 10 percent to the whole atmospheric electron spectrum at the depth of 4 ${\rm g/cm^2}$, which increases in importance at the higher altitude and cannot be ignored in TeV electron balloon observations.

astro-ph.HE

Search for Antihelium with the BESS-Polar Spectrometer

In two long-duration balloon flights over Antarctica, the BESS-Polar collaboration has searched for antihelium in the cosmic radiation with higher sensitivity than any reported investigation. BESS- Polar I flew in 2004, observing for 8.5 days. BESS-Polar II flew in 2007-2008, observing for 24.5 days. No antihelium candidate was found in BESS-Polar I data among 8.4\times 10^6 |Z| = 2 nuclei from 1.0 to 20 GV or in BESS-Polar II data among 4.0\times 10^7 |Z| = 2 nuclei from 1.0 to 14 GV. Assuming antihelium to have the same spectral shape as helium, a 95% confidence upper limit of 6.9 \times 10^-8 was determined by combining all the BESS data, including the two BESS-Polar flights. With no assumed antihelium spectrum and a weighted average of the lowest antihelium efficiencies from 1.6 to 14 GV, an upper limit of 1.0 \times 10^-7 was determined for the combined BESS-Polar data. These are the most stringent limits obtained to date.

astro-ph.CO

Measurement of the cosmic-ray antiproton spectrum at solar minimum with a long-duration balloon flight over Antarctica

The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons from 0.17 to 3.5 GeV has been measured using 7886 antiprotons detected by BESS-Polar II during a long-duration flight over Antarctica near solar minimum in December 2007 and January 2008. This shows good consistency with secondary antiproton calculations. Cosmologically primary antiprotons have been investigated by comparing measured and calculated antiproton spectra. BESS-Polar II data show no evidence of primary antiprotons from evaporation of primordial black holes.

astro-ph.HE

Lattice study of 4d {\cal N}=1 super Yang-Mills theory with dynamical overlap gluino

We report on a lattice simulation result for four-dimensional {\cal N}=1 SU(2) super Yang-Mills theory with the dynamical overlap gluino. We study the spectrum of the overlap Dirac operator at three different gluino masses m=0.2, 0.1 and 0.05 with the Iwasaki action on a 8^3 \times 16 lattice. We find that the lowest eigenvalue distributions are in good agreement with the prediction from the random matrix theory. Moreover the mass dependence of the condensate is almost constant, which gives a clean chiral limit. Our results for the gluino condensate in the chiral limit is < \barψ ψ> r_0^3 = 0.63(12), where r_0 is the Sommer scale.

hep-lat

Measurement of cosmic-ray low-energy antiproton spectrum with the first BESS-Polar Antarctic flight

The BESS-Polar spectrometer had its first successful balloon flight over Antarctica in December 2004. During the 8.5-day long-duration flight, almost 0.9 billion events were recorded and 1,520 antiprotons were detected in the energy range 0.1-4.2 GeV. In this paper, we report the antiproton spectrum obtained, discuss the origin of cosmic-ray antiprotons, and use antiprotons to probe the effect of charge sign dependent drift in the solar modulation.

astro-ph

High-energy electron observations by PPB-BETS flight in Antarctica

We have observed cosmic-ray electrons from 10 GeV to 800 GeV by a long duration balloon flight using Polar Patrol Balloon (PPB) in Antarctica. The observation was carried out for 13 days at an average altitude of 35 km in January 2004. The detector is an imaging calorimeter composed of scintillating-fiber belts and plastic scintillators inserted between lead plates with 9 radiation lengths. The performance of the detector has been confirmed by the CERN-SPS beam test and also investigated by Monte-Carlo simulations. New telemetry system using a commercial satellite of Iridium, power supply by solar batteries, and automatic level control using CPU have successfully been developed and operated during the flight. From the long duration balloon observations, we derived the energy spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons in the energy range from 100 GeV to 800 GeV. In addition, for the first time we derived the electron arrival directions above 100 GeV, which is consistent with the isotropic distribution.

astro-ph

A non-perturbative study of non-commutative U(1) gauge theory

We study U(1) gauge theory on a 4d non-commutative torus, where two directions are non-commutative. Monte Carlo simulations are performed after mapping the regularized theory onto a U(N) lattice gauge theory in d=2. At intermediate coupling strength, we find a phase in which open Wilson lines acquire non-zero vacuum expectation values, which implies the spontaneous breakdown of translational invariance. In this phase, various physical quantities obey clear scaling behaviors in the continuum limit with a fixed non-commutativity parameter theta, which provides evidence for a possible continuum theory. In the weak coupling symmetric phase, the dispersion relation involves a negative IR-singular term, which is responsible for the observed phase transition.

hep-th

Measurements of 0.2 to 20 GeV/n cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra from 1997 through 2002 with the BESS spectrometer

We measured low energy cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra in the kinetic energy range 0.215 - 21.5 GeV/n at different solar activities during a period from 1997 to 2002. The observations were carried out with the BESS spectrometer launched on a balloon at Lynn Lake, Canada. A calculation for the correction of secondary particle backgrounds from the overlying atmosphere was improved by using the measured spectra at small atmospheric depths ranging from 5 through 37 g/cm^2. The uncertainties including statistical and systematic errors of the obtained spectra at the top of atmosphere are 5-7 % for protons and 6-9 % for helium nuclei in the energy range 0.5 - 5 GeV/n.

astro-ph

Cosmic-ray spectra of primary protons and high altitude muons deconvolved from observed atmospheric gamma rays

We have observed atmospheric gamma rays from 30GeV to 8TeV, using emulsion chambers at balloon altitudes, accumulating the largest total exposure in this energy range to date, SOT ~ 6.66m^2.sr.day. At very high altitudes, with residual overburden only a few g/cm^2, atmospheric gamma rays are mainly produced by a single interaction of primary cosmic rays with overlying atmospheric nuclei. Thus, we can use these gamma rays to study the spectrum of primary cosmic rays and their products in the atmosphere. From the observed atmospheric gamma ray spectrum, we deconvolved the primary cosmic-ray proton spectrum, assuming appropriate hadronic interaction models. Our deconvolved proton spectrum covers the energy range from 200GeV to 50TeV, which fills a gap in the currently available primary cosmic-ray proton spectra. We also estimated the atmospheric muon spectrum above 30GeV at high altitude from our gamma-ray spectrum, almost without reference to the primary cosmic rays, and compared the estimated flux with direct muon observations below 10GeV.

astro-ph

Measurements of Atmospheric Antiprotons

We measured atmospheric antiproton spectra in the energy range 0.2 to 3.4 GeV, at sea level and at balloon altitude in the atmospheric depth range 4.5 to 26 g/cm^2. The observed energy spectra, including our previous measurements at mountain altitude, were compared with estimated spectra calculated on various assumptions regarding the energy distribution of antiprotons that interacted with air nuclei.

astro-ph

The Scaling of QED in a Non-Commutative Space-Time

We present results of numerical simulations for pure U(1) gauge theory in a non-commutative space. The theory is mapped onto a dimensionally reduced matrix model, which renders its numerical treatment feasible. New data on large lattices reveal the scaling of Wilson loops and their correlation functions in the simultaneous limit to the continuum and to infinite volume, at fixed non-commutativity. In this on-going project we are particularly interested in the IR behaviour, the ``photo-ball'' spectrum and in the photon dispersion relation.

hep-lat

Search for Cosmic-Ray Antideuterons

We performed a search for cosmic-ray antideuterons using data collected during four BESS balloon flights from 1997 to 2000. No candidate was found. We derived, for the first time, an upper limit of 1.9E-4 (m^2 s sr GeV/nucleon)^(-1) for the differential flux of cosmic-ray antideuterons, at the 95% confidence level, between 0.17 and 1.15 GeV/nucleon at the top of the atmosphere.

astro-ph

Numerical Results for U(1) Gauge Theory on 2d and 4d Non-Commutative Spaces

We present non-perturbative results for U(1) gauge theory in spaces, which include a non-commutative plane. In contrast to the commutative space, such gauge theories involve a Yang-Mills term, and the Wilson loop is complex on the non-perturbative level. We first consider the 2d case: small Wilson loops follows an area law, whereas for large Wilson loops the complex phase rises linearly with the area. In four dimensions the behavior is qualitatively similar for loops in the non-commutative plane, whereas the loops in other planes follow closely the commutative pattern. In d=2 our results can be extrapolated safely to the continuum limit, and in d=4 we report on recent progress towards this goal.

hep-th

First Simulation Results for the Photon in a Non-Commutative Space

We present preliminary simulation results for QED in a non-commutative 4d space-time, which is discretized to a fuzzy lattice. Its numerical treatment becomes feasible after its mapping onto a dimensionally reduced twisted Eguchi-Kawai matrix model. In this formulation we investigate the Wilson loops and in particular the Creutz ratios. This is an ongoing project which aims at non-perturbative predictions for the photon, which can be confronted with phenomenology in order to verify the possible existence of non-commutativity in nature.

hep-lat

Phase diagram and dispersion relation of the non-commutative λϕ^{4} model in d=3

We present a non-perturbative study of the λϕ^{4} model in a three dimensional Euclidean space, where the two spatial coordinates are non-commutative. Our results are obtained from numerical simulations of the lattice model, after its mapping onto a dimensionally reduced, twisted Hermitian matrix model. In this way we first reveal the explicit phase diagram of the non-commutative λϕ^{4} lattice model. We observe that the ordered regime splits into a phase of uniform order and a phase of two stripes of opposite sign, and more complicated patterns. Next we discuss the behavior of the spatial and temporal correlators. From the latter we extract the dispersion relation, which allows us to introduce a dimensionful lattice spacing. To extrapolate to zero lattice spacing and infinite volume we perform a double scaling limit, which keeps the non-commutativity tensor constant. The dispersion relation in the disordered phase stabilizes in this limit, which represents a non-perturbative renormalization. In particular this confirms the existence of a striped phase in the continuum limit, in accordance with a conjecture by Gubser and Sondhi. The extrapolated dispersion relation also exhibits UV/IR mixing as a non-perturbative effect. Finally we add some observations about a Nambu-Goldstone mode in the striped phase, and about the corresponding model in d=2.

hep-th

The continuum limit of the non-commutative lambda phi^4 model

We present a numerical study of the λϕ^{4} model in three Euclidean dimensions, where the two spatial coordinates are non-commutative (NC). We first show the explicit phase diagram of this model on a lattice. The ordered regime splits into a phase of uniform order and a ``striped phase''. Then we discuss the dispersion relation, which allows us to introduce a dimensionful lattice spacing. Thus we can study a double scaling limit to zero lattice spacing and infinite volume, which keeps the non-commutativity parameter constant. The dispersion relation in the disordered phase stabilizes in this limit, which represents a non-perturbative renormalization. From its shape we infer that the striped phase persists in the continuum, and we observe UV/IR mixing as a non-perturbative effect.

hep-th