arXiv subjects

J. Zabierowski

Publications and source records attributed to J. Zabierowski.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Total and differential cross sections of $η$-production in proton-deuteron fusion for excess energies between $Q_η=13\;\text{MeV}$ and $Q_η=81\;\text{MeV}$

New data on both total and differential cross sections of the production of $η$ mesons in proton-deuteron fusion to ${}^3\text{He}\,η$ in the excess energy region $13.6\;\text{MeV}\leq Q_η\leq 80.9\;\text{MeV}$ are presented. These data have been obtained with the WASA-at-COSY detector setup located at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, using a proton beam at 15 different beam momenta between $p_p = 1.60\;\text{GeV}/c$ and $p_p = 1.74\;\text{GeV}/c$. While significant structure of the total cross section is observed in the energy region $20\;\text{MeV}\lesssim Q_η\lesssim 60\;\text{MeV}$, a previously reported sharp variation around $Q_η\approx 50\;\text{MeV}$ cannot be confirmed. Angular distributions show the typical forward-peaking that was reported elsewhere. For the first time, it is possible to study the development of these angular distributions with rising excess energy over a large interval.

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arXiv2018

Probing the evolution of the EAS muon content in the atmosphere with KASCADE-Grande

The evolution of the muon content of very high energy air showers (EAS) in the atmosphere is investigated with data of the KASCADE-Grande observatory. For this purpose, the muon attenuation length in the atmosphere is obtained to $Λ_μ= 1256 \, \pm 85 \, ^{+229}_{-232}(\mbox{syst})\, \mbox{g/cm}^2$ from the experimental data for shower energies between $10^{16.3}$ and $10^{17.0} \, \mbox{eV}$. Comparison of this quantity with predictions of the high-energy hadronic interaction models QGSJET-II-02, SIBYLL 2.1, QGSJET-II-04 and EPOS-LHC reveals that the attenuation of the muon content of measured EAS in the atmosphere is lower than predicted. Deviations are, however, less significant with the post-LHC models. The presence of such deviations seems to be related to a difference between the simulated and the measured zenith angle evolutions of the lateral muon density distributions of EAS, which also causes a discrepancy between the measured absorption lengths of the density of shower muons and the predicted ones at large distances from the EAS core. The studied deficiencies show that all four considered hadronic interaction models fail to describe consistently the zenith angle evolution of the muon content of EAS in the aforesaid energy regime.

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arXiv2017

Spin dependence of η meson production in proton-proton collisions close to threshold

Taking advantage of the high acceptance and axial symmetry of the WASA-at-COSY detector, and the high degree of the polarized proton beam of COSY, the reaction pp{\to} ppη has been measured close to threshold to explore the analyzing power Ay. The angular distribution of Ay is determined with the precision improved by more than one order of magnitude with respect to previous results allowing a first accurate comparison with theoretical predictions. The determined analyzing power is consistent with zero for an excess energy of Q = 15 MeV signaling s wave production with no evidence for higher partial waves. At Q = 72 MeV the data reveals strong interference of P s and P p partial waves and cancellation of (P p) and Ss*Sd contributions. These results rule out the presently available theoretical predictions for the production mechanism of the η meson.

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arXiv2017

Recent results from the KASCADE-Grande cosmic-ray experiment --- Test of hadronic interaction models with air-shower data

Cosmic rays provide an unique approach to study hadronic interactions at high energies in the kinematic forward direction. The KASCADE air shower experiment was the first to conduct quantitative tests of hadronic interactions with air shower data. A brief overview is given on results from KASCADE and its extension KASCADE-Grande with respect to investigations of hadronic interactions and the properties of cosmic rays.

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arXiv2017

KASCADE-Grande Limits on the Isotropic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Flux between 100 TeV and 1 EeV

KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande were multi-detector installations to measure individual air showers of cosmic rays at ultra-high energy. Based on data sets measured by KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande, 90% C.L. upper limits to the flux of gamma-rays in the primary cosmic ray flux are determined in an energy range of ${10}^{14} - {10}^{18}$ eV. The analysis is performed by selecting air showers with a low muon content as expected for gamma-ray-induced showers compared to air showers induced by energetic nuclei. The best upper limit of the fraction of gamma-rays to the total cosmic ray flux is obtained at $3.7 \times {10}^{15}$ eV with $1.1 \times {10}^{-5}$. Translated to an absolute gamma-ray flux this sets constraints on some fundamental astrophysical models, such as the distance of sources for at least one of the IceCube neutrino excess models.

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arXiv2016

Search for eta-mesic 4He in the dd->3He n pi0 and dd->3He p pi- reactions with the WASA-at-COSY facility

The search for 4He-eta bound states was performed with the WASA-at-COSY facility via the measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3He n pi0 and dd->3He p pi- processes. The beam momentum was varied continuously between 2.127 GeV/c and 2.422 GeV/c, corresponding to the excess energy for the dd->4He eta reaction ranging from Q=-70 MeV to Q=30 MeV. The luminosity was determined based on the dd->3He n reaction and quasi-free proton-proton scattering via dd->pp n_spectator n_spectator reactions. The excitation functions determined independently for the measured reactions do not reveal a structure which could be interpreted as a narrow mesic nucleus. Therefore, the upper limits of the total cross sections for the bound state production and decay in dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He n pi0 and dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He p pi- processes were determined taking into account the isospin relation between both the channels considered. The results of the analysis depend on the assumptions of the N* momentum distribution in the anticipated mesic-4He. Assuming as in the previous works, that this is identical with the distribution of nucleons bound with 20 MeV in 4He, we determined that (for the mesic bound state width in the range from 5 MeV to 50 MeV) the upper limits at 90% confidence level are about 3 nb and about 6 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels, respectively. However, based on the recent theoretical findings of the N*(1535) momentum distribution in the N*-3He nucleus bound by 3.6 MeV, we find that the WASA-at-COSY detector acceptance decreases and hence the corresponding upper limits are 5 nb and 10 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels respectively.

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arXiv2016

A comparison of the cosmic-ray energy scales of Tunka-133 and KASCADE-Grande via their radio extensions Tunka-Rex and LOPES

The radio technique is a promising method for detection of cosmic-ray air showers of energies around $100\,$PeV and higher with an array of radio antennas. Since the amplitude of the radio signal can be measured absolutely and increases with the shower energy, radio measurements can be used to determine the air-shower energy on an absolute scale. We show that calibrated measurements of radio detectors operated in coincidence with host experiments measuring air showers based on other techniques can be used for comparing the energy scales of these host experiments. Using two approaches, first via direct amplitude measurements, and second via comparison of measurements with air shower simulations, we compare the energy scales of the air-shower experiments Tunka-133 and KASCADE-Grande, using their radio extensions, Tunka-Rex and LOPES, respectively. Due to the consistent amplitude calibration for Tunka-Rex and LOPES achieved by using the same reference source, this comparison reaches an accuracy of approximately $10\,\%$ - limited by some shortcomings of LOPES, which was a prototype experiment for the digital radio technique for air showers. In particular we show that the energy scales of cosmic-ray measurements by the independently calibrated experiments KASCADE-Grande and Tunka-133 are consistent with each other on this level.

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arXiv2016

Measurement of the $ω\to π^+ π^- π^0$ Dalitz plot distribution

Using the production reactions $pd\to {}^3\mbox{He}\,ω$ and $pp\to ppω$, the Dalitz plot distribution for the $ω\to π^+ π^- π^0$ decay is studied with the WASA detector at COSY, based on a combined data sample of $ (4.408\pm 0.042) \times 10^4$ events. The Dalitz plot density is parametrised by a product of the $P$-wave phase space and a polynomial expansion in the normalised polar Dalitz plot variables $Z$ and $ϕ$. For the first time, a deviation from pure $P$-wave phase space is observed with a significance of $4.1σ$. The deviation is parametrised by a linear term $1+2αZ$, with $α$ determined to be $+0.147\pm0.036$, consistent with the expectations of $ρ$-meson-type final-state interactions of the $P$-wave pion pairs.

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arXiv2016

Search for an Isospin I =3 Dibaryon

Various theoretical calculations based on QCD or hadronic interactions predict that in addition to the recently observed dibaryon resonance $d^*(2380)$ with $I(J^P) = 0(3^+)$ there should also exist a dibaryon resonance with mirrored quantum numbers $I(J^P) = 3(0^+)$. We report here on a search for such a $NN$-decoupled state in data on the $pp \to ppπ^+π^+π^-π^-$ reaction. Since no clear-cut evidence has been found, we give upper limits for the production cross section of such a resonance in the mass range 2280 - 2500 MeV.

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arXiv2016

Measurement of the $\vec{n}p \to dπ^0π^0$ Reaction with Polarized Beam in the Region of the $d^*(2380)$ Resonance

We report on a high-statistics measurement of the most basic double pionic fusion reaction $\vec{n}p \to dπ^0π^0$ over the energy region of the $d^*(2380)$ resonance by use of a polarized deuteron beam and observing the double fusion reaction in the quasifree scattering mode. The measurements were performed with the WASA detector setup at COSY. The data reveal substantial analyzing powers and confirm conclusions about the $d^*$ resonance obtained from unpolarized measurements. We also confirm the previous unpolarized data obtained under complementary kinematic conditions.

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arXiv2015

Comparing LOPES measurements of air-shower radio emission with REAS 3.11 and CoREAS simulations

Cosmic ray air showers emit radio pulses at MHz frequencies, which can be measured with radio antenna arrays - like LOPES at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. To improve the understanding of the radio emission, we test theoretical descriptions with measured data. The observables used for these tests are the absolute amplitude of the radio signal, and the shape of the radio lateral distribution. We compare lateral distributions of more than 500 LOPES events with two recent and public Monte Carlo simulation codes, REAS 3.11 and CoREAS (v 1.0). The absolute radio amplitudes predicted by REAS 3.11 are in good agreement with the LOPES measurements. The amplitudes predicted by CoREAS are lower by a factor of two, and marginally compatible with the LOPES measurements within the systematic scale uncertainties. In contrast to any previous versions of REAS, REAS 3.11 and CoREAS now reproduce the shape of the measured lateral distributions correctly. This reflects a remarkable progress compared to the situation a few years ago, and it seems that the main processes for the radio emission of air showers are now understood: The emission is mainly due to the geomagnetic deflection of the electrons and positrons in the shower. Less important but not negligible is the Askaryan effect (net charge variation). Moreover, we confirm that the refractive index of the air plays an important role, since it changes the coherence conditions for the emission: Only the new simulations including the refractive index can reproduce rising lateral distributions which we observe in a few LOPES events. Finally, we show that the lateral distribution is sensitive to the energy and the mass of the primary cosmic ray particles.

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arXiv2015

Improved absolute calibration of LOPES measurements and its impact on the comparison with REAS 3.11 and CoREAS simulations

LOPES was a digital antenna array detecting the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. The calibration of the absolute amplitude scale of the measurements was done using an external, commercial reference source, which emits a frequency comb with defined amplitudes. Recently, we obtained improved reference values by the manufacturer of the reference source, which significantly changed the absolute calibration of LOPES. We reanalyzed previously published LOPES measurements, studying the impact of the changed calibration. The main effect is an overall decrease of the LOPES amplitude scale by a factor of $2.6 \pm 0.2$, affecting all previously published values for measurements of the electric-field strength. This results in a major change in the conclusion of the paper 'Comparing LOPES measurements of air-shower radio emission with REAS 3.11 and CoREAS simulations' published in Astroparticle Physics 50-52 (2013) 76-91: With the revised calibration, LOPES measurements now are compatible with CoREAS simulations, but in tension with REAS 3.11 simulations. Since CoREAS is the latest version of the simulation code incorporating the current state of knowledge on the radio emission of air showers, this new result indicates that the absolute amplitude prediction of current simulations now is in agreement with experimental data.

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arXiv2015

Measurements of Branching Ratios for $η$ Decays into Charged Particles

The WASA-at-COSY experiment has collected $3\times10^{7}$ events with $η$-mesons produced via the reaction $pd\rightarrow{^{3}\textrm{He}}η$ at $\textrm{T} = 1.0 \textrm{GeV}$. Using this data set, we evaluate the branching ratios of the decays $η\toπ^{+}π^{-}γ$, $η\to e^{+}e^{-}γ$, $η\toπ^{+}π^{-}e^{+}e^{-}$ and $η\to e^{+}e^{-}e^{+}e^{-}$. The branching ratios are normalized to the $η\rightarrowπ^{+}π^{-}π^{0}$ decay. In addition an upper limit on a $CP$-violating asymmetry in $η\rightarrow π^{+}π^{-}e^{+}e^{-}$ is extracted.

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arXiv2015

Revised absolute amplitude calibration of the LOPES experiment

One of the main aims of the LOPES experiment was the evaluation of the absolute amplitude of the radio signal of air showers. This is of special interest since the radio technique offers the possibility for an independent and highly precise determination of the energy scale of cosmic rays on the basis of signal predictions from Monte Carlo simulations. For the calibration of the amplitude measured by LOPES we used an external source. Previous comparisons of LOPES measurements and simulations of the radio signal amplitude predicted by CoREAS revealed a discrepancy of the order of a factor of two. A re-measurement of the reference calibration source, now performed for the free field, was recently performed by the manufacturer. The updated calibration values lead to a lowering of the reconstructed electric field measured by LOPES by a factor of $2.6 \pm 0.2$ and therefore to a significantly better agreement with CoREAS simulations. We discuss the updated calibration and its impact on the LOPES analysis results.

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arXiv2015

Investigation of the radio wavefront of air showers with LOPES measurements and CoREAS simulations (ARENA 2014)

We investigated the radio wavefront of cosmic-ray air showers with LOPES measurements and CoREAS simulations: the wavefront is of approximately hyperbolic shape and its steepness is sensitive to the shower maximum. For this study we used 316 events with an energy above 0.1 EeV and zenith angles below $45^\circ$ measured by the LOPES experiment. LOPES was a digital radio interferometer consisting of up to 30 antennas on an area of approximately 200 m x 200 m at an altitude of 110 m above sea level. Triggered by KASCADE-Grande, LOPES measured the radio emission between 43 and 74 MHz, and our analysis might strictly hold only for such conditions. Moreover, we used CoREAS simulations made for each event, which show much clearer results than the measurements suffering from high background. A detailed description of our result is available in our recent paper published in JCAP09(2014)025. The present proceeding contains a summary and focuses on some additional aspects, e.g., the asymmetry of the wavefront: According to the CoREAS simulations the wavefront is slightly asymmetric, but on a much weaker level than the lateral distribution of the radio amplitude.

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arXiv2015

KCDC - The KASCADE Cosmic-ray Data Centre

KCDC, the KASCADE Cosmic-ray Data Centre, is a web portal, where data of astroparticle physics experiments will be made available for the interested public. The KASCADE experiment, financed by public money, was a large-area detector for the measurement of high-energy cosmic rays via the detection of air showers. KASCADE and its extension KASCADE-Grande stopped finally the active data acquisition of all its components including the radio EAS experiment LOPES end of 2012 after more than 20 years of data taking. In a first release, with KCDC we provide to the public the measured and reconstructed parameters of more than 160 million air showers. In addition, KCDC provides the conceptional design, how the data can be treated and processed so that they are also usable outside the community of experts in the research field. Detailed educational examples make a use also possible for high-school students and early stage researchers.

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arXiv2014

First Experimental Characterization of Microwave Emission from Cosmic Ray Air Showers

We report the first direct measurement of the overall characteristics of microwave radio emission from extensive air showers. Using a trigger provided by the KASCADE-Grande air shower array, the signals of the microwave antennas of the CROME (Cosmic-Ray Observation via Microwave Emission) experiment have been read out and searched for signatures of radio emission by high-energy air showers in the GHz frequency range. Microwave signals have been detected for more than 30 showers with energies above 3*10^16 eV. The observations presented in this Letter are consistent with a mainly forward-directed and polarised emission process in the GHz frequency range. The measurements show that microwave radiation offers a new means of studying air showers at energies above 10^17 eV.

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arXiv2014

Charge Symmetry Breaking in dd->4Heπ0 with WASA-at-COSY

Charge symmetry breaking (CSB) observables are a suitable experimental tool to examine effects induced by quark masses on the nuclear level. Previous high precision data from TRIUMF and IUCF are currently used to develop a consistent description of CSB within the framework of chiral perturbation theory. In this work the experimental studies on the reaction dd->4Heπ0 have been extended towards higher excess energies in order to provide information on the contribution of p-waves in the final state. For this, an exclusive measurement has been carried out at a beam momentum of p=1.2 GeV/c using the WASA-at-COSY facility. The total cross section amounts to sigma(tot) = (118 +- 18(stat) +- 13(sys) +- 8(ext)) pb and first data on the differential cross section are consistent with s-wave pion production.

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