Search

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Mortality from cardiogenic shock (CS) shows great disparities (1). This evidence reflects variations in access to care and medical practice, related to the lack of clear guidelines for appropriate patient selection for mechanical circulatory support (MCS) application. In this regard, the results of most trials or meta-analyses were neutral on survival, and the costs in terms of patient morbidity/mortality are high and unproven (2). Accordingly, a judicious use of MCS is crucial for an adequate resource allocation and to avoid futility. Purpose To characterize trends in use of support devices and compare outcomes between CS patients included in a contemporary national Cardiac Intensive Care Units (CICUs) registry, treated or not with MCS. Methods 324 sequential patients admitted with CS at a CICUs network between March 2020 and August 2022 were identified. We categorized patients according to treatment with MCS (n=204; 63%) and medical therapy (n=120; 37%). We investigated differences in clinical, laboratory, hemodynamics, echocardiographic and prognostic scores on admission, at 24-hours and at discharge. In-hospital outcome and mid-term survival were described for each treatment cohort. Comparison of continuous variables was performed using Student’s t-test. For categorical variables, the χ2 statistic was used. Results CS was a complication of acute myocardial infarction in 141 patients (44%) and of acute on chronic heart failure in 124 patients (38%); 58 patients (18%) presented with other diagnosis. In MCS cohort, we reported more advanced Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) shock stages and MCS implantation was more prevalent within 24-hours in SCAI C (48,6% on admission; 51,2% at 24-hours). In-hospital mortality did not differ between the two groups (38% in MCS and 37% in medically treated patients, p=0,874). Chronic kidney disease (OR 2.1, 95%CI 1.2-3.5, p=0,009), elevated lactates and SCAI stage at 24-hours (OR and 95%CI were, respectively, 3.45, 1.99-5.97 and 3.67, 2.46-5.47, p Conclusions In this nation-wide study, mortality in MCS patients was high and no statistically significant difference on in-hospital and mid-term survival emerged between patients receiving MCS compared to medical therapy. Hence, a prompt and constant risk-stratification is mandatory to exclude patients too sick to derive any benefits from invasive therapies, avoiding futility.

Background Cardiogenic shock (CS) includes several phenotypes of congestion or hypoperfusion with heterogenous hemodynamic features. Timely prognostication with scoring tools is warranted to identify patients requiring escalation to mechanical circulatory support (MCS) and to avoid futility. Purpose Accordingly, we explored the role of the updated Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) stages classification on in-hospital mortality using a prospective national registry. Methods The Altshock-2 Registry includes 237 patients with CS of all etiologies enrolled between March 2020 and February 2022 in 11 Italian Centers. Patients were classified according to the admission SCAI stages (assigned prospectively and independently updated according to the most recently released version); 24-hour re-assessment was prospectively performed in 201 patients. In-hospital mortality was evaluated for association with admission and 24 hours SCAI stages adjusted for the most relevant clinical covariates. Results Of the 237 patients included, 20 (8.4%) had SCAI shock stage B, 132 (55.8%) SCAI stage C, 60 (25.3) SCAI stage D and 25 (10.5%) SCAI stage E. Patients in stage B had the worst reclassification at 24-hours, with 42% of them showing worsened status and only 8% improving. In-hospital mortality was 38%. The revised SCAI stages at baseline were not independently associated with in-hospital mortality, whereas the SCAI classification at 24-h correctly and independently predicted mortality (the rate of in-hospital death was 18% for patients in SCAI shock stage B, 27% for SCAI shock stage C, 64% for SCAI shock stage D, 100% for SCAI shock stage E). At the multivariate analysis (adjusted for age, gender, eGFR, inotropic score and MCS) only SCAI classification at 24-hour evaluation was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (OR and 95% CI were, respectively, 3.32, 0.36–30.63, p=0.290 for SCAI stage C and 13.07, 1.69–146.3 for SCAI stage D, with E perfectly predicting because all patients died). Conclusions The revised SCAI stage classification may improve prognostication only at 24-hour evaluation. Aggressive treatment (either pharmacological or with MCS escalation) should be tailored in order to achieve prompt clinical improvement within the first 24-hours; refractory SCAI stage E at 24 hours portends dismal prognosis. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Background Cardiogenic shock (CS) is the most severe form of acute heart failure, characterized by life-threatening end-organ hypoperfusion resulting from a low cardiac output state. Data on epidemiology of CS has been mostly drawn from registries focusing on acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, recent evidence in a contemporary cohort in North America has shown that more than two thirds of all CS cases were related to causes other than AMI and that these patients had outcomes at least as poor as patients with AMICS. Purpose To provide data on profile, management, outcome, and evolution over time of CS patients admitted to ICCU/ICU and to compare them between patients with AMICS and acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF-CS). Methods The Altshock-2 Registry is a multicenter national prospective data collection, part of the Italian Altshock-2 program. Recruitment started on 2 March 2020 with 11 Italian Centers contributing to patients' enrolment. A total of 238 patients were hospitalized with confirmed diagnosis of CS between March 2020 and February 2022 in a multicenter national initiative. The mean age of this patient population was 64 years (interquartile range [IQR] 54–74) and 76% were male. Ninety-seven patients (41%) were admitted for AMICS, whereas 84 patients (35.3%) had ADHF-CS; 57 patients (24%) had other causes. As compared to AMICS patients, those admitted for ADHF-CS were younger, but with a higher burden of comorbidities (renal, liver, thyroid disease, atrial fibrillation, anemia), pre-existing decreased ejection fraction and a higher number of chronic drugs. Patients with ADHF-CS had a prevalent cardio-metabolic phenotype upon admission with prevalent congestion. Mechanical ventilation was more commonly used in patients with AMICS, compared to ADHF-CS, along with an increased inotropic score. Conversely, sodium nitroprusside was used in about sixty percent of patients with ADHF-CS. Sixty percent of the included population received a temporary mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device, which was intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) in the eighty percent of the supported patients. Pulmonary artery catheter was used for monitoring only in the 18% of the included patients whereas an extensive echocardiographic approach was applied. Twenty-one patients (25%) underwent heart replacement therapy in the ADHF-CS patients versus 2 (2%) in the AMICS. Thirty-day mortality occurred in 32 patients (33%) in the AMICS group versus 23 (27%) in the ADHF-CS group (p=0.41). Conclusions Different diagnostic approaches and uses of mechanical circulatory support devises and inotropes are implemented in transatlantic settings. Uniform definitions and more homogenous protocols tailored on CS etiologies and clinical and biochemical phenotypes are needed in prospective initiatives in order to effectively compared results and outcome. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

The data presented in this article are related to the research paper entitled “Observation of night-time emissions of the Earth in the near UV range from the International Space Station with the Mini-EUSO detector” (Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 284, January 2023, 113336, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2022.113336). The data have been acquired with the Mini-EUSO detector, an UV telescope operating in the range 290-430 nm and located inside the International Space Station. The detector was launched in August 2019, and it has started operations from the nadir-facing UV-transparent window in the Russian Zvezda module in October 2019. The data presented here refer to 32 sessions acquired between 2019-11-19 and 2021-05-06. The instrument consists of a Fresnel-lens optical system and a focal surface composed of 36 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes, each with 64 channels, for a total of 2304 channels with single photon counting sensitivity. The telescope, with a square field-of-view of 44°, has a spatial resolution on the Earth surface of 6.3 km and saves triggered transient phenomena with a temporal resolution of 2.5 µs and 320 µs. The telescope also operates in continuous acquisition at a 40.96 ms scale. In this article, large-area night-time UV maps obtained processing the 40.96 ms data, taking averages over regions of some specific geographical areas (e.g., Europe, North America) and over the entire globe, are presented. Data are binned into 0.1° × 0.1° or 0.05° × 0.05° cells (depending on the scale of the map) over the Earth's surface. Raw data are made available in the form of tables (latitude, longitude, counts) and .kmz files (containing the .png images). These are – to the best of our knowledge – the highest sensitivity data in this wavelength range and can be of use to various disciplines.

EUSO-Balloon is a pathfinder for JEM-EUSO, the mission concept of a spaceborne observatory which is designed to observe Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR)-induced Extensive Air Showers (EAS) by detecting their UltraViolet (UV) light tracks “from above.” On August 25, 2014, EUSO-Balloon was launched from Timmins Stratospheric Balloon Base (Ontario, Canada) by the balloon division of the French Space Agency CNES. After reaching a floating altitude of 38 km, EUSO-Balloon imaged the UV light in the wavelength range ∼290–500 nm for more than 5 hours using the key technologies of JEM-EUSO. The flight allowed a good understanding of the performance of the detector to be developed, giving insights into possible improvements to be applied to future missions. A detailed measurement of the photoelectron counts in different atmospheric and ground conditions was achieved. By means of the simulation of the instrument response and by assuming atmospheric models, the absolute intensity of diffuse light was estimated. The instrument detected hundreds of laser tracks with similar characteristics to EASs shot by a helicopter flying underneath. These are the first recorded laser tracks measured from a fluorescence detector looking down on the atmosphere. The reconstruction of the direction of the laser tracks was performed. In this work, a review of the main results obtained by EUSO-Balloon is presented as well as implications for future space-based observations of UHECRs.

International audience; Mini-EUSO is a mission of the JEM-EUSO program flying onboard the International Space Station since August 2019. Since the first data acquisition in October 2019, more than 35 sessions have been performed for a total of 52 hours of observations. The detector has been observing Earth at night-time in the UV range and detected a wide variety of transient sources all of which have been modeled through Monte Carlo simulations. Mini-EUSO is also capable of detecting meteors and potentially space debris and we performed simulations for such events to estimatetheir impact on future missions for cosmic ray science from space. We show here examples of the simulation work done in this framework to analyze the Mini-EUSO data. The expected response of Mini-EUSO with respect to ultra high energy cosmic ray showers has been studied. The efficiency curve of Mini-EUSO as a function of primary energy has been estimated and the energy threshold for Cosmic Rays has been placed to be above $10^{21}$ eV. We compared the morphology of several transient events detected during the mission with cosmic ray simulations and excluded that they can be due to cosmic ray showers. To validate the energy threshold of the detector, asystem of ground based flashers is being used for end-to-end calibration purposes. We therefore implemented a parameterization of such flashers into the JEM-EUSO simulation framework and studied the response of the detector with respect to such sources.

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) onboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EUSO) of the International Space Station (ISS) is an innovative space-based mission with the aim of detecting Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) from the ISS, by using the Earth's atmosphere as a calorimeter viewed by a fluorescence telescope. An observatory able to produce an arrival direction map with more than several hundreds events above 5 × 10 19 eV would give important information on the origin of the UHECRs and identify structures in the sky map that contain information about the source density and/or distribution. This is likely to lead to an understanding of the acceleration mechanisms with a high potential for producing discoveries in astrophysics and/or fundamental physics. The scientific motivations of the mission as well as the current development status of the instrument and its performance are reviewed.

The JEM-EUSO mission explores the origin of the extreme energy cosmic rays (EECRs) above 50 EeV through the observations of their arrival directions and energies. It is designed to open a new particle astronomy channel. This super-wide-field (60 degrees) telescope with a diameter of about 2.5m looks down from space onto the night sky to detect near UV photons (290–430nm, both fluorescent and Cherenkov emissions) produced by EECR-induced giant air showers. The arrival direction map with more than five hundred events will tell us the origin of the EECRs and allow us to identify the nearest EECR sources with known astronomical objects, and to be examined in other astronomical channels. This is likely to lead to an understanding of the acceleration mechanisms perhaps producing discoveries in astrophysics and/or fundamental physics. The comparison of the energy spectra among the spatially resolved individual sources will help to clarify the acceleration and emission mechanisms, and also finally confirm the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzʼmin process for the validation of Lorentz invariance up to γ ∼ 10 11 . Neutral components (neutrinos and gamma rays) can be detected as well, if their fluxes are high enough. The JEM-EUSO mission is planned to be launched by a H2B rocket and transferred to ISS by H2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV). It will be attached to the Exposed Facility external experiment platform of Kibo.

The description of high-energy hadronic interactions plays an important role in the (astrophysical) interpretation of air shower data. The parameter space important for the development of air showers (energy and kinematical range) extends well beyond todays accelerator capabilities. Therefore, accurate measurements of air showers are used to constrain modern models to describe high-energy hadronic interactions. The results obtained are complementary to information gained at accelerators and add to our understanding of high-energy hadronic interactions.

In the present study, we analyze the radio signal from inclined air showers recorded by LOPES-30 in coincidence with KASCADE-Grande. LOPES-30 consists of 30 East–West oriented digital antennas, which are amplitude calibrated by an external source. Radio emission from air showers is considered a geomagnetic effect. Inclined events provide a larger range of values for geomagnetic angle (angle between shower axis and geomagnetic field direction) than vertical showers and thus more information on the emission processes can be gathered. In order to have the geometry of the air shower we use the reconstruction provided by the KASCADE-Grande particle detectors array. Analyzing events observed by both LOPES and the extended part of the KASCADE array, Grande, gives the possibility to test in particular the capability and efficiency of radio detection of more distant events. The results are compared with a previous analysis of inclined events recorded by the initial 10 antenna set-up, LOPES-10, in coincidence with the Grande array.

KASCADE-Grande is an extensive air-shower experiment located at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. Main parts of the experiment are the Grande array spread over an area of 700 × 700 m 2 , the original KASCADE array covering 200 × 200 m 2 with unshielded and shielded detectors, and additional muon tracking devices. This multi-detector system allows to investigate the energy spectrum, composition, and anisotropies of cosmic rays in the energy range up to 1 EeV. LOPES is co-located at the same site to measure radio pulses from extensive air showers in coincidence with KASCADE-Grande. It consists of 30 digital antennas operated in different geometrical configurations. Read out is performed at high bandwidths and rate data processing with the aim to calibrate the emitted signal in the primary energy range of 10 16 − 10 18 eV by making use of reconstructed air-shower observables of KASCADE-Grande. An overview on the performance of both experiments will be given and recent analysis results be reported.

LOPES is set up at the location of the KASCADE-Grande extensive air shower experiment in Karlsruhe, Germany and aims to measure and investigate radio pulses from Extensive Air Showers. Since radio waves suffer very little attenuation, radio measurements allow the detection of very distant or highly inclined showers. These waves can be recorded day and night, and provide a bolometric measure of the leptonic shower component. LOPES is designed as a digital radio interferometer using high bandwidths and fast data processing and profits from the reconstructed air shower observables of KASCADE-Grande. The LOPES antennas are absolutely amplitude calibrated allowing to reconstruct the electric field strength which can be compared with predictions from detailed Monte Carlo simulations. We report about the analysis of correlations present in the radio signals measured by the LOPES 30 antenna array. Additionally, LOPES operates antennas of a different type (LOPES-STAR) which are optimized for an application at the Pierre Auger Observatory. Status, recent results of the data analysis and further perspectives of LOPES and the possible large scale application of this new detection technique are discussed., Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, Contribution to the Arena 2008 conference, Rome, June 2008

In the last few years, radio detection of cosmic ray air showers has experienced a true renaissance, becoming manifest in a number of new experiments and simulation efforts. In particular, the LOPES project has successfully implemented modern interferometric methods to measure the radio emission from extensive air showers. LOPES has confirmed that the emission is coherent and of geomagnetic origin, as expected by the geosynchrotron mechanism, and has demonstrated that a large scale application of the radio technique has great potential to complement current measurements of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We describe the current status, most recent results and open questions regarding radio detection of cosmic rays and give an overview of ongoing research and development for an application of the radio technique in the framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory., 8 pages; Proceedings of the CRIS2006 conference, Catania, Italy; to be published in Nuclear Physics B, Proceedings Supplements

Contains fulltext : 36387.pdf ( ) (Open Access) Contains fulltext : 36387.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Aims.The capability of radio antenna arrays to measure cosmic ray air showers with very large zenith angles is explored. This is important, since a possible neutrino detection has to fulfill two requirements. First: antennas should be able to detect very inclined cosmic ray air showers, and second: it should be possible to estimate the distance to the shower maximum, since neutrinos are most likely to travel far through the Earth's atmosphere without interaction and induce air showers close to the ground. Methods: LOPES (LOFAR PrototypE Station; LOFAR - LOw Frequency ARray), an array of dipole antennas, is used for the detection of inclined cosmic ray air showers. LOPES is co-located and triggered by the KASCADE (KArlsruhe Shower Core and Array DEtector) experiment, which also provides information on air shower properties such as electron and muon numbers on the ground, as well as the arrival direction. Radio emission of nearly vertical cosmic ray air showers has been detected by LOPES. Results: LOPES-10 (the first phase of LOPES, consisting of 10 antennas) detected a significant number of cosmic ray air showers with a zenith angle larger than 50°, and many of these have very high radio field strengths. The most inclined event that has been detected with LOPES-10 has a zenith angle of almost 80°. This is proof that the new technique is also applicable for cosmic ray air showers with high inclinations, which in the case that they are initiated close to the ground, can be a signature of neutrino events. Conclusions: .Our results indicate that arrays of simple radio antennas can be used for the detection of highly inclined air showers, which might be triggered by neutrinos. In addition, we found that the radio pulse height (normalized with the muon number) for highly inclined events increases with the geomagnetic angle, which confirms the geomagnetic origin of radio emission in cosmic ray air showers.

Data taken during half a year of operation of 10 LOPES antennas (LOPES-10), triggered by EAS observed with KASCADE-Grande have been analysed. We report about the analysis of correlations of radio signals measured by LOPES-10 with extensive air shower events reconstructed by KASCADE-Grande, including shower cores at large distances. The efficiency of detecting radio signals induced by air showers up to distances of 700 m from the shower axis has been investigated. The results are discussed with special emphasis on the effects of the reconstruction accuracy for shower core and arrival direction on the coherence of the measured radio signal. In addition, the correlations of the radio pulse amplitude with the primary cosmic ray energy and with the lateral distance from the shower core are studied., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics

EUSO-Balloon, a balloon-borne diffractive fluorescence telescope, was launched by the French Space Agency ONES from the Timmins base in Ontario (Canada) on August 25th in 2014. After reaching the floating altitude of about 38 km, EUSO-Balloon imaged the UV background for more than 5 hours before descending to ground using the key technologies of JEM-EUSO. A detailed and precise measurement of the UV background in different atmospheric and ground conditions was achieved. The instrument proved the capability of detecting Extensive Air Showers (EAS) by observing laser tracks with similar characteristics. This contribution will summarise the first results obtained concerning all the topics described above.

Previous EAS investigations have shown that for a fixed primary energy the charged particle density becomes independent of the primary mass at certain (fixed) distances from the shower axis. This feature can be used as an estima- tor for the primary energy. We present results on the recon- struction of the primary energy spectrum of cosmic rays from the experimentally recorded S(500) observable (the density of charged particles at a distance of 500 m to the shower core as measured in a plane normal to the shower axis) using the KASCADE-Grande detector array. The KASCADE-Grande experiment is hosted by the Karlsruhe Institute for Technol- ogy - Campus North, Karlsruhe, Germany, 110 m a.s.l. and

The shape and composition of the primary spectrum as well as the anisotropy in the arrival direction of cosmic rays are key elements to understand the origin, acceleration and propagation of the galactic radiation. A more refined generation of satellites, balloon experiments, and ground‐based detectors was recently developed and operated to address such problems at energies below 1017 eV. The general picture that comes out from their results indicate that the cosmic ray spectrum has a more complex shape than a simple smooth double power law E−γ with a break around 3–4×1015 eV. The proton spectrum seems to be softer than the other primaries in the GeV‐TeV range; a significant medium and large scale anisotropy exists around 2–20 TeV. Just above the knee the spectrum shows a small concavity, and around 50–100 PeV another small but statistically significant structure.

The attenuation length of proton primaries and the proton-air inelastic cross section are studied at energies E-0 approximate to 10(15) eV by using the EAS-TOP array data. Proton initiated Extensive Air Showers, in the energy range (2 divided by 4) 10(15) eV and near maximum development, are selected from their N-mu(E-mu > 1 GeV) and N-e sizes. The experimental attenuation length Lambda(obs) is compared with those obtained from simulations, including the full detector response, based on different interaction models (HDPM, VENUS, DPMJET, QGSJET and SIBYLL) in the frame of CORSIKA code. The proton-air inelastic cross section is also inferred by using the factor k = Lambda(obs)(sim)/lambda(p-air)(sim) obtained from each interaction model.

KASCADE‐Grande, an extension of the former KASCADE experiment, is a multi‐component Extensive Air Shower (EAS) experiment located in Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Campus North), Germany. An important observable for analyzing the EAS is the lateral density of charged particles in the intrinsic shower plane. This observable is deduced from the basic information provided by the Grande scintillators—the energy deposit—first in the observation plane, by using a Lateral Energy Correction Function (LECF), then in the intrinsic shower plane, by applying an adequate mapping procedure. In both steps azimuthal.

Extensive air showers are generated through interactions of high-energy cosmic rays impinging the Earth's atmosphere. A new method is described to infer the attenuation of hadrons in air showers. The numbers of electrons and muons, registered with the scintillator array of the KASCADE experiment are used to estimate the energy of the shower inducing primary particle. A large hadron calorimeter is used to measure the hadronic energy reaching observation level. The ratio of energy reaching ground level to the energy of the primary particle is used to derive an attenuation length of hadrons in air showers. In the energy range from $10^6$ GeV to $3\cdot10^7$ GeV the attenuation length obtained increases from 170 \gcm2 to 210 \gcm2. The experimental results are compared to predictions of simulations based on contemporary high energy interaction models., Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review D

AIMS: We wish to study the spectral dependence of the radio emission from cosmic-ray air showers around 100 PeV (1017 eV). METHODS: We observe short radio pulses in a broad frequency band with the dipole-interferometer LOPES (LOFAR Prototype Station), which is triggered by a particle detector array named Karlsruhe Shower Core and Array Detector (KASCADE). LOFAR is the Low Frequency Array. For this analysis, 23 strong air shower events are selected using parameters from KASCADE. RESULTS: The resulting electric field spectra fall off to higher frequencies. An average electric field spectrum is fitted with an exponential, or alternatively, with a power law. The spectral slope obtained is not consistent within uncertainties and it is slightly steeper than the slope obtained from Monte Carlo simulations based on air showers simulated with CORSIKA (Cosmic Ray Simulations for KASCADE). One of the strongest events was measured during thunderstorm activity in the vicinity of LOPES and shows the longest pulse length measured of 110 ns and a spectral slope of -3.6. CONCLUSIONS: We show with two different methods that frequency spectra from air shower radio emission can be reconstructed on event-by-event basis, with only two dozen dipole antennae simultaneously over a broad range of frequencies. According to the obtained spectral slopes, the maximum power is emitted below 40 MHz. Furthermore, the decrease in power to higher frequencies indicates a loss in coherence determined by the shower disc thickness. We conclude that a broader bandwidth, larger collecting area, and longer baselines, as will be provided by LOFAR, are necessary to further investigate the relation of the coherence, pulse length, and spectral slope of cosmic ray air showers., Comment: 13 pages, 21 figures. Nigl, A. et al. (LOPES Collaboration), Frequency spectra of cosmic ray air shower radio emission measured with LOPES, accepted by A&A on 17/06/2008

AIMS: We want to understand the emission mechanism of radio emission from air showers to determine the origin of high-energy cosmic rays. Therefore, we study the geometry of the air shower radio emission measured with LOPES and search for systematic effects between the direction determined on the radio signal and the direction provided by the particle detector array KASCADE. METHODS: We produce 4D radio images on time-scales of nanoseconds using digital beam-forming. Each pixel of the image is calculated for three spatial dimensions and as a function of time. The third spatial dimension is obtained by calculating the beam focus for a range of curvature radii fitted to the signal wave front. We search this multi-dimensional parameter space for the direction of maximum coherence of the air shower radio signal and compare it to the direction provided by KASCADE. RESULTS: The maximum radio emission of air showers is obtained for curvature radii being larger than 3 km. We find that the direction of the emission maximum can change when optimizing the curvature radius. Furthermore, we find a tentative increase of the curvature radius to lower elevations, where the air showers pass through a larger atmospheric depth. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the angular resolution of LOPES is sufficient to determine the direction which maximizes the observed electric field amplitude. However, the statistical uncertainty of the directions is not determined by the resolution of LOPES, but by the uncertainty of the curvature radius. We do not find any systematic deviation between the directions determined from the radio signal and from the detected particles. This result places a strong supportive argument for the use of the radio technique to study the origin of high-energy cosmic rays., Comment: 8 pages, 13 figures. Nigl, A. et al. (LOPES Collaboration), Direction identification in radio images of cosmic rays detected with LOPES and KASCADE, accepted by A&A on 12/06/2008

When Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays interact with particles in the Earth's atmosphere, they produce a shower of secondary particles propagating toward the ground. LOPES-30 is an absolutely calibrated array of 30 dipole antennas investigating the radio emission from these showers in detail and clarifying if the technique is useful for largescale applications. LOPES-30 is co-located and measures in coincidence with the air shower experiment KASCADE-Grande. Status of LOPES-30 and first measurements are presented., Comment: Proceedings of ARENA 06, June 2006, University of Northumbria, UK

Radio emission in extensive air showers arises from an interaction with the geomagnetic field and is subject of theoretical studies. This radio emission has advantages for the detection of high energy cosmic rays compared to secondary particle or fluorescence measurement methods. Radio antennas like the LOPES30 antenna system are suited to investigate this emission process by detecting the radio pulses. The characteristic observable parameters like electric field strength and pulse length require a calibration which was done with a reference radio source resulting in an amplification factor representing the system behavior in the environment of the KASCADE-Grande experiment. Knowing the amplification factor and the gain of the LOPES antennas LOPES30 is calibrated absolutely for systematic analyses of the radio emission., Comment: 5 pages, Proceedings of International Workshop on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino detection Activities: ARENA, May 17-19, 2005, DESY Zeuthen

LOPES is an array of 30 radio antenna co-located with the KASCADE-Grande extensive air shower detector in Karlsruhe, Germany. It is designed as a digital radio interferometer for the detection of radio emission from extensive air showers. LOPES features high bandwidth and fast data processing. A unique asset is the concurrent operation with KASCADE-Grande. We report about the progress in understanding the radio signals measured by LOPES. In addition, the status and further perspectives of LOPES and the large scale application of this novel detection technique are sketched.

The JEM-EUSO program aims at detecting Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) by observing the fluorescence light produced by extensive air showers (EAS) in the Earth's atmosphere. Within this program, a new generation of missions is being built, including (i) Mini-EUSO that will be installed on board the ISS in August 2019, (ii) an upgrade to the ground-based telescope EUSO-TA and (iii) the second super pressure balloon flight (EUSO-SPB2). All these detectors will have a dedicated trigger system based on a board equipped with a Xilinx Zynq device that will be able to detect different types of events on three different time-scales: a microsecond time-scale for cosmic ray detection (L1), a hundreds of microsecond time-scale for slower events like transient luminous events (TLEs) (L2), and a tens of millisecond time-scale used to produce a continuous monitoring, for even slower events like meteors or nuclearites. The L1 trigger logic for the upgrade of EUSO-TA and EUSO-SPB2 are being developed taking into account the peculiarity of each detector (optic system, FOV, frame length) starting from the logic already developed for Mini-EUSO. In particular, every pixel will have an independent threshold that will be dynamically adapted to the level of the background; a predetermined condition on the number, the position and the time distribution of pixels above threshold has to be satisfied in order to issue a trigger. This contribution will summarize the L1 trigger logics and the tests currently performed.

Previous EAS investigations have shown that for a fixed primary energy the charged particle density becomes independent of the primary mass at certain (fixed) distances from the shower core. This feature can be used as an estimator for the primary energy. We present results on the reconstruction of the primary energy spectrum of cosmic rays from the experimentally recorded S(500) observable (the density of charged particles at 500 m distance to the shower core) using the KASCADE‐Grande detector array. The KASCADE‐Grande experiment is hosted by the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology—Campus North, Karlsruhe, Germany, and operated by an international collaboration. The constant intensity cut (CIC) method is applied to evaluate the attenuation of the S(500) observable with the zenith angle and is corrected for. A calibration of S(500) values with the primary energy has been worked out by simulations and was applied to the data to obtain the primary energy spectrum (in the energy range log10[E0/GeV]∈[7.5,9]). ...

The study of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) offers unique possibilities to probe the energies currently inaccessible by man-made accelerators. The last years have shed light on several characteristics of these particles, but - due to their extremely low flux - their origin, nature and acceleration mechanisms are still unclear. K-EUSO will be the detector to perform measurement of the flux of UHECR from space, covering and comparing the spectra of both northern and southern hemispheres. In this work we will discuss the science capabilities of the detector.

The ANITA collaboration has recently announced the supposed observation of two upward going cosmic ray showers at earth emergence angles $27^{\circ}$ and $35^{\circ}$ with reconstructed energy $\sim$0.6~EeV. Upward air showers (UAS) are expected from tau leptons resulting from the interaction of astrophysical neutrinos inside the Earth. However, at emergence angles larger than $20^{\circ}$, the probability of tau emergence from a neutrino is less than $10^{-7}$, which makes a standard model explanation for these signals difficult. If confirmed by other experiments, these energetic events would strengthen the argument for physics beyond the standard model. Both the proposed EUSO-SPB2 and the POEMMA instruments will be equipped with optical Cherenkov detectors in order to measure the Cherenkov emission from UAS, which, if aimed low enough below the horizon, could, in principle, capture these events as well. An observation in the Cherenkov channel would help to rule out anthropogenic and other explanations for these events. We present here the sensitivity to the ANITA anamolous events for a balloon based and a satellite based Cherenkov detector, as could be realized in the upcoming EUSO-SPB2 mission and the proposed POEMMA mission, respectively., Comment: ICRC 2019 Proceedings Paper

A measurement of the lateral distribution of Cherenkov light in Extensive Air Showers (EAS) at E o = 10 ÷ 100 TeV and a study of the compatibility of the photon number spectra with the expectations from the direct measurements of p and α spectra and the Corsika-QGSJET propagation code in the atmosphere have been performed at the National Gran Sasso Laboratories by the EAS-TOP and MACRO arrays. The telescope array of EAS-TOP has been used as the Cherenkov light detector. The muon tracking system of MACRO in the deep underground Gran Sasso Laboratories (Eμ > 1.3 TeV) served as the EAS detector, including core localization and arrival direction.

International audience; Space Debris (SD) consist of non-operational artificial objects orbiting around the Earth, which could possibly damage space vehicles, such as the International Space Station (ISS) or other manned spacecrafts. The vast majority of such objects are cm-sized, not catalogued and usually the tracking data are not precise enough. Here we present the feasibility study of SD detection and tracking with techniques usually employed in cosmic-ray physics. For this purpose, we have evaluated the possibility of using Mini-EUSO, a space-borne fluorescence telescope to be deployed on the ISS, to track SD illuminated by the Sun. By means of ESAF (EUSO Simulation and analysis Framework) simulation and by developing the trigger algorithms, we estimated the minimum size and maximum distances of detectable SD. We then studied the number of possible SD detections using an ESA software called MASTER (Meteoroid and SD Terrestrial Environment Reference). With the Mini-EUSO Engineering Model (Mini-EUSO EM), we performed some measurements to estimate the reflectance of the most common SD materials and to demonstrate the ability of Mini-EUSO to detect SD events. We also performed some tests in open-sky conditions, identifying and tracking fast-moving objects. In particular, the detection of a rocket body allowed us to confirm the simulation outcomes predictions and the expected performance of the detector.

Many proposed and upcoming experiments seek to observe signals from upward going air showers initiated by tau leptons resulting from neutrino interactions inside the Earth. To save calculation time, event estimations for these observation methods are usually performed while making several assumptions about the showers themselves, which simplifies their rich phenomenology and may or may not lead to inaccuracies in results. Here, we present results of extensive CORSIKA simulations of upward going tau initiated showers in the energy range 1 PeV to 10 EeV. Specifically, we monitor the Cherenkov emission, the charged particle distributions, and the timing of the showers for different geometric configurations. We analyze the impact of the decay length and different decay modes of the tau on particle distributions and compare to primaries usually utilized to simulate a tau shower, such as gammas, electrons, and protons. We also check the accuracy of many of the usual assumptions of these showers and analyze the often ignored muon channel of the tau decay., ICRC 2019 Proceedings Paper

The proton-air inelastic cross section measurement at s ≈ 2 TeV from the EAS-TOP Extensive Air Shower experiment is reported. The technique exploits cosmic ray proton primaries, in the energy region E 0 = ( 1.5 ÷ 2.5 ) ⋅ 10 15 eV , studying the absorption length of their cascades when detected at maximum development. Primary energies are selected through the EAS muon number ( N e ), and proton originated cascades at maximum development by means of the shower size ( N e ). The shower and detector fluctuations are obtained with simulations performed using the CORSIKA code and the QGSJET II and SIBYLL interaction models. The simulations provide the conversion factor ( k = λ o b s / λ i n t ), from the observed absorption length ( λ o b s e x p ) to the interaction length ( λ p − air ). The obtained value of the p-air inelastic cross section at s ≈ 2 TeV is σ p − air i n e l = 338 ± 21 ( s t a t ) ± 19 ( s y s t ) − 28 ( s y s t ) mb . The relevant issue of systematic uncertainties have been studied. The connections with the pp ( p ¯ p ) total cross section measurements are discussed.

In this paper we describe the expected performance of JEM-EUSO. Designed as the first mission to explore the ultra-high energy universe from space, JEM-EUSO will monitor the Earth’s atmosphere at night to record the UV (300–430 nm) tracks generated by the extensive air showers produced by ultra-high energy primary particles developing in the atmosphere. Studies of the expected aperture, the estimated exposure, as well as on the methods to infer arrival direction, energy, and X max of primary particles are presented.

The break observed in the electron shower size power law spectrum of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) at corresponding primary energy E-0 similar to (3 - 5)10(15) eV ("knee") is studied in different EAS components (electromagnetic and muonic) and at different atmospheric depths. A consistent description is obtained. The interpretation of data in terms of primary composition, and following the most accepted high energy interaction models, leads to an increasing average primary mass in this energy range. The study of such behaviour is expected to provide a crucial information for the understanding of the physical parameters that characterize the break for the different primaries.

The cosmic ray energy spectrum in the range E-o = 10(15)-10(16) eV (including the region of the steepening, "knee") is studied by means of the EAS-TOP array (Campo Imperatore, Gran Sasso Laboratories, atmospheric depth 820 g cm(-2)). Measurements of the electromagnetic size (N-e = total number of charged particles at the observation level) are performed as a function of zenith angle with statistical accuracies of a few percent. The change of slope of the spectrum is observed in each bin of zenith angle at size values decreasing with increasing atmospheric depth. Its attenuation is compatible with the one of shower particles (Lambda(e) = 219 +/- 3 g cm(-2)). This observation provides a consistency check, supporting a normal behaviour of showers at the break, that make plausible astrophysical interpretations based on an effect on primaries occurring at a given primary energy. The break has a "sharp" shape (i.e., within experimental errors is compatible with two intersecting power laws) that represents a constraint with which any interpretation has to match. The change of slope of the power law index reproducing the size spectrum is Delta gamma = 0.40 +/- 0.09. The derived all particle energy spectrum is in good agreement with the extrapolation of the direct measurements at low energies and with other EAS data at and above the knee. Power laws fits to the energy spectrum below and above the knee give tin units of m(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) TeV-1) S(E-o) = (3.48 +/- 0.06) x 10(-10) (E-o/2300)(-2.76+/-0.03) for 900 TeV < E-o < 2300 TeV and S(E-o) = (3.77 +/- 0.08) x 10(-11) (E-o/5000)(-3.19+/-0.06) for 5000 TeV < E-o < 10(4) TeV. The systematic uncertainties connected to the interaction model and the primary composition are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.

In the energy region 10 - 100 TeV both the c.r. composition from direct measurements and the cross section for high energy secondary production in the very forward region for p-air interactions are rather uncertain. Contemporaneous measurements of the total energy and of the threshold energy/nucleon of the primary particle can be provided by the atmospheric Cherenkov light and high energy muons. These measurements are performed by the combined operation of the Cherenkov array of the EAS-TOP experiment on the surface (810 gcm(2) atmospheric depth) and of the LVD experiment in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratories (3300 m w.e.; E-mu(th) = 1.3 TeV) leading to the measurement of < N-mu > (E-mu > 1.3 TeV, E-o) in the given energy range. The combined operation of the experiments and preliminary results are reported.

The cosmic ray primary composition in the energy range between 10**15 and 10**16 eV, i.e., around the "knee" of the primary spectrum, has been studied through the combined measurements of the EAS-TOP air shower array (2005 m a.s.l., 10**5 m**2 collecting area) and the MACRO underground detector (963 m a.s.l., 3100 m w.e. of minimum rock overburden, 920 m**2 effective area) at the National Gran Sasso Laboratories. The used observables are the air shower size (Ne) measured by EAS-TOP and the muon number (Nmu) recorded by MACRO. The two detectors are separated on average by 1200 m of rock, and located at a respective zenith angle of about 30 degrees. The energy threshold at the surface for muons reaching the MACRO depth is approximately 1.3 TeV. Such muons are produced in the early stages of the shower development and in a kinematic region quite different from the one relevant for the usual Nmu-Ne studies. The measurement leads to a primary composition becoming heavier at the knee of the primary spectrum, the knee itself resulting from the steepening of the spectrum of a primary light component (p, He). The result confirms the ones reported from the observation of the low energy muons at the surface (typically in the GeV energy range), showing that the conclusions do not depend on the production region kinematics. Thus, the hadronic interaction model used (CORSIKA/QGSJET) provides consistent composition results from data related to secondaries produced in a rapidity region exceeding the central one. Such an evolution of the composition in the knee region supports the "standard" galactic acceleration/propagation models that imply rigidity dependent breaks of the different components, and therefore breaks occurring at lower energies in the spectra of the light nuclei.

The EAS-TOP extensive air shower array has been operating since 1992 in the search for gamma-ray bursts at primary energies E(1) greater than or equal to 10 GeV and E(2) greater than or equal to 80 TeV. The study is performed by searching for short transients in the cosmic-ray intensity in the single particle (E(1)) and extensive air shower (E(2)) counting rates at mountain altitude (2005 m above sea level). We discuss the method and the results obtained both in sky survey and in correlation with BATSE events. In both energy ranges, the observed fluctuations in the event rate obtained in the sky survey during similar to 800 days of live time are compatible with the statistical fluctuations of the cosmic-ray background. A single candidate of time duration Delta t similar to 2 s and energy fluence F(10 < E < 100 GeV) = 1.7 x 10(-4)/(cos theta)(10.5) ergs cm(-2) (where theta is the unknown zenith angle) has been observed on 1992 July 15 at 13:22:26 UT in the energy range E(1) greater than or equal to 10 GeV with significance 10.6 and 20.1 sigma in two measurement channels. In the analysis made in correlation with similar to 50 events detected by BATSE, no burst candidate was found in time coincidence or in the 2 hr interval, around the BATSE detection time. The following ranges of upper limits F-max to the energy fluence in the time interval Delta t(90) in which BATSE detected 90% of the counts are obtained: F-max = 2.3 x 10(-5)-7.4 x 10(-3) ergs cm(-2) (10 < E < 100 GeV) F-max = 1.6 x 10(-6)-3.3 x 10(-5) ergs cm(-2) (100 < E < 1000 TeV).

Very High-Energy cosmic rays have to be studied through the ground-based detectors of the Extensive Air Showers (EAS) that they produce in the atmosphepe. The main measurements to be performed are of: primary energy spectra, composition, anisotropies, <> astronomy, and interaction properties. This requires complete detectors of all the EAS components, and for this purpose the EAS-TOP array has been constructed at Campo Imperatore (2000 m a.s.l.) on top of the Gran Sasso underground laboratories. The array has been progressively going into operation since 1988. In this paper we present the status and performances of the different detectors, and the results obtained up to now on the different items under discussion.

The cosmic-ray primary spectrum and composition ape studied at E-0 > 10(14) eV by means of the multicomponent Extensive Air Shower detector of the EAS-TOP experiment at the National Gran Sasso Laboratories. The measured muon lateral distribution function (E-mu > 1 GeV) and the N-e-N-mu relation in the energy range around the knee of the primary energy spectrum (E-0 approximate to 3.10(15)eV) are compared with the expectations of a simulation based on the Dual Parton Model (CORSIKA code) and a cosmic-ray composition model based on the extrapolations of the low-energy direct measurements. First data obtained for vertical showers show that both average values and fluctuations are well reproduced. The same interaction model together with mixed compositions, not requiring dramatic changes, fit the data also above the knee (up to E-0 approximate to 10(15) eV.

The study of cosmic rays at primary energies E-0 > 10(14) eV requires the detection of the different components of Extensive Air Showers through ground based stations. EAS-TOP is such an array (located at Campo Imperatore, 2000 m a.s.l., National Gran Sasso Laboratories), including detectors of the electromagnetic, muon (E-mu approximate to GeV at the surface, and E-mu approximate to TeV in coincidence with the detectors operating in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratories), hadron and atmospheric Cerenkov light components. The combined operation of the detectors is discussed from the point of view of the capability of measuring the cosmic ray primary spectrum and composition. The main lines for checking the significant features of the high energy hadron interaction model used for the interpretation of the data are outlined.

Experimental results on the shapes of atmospheric Cherenkov light images from Extensive Air Showers at E(0) = 10(13)-10(14) eV are presented, The results are based on data obtained by the first element of the Cherenkov light array of the EAS-TOP experiment at Campo Imperatore (2005 m a.s.l., National Gran Sasso Laboratories, Italy), Images are obtained with pixel field of view omega = 1.5 x 10(-5) sr and full field of view Omega approximate to 10(-3) sr. The shapes of the images agree with the expectations and their fluctuations are large and significant, Experimental data on the dependence of the image shapes on the detection geometry are reported, The images are well reproduced by two independent side by side detectors, within measured accuracies, Such accuracies (approximate to 15% for large photoelectron content) define the level at which each pixel content is related to the shower structure, The presence of events characterized by patterns with multiple structures is proved, It is shown that such features are related to physical fluctuations of the shower structure.