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We construct and describe the basic properties of a family of semifields in characteristic $2.$ The construction relies on the properties of projective polynomials over finite fields. We start by associating non-associative products to each such polynomial. The resulting presemifields form the degenerate case of our family. They are isotopic to the Knuth semifields which are quadratic over left and right nucleus. The non-degenerate members of our family display a very different behaviour. Their left and right nucleus agrees with the center, the middle nucleus is quadratic over the center. None of those semifields is isotopic or Knuth equivalent to a commutative semifield. As a by-product we obtain the complete taxonomy of the characteristic $2$ semifields which are quadratic over the middle nucleus, bi-quadratic over the left and right nucleus and not isotopic to twisted fields. This includes {determining} when two such semifields are isotopic and the order of the autotopism group., Comment: 23 pages

Explicit constructions of infinite families of scattered ${\mathbb F}_q$--linear sets in $PG(r-1,q^t)$ of maximal rank $\frac{rt}2$, for $t$ even, are provided. When $q=2$ and $r$ is odd, these linear sets correspond to complete caps in $AG(r,2^t)$ fixed by a translation group of size $2^{\frac{rt}2}$. The doubling construction applied to such caps gives complete caps in $AG(r+1,2^t)$ of size $2^{\frac{rt}2+1}$. For Galois spaces of even dimension greater than $2$ and even square order, this solves the long-standing problem of establishing whether the theoretical lower bound for the size of a complete cap is substantially sharp.

We report on a measurement of thermal neutrons, generated by the hadronic component of extensive air showers (EAS), by means of a small array of EN-detectors developed for the PRISMA project (PRImary Spectrum Measurement Array), novel devices based on a compound alloy of ZnS(Ag) and $^{6}$LiF. This array has been operated within the ARGO-YBJ experiment at the high altitude Cosmic Ray Observatory in Yangbajing (Tibet, 4300 m a.s.l.). Due to the tight correlation between the air shower hadrons and thermal neutrons, this technique can be envisaged as a simple way to estimate the number of high energy hadrons in EAS. Coincident events generated by primary cosmic rays of energies greater than 100 TeV have been selected and analyzed. The EN-detectors have been used to record simultaneously thermal neutrons and the air shower electromagnetic component. The density distributions of both components and the total number of thermal neutrons have been measured. The correlation of these data with the measurements carried out by ARGO-YBJ confirms the excellent performance of the EN-detector., Comment: 35 pages, 16 figures

We report on the extensive multi-wavelength observations of the blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) covering radio to gamma-rays, during the 4.5 year period of ARGO-YBJ and Fermi common operation time, from August 2008 to February 2013. In particular, thanks to the ARGO-YBJ and Fermi data, the whole energy range from 100 MeV to 10 TeV is covered without any gap. In the observation period, Mrk 421 showed both low and high activity states at all wavebands. The correlations among flux variations in different wavebands were analyzed. Seven large flares, including five X-ray flares and two GeV gamma-ray flares with variable durations (3-58 days), and one X-ray outburst phase were identified and used to investigate the variation of the spectral energy distribution with respect to a relative quiescent phase. During the outburst phase and the seven flaring episodes, the peak energy in X-rays is observed to increase from sub-keV to few keV. The TeV gamma-ray flux increases up to 0.9-7.2 times the flux of the Crab Nebula. The behavior of GeV gamma-rays is found to vary depending on the flare, a feature that leads us to classify flares into three groups according to the GeV flux variation. Finally, the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model was adopted to describe the emission spectra. Two out of three groups can be satisfactorily described using injected electrons with a power-law spectral index around 2.2, as expected from relativistic diffuse shock acceleration, whereas the remaining group requires a harder injected spectrum. The underlying physical mechanisms responsible for different groups may be related to the acceleration process or to the environment properties., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, Accepted for publication in ApJS

Theoretical results are known about the completeness of a planar algebraic cubic curve as a (n,3)-arc in PG(2,q). They hold for q big enough and sometimes have restriction on the characteristic and on the value of the j-invariant. We determine the completeness of all cubic curves for q <= 81.

We describe an algorithm for testing the completeness of caps in PG(r; q), q even. It allowed us to check that the 95256-cap in PG(12; 4) recently found by Fu el al. (see [14]) is complete.

Some families of constant dimension codes arising from Riemann-Roch spaces associated to particular divisors of a curve $\X$ are constructed. These families are generalizations of the one constructed by Hansen, Comment: 10 pages

The events recorded by ARGO-YBJ in more than five years of data collection have been analyzed to determine the diffuse gamma-ray emission in the Galactic plane at Galactic longitudes 25{\deg} < l < 100{\deg} and Galactic latitudes . The energy range covered by this analysis, from ~350 GeV to ~2 TeV, allows the connection of the region explored by Fermi with the multi-TeV measurements carried out by Milagro. Our analysis has been focused on two selected regions of the Galactic plane, i.e., 40{\deg} < l < 100{\deg} and 65{\deg} < l < 85{\deg} (the Cygnus region), where Milagro observed an excess with respect to the predictions of current models. Great care has been taken in order to mask the most intense gamma-ray sources, including the TeV counterpart of the Cygnus cocoon recently identified by ARGO-YBJ, and to remove residual contributions. The ARGO-YBJ results do not show any excess at sub-TeV energies corresponding to the excess found by Milagro, and are consistent with the predictions of the Fermi model for the diffuse Galactic emission. From the measured energy distribution we derive spectral indices and the differential flux at 1 TeV of the diffuse gamma-ray emission in the sky regions investigated., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, published in APJ

Multiple coverings of the farthest-off points ($(R,\mu)$-MCF codes) and the corresponding $(\rho,\mu)$-saturating sets in projective spaces $PG(N,q)$ are considered. We propose and develop some methods which allow us to obtain new small $(1,\mu)$-saturating sets and short $(2,\mu)$-MCF codes with $\mu$-density either equal to 1 (optimal saturating sets and almost perfect MCF-codes) or close to 1 (roughly $1+1/cq$, $c\ge1$). In particular, we provide new algebraic constructions and some bounds. Also, we classify minimal and optimal $(1,\mu)$-saturating sets in $PG(2,q)$, $q$ small., Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures

Some constructions and bounds on the sizes of semiovals contained in the Hermitian curve are given. A construction of an infinite family of 2-blocking sets of the Hermitian curve is also presented., Comment: 16 pages

In a projective plane $\Pi _{q}$ (not necessarily Desarguesian) of order $q,$ a point subset $S$ is saturating (or dense) if any point of $\Pi _{q}\setminus S$ is collinear with two points in$~S$. Using probabilistic methods, the following upper bound on the smallest size $ s(2,q)$ of a saturating set in $\Pi _{q}$ is proved: \begin{equation*} s(2,q)\leq 2\sqrt{(q+1)\ln (q+1)}+2\thicksim 2\sqrt{q\ln q}. \end{equation*} We also show that for any constant $c\ge 1$ a random point set of size $k$ in $\Pi _{q}$ with $ 2c\sqrt{(q+1)\ln(q+1)}+2\le k<\frac{q^{2}-1}{q+2}\thicksim q$ is a saturating set with probability greater than $1-1/(q+1)^{2c^{2}-2}.$ Our probabilistic approach is also applied to multiple saturating sets. A point set $S\subset \Pi_{q}$ is $(1,\mu)$-saturating if for every point $Q$ of $\Pi _{q}\setminus S$ the number of secants of $S$ through $Q$ is at least $\mu $, counted with multiplicity. The multiplicity of a secant $ \ell $ is computed as ${\binom{{\#(\ell \,\cap S)}}{{2}}}.$ The following upper bound on the smallest size $s_{\mu }(2,q)$ of a $(1,\mu)$-saturating set in $\Pi_{q}$ is proved: \begin{equation*} s_{\mu }(2,q)\leq 2(\mu +1)\sqrt{(q+1)\ln (q+1)}+2\thicksim 2(\mu +1)\sqrt{ q\ln q}\,\text{ for }\,2\leq \mu \leq \sqrt{q}. \end{equation*} By using inductive constructions, upper bounds on the smallest size of a saturating set (as well as on a $(1,\mu)$-saturating set) in the projective space $PG(N,q)$ are obtained. All the results are also stated in terms of linear covering codes., Comment: 15 pages, 24 references, misprints are corrected, Sections 3-5 and some references are added

The ARGO-YBJ experiment has been in stable data taking from November 2007 till February 2013 at the YangBaJing Cosmic Ray Observatory (4300 m a.s.l.). The detector consists of a single layer of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) ( about 6700 m^2}) operated in streamer mode. The signal pick-up is obtained by means of strips facing one side of the gas volume. The digital readout of the signals, while allows a high space-time resolution in the shower front reconstruction, limits the measurable energy to a few hundred TeV. In order to fully investigate the 1-10 PeV region, an analog readout has been implemented by instrumenting each RPC with two large size electrodes facing the other side of the gas volume. Since December 2009 the RPC charge readout has been in operation on the entire central carpet (about 5800 m^2). In this configuration the detector is able to measure the particle density at the core position where it ranges from tens to many thousands of particles per m^2. Thus ARGO-YBJ provides a highly detailed image of the charge component at the core of air showers. In this paper we describe the analog readout of RPCs in ARGO-YBJ and discuss both the performance of the system and the physical impact on the EAS measurements.

The ARGO-YBJ experiment is a full-coverage air shower detector located at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Observatory (Tibet, People's Republic of China, 4300 m a.s.l.). The high altitude, combined with the full-coverage technique, allows the detection of extensive air showers in a wide energy range and offer the possibility of measuring the cosmic ray proton plus helium spectrum down to the TeV region, where direct balloon/space-borne measurements are available. The detector has been in stable data taking in its full configuration from November 2007 to February 2013. In this paper the measurement of the cosmic ray proton plus helium energy spectrum is presented in the region 3-300 TeV by analyzing the full collected data sample. The resulting spectral index is $\gamma = -2.64 \pm 0.01$. These results demonstrate the possibility of performing an accurate measurement of the spectrum of light elements with a ground based air shower detector., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, preprint submitted to Phys. Rev. D

The search for Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) emission in the energy range 1-100 GeV in coincidence with the satellite detection has been carried out using the Astrophysical Radiation with Ground-based Observatory at YangBaJing (ARGO-YBJ) experiment. The high altitude location (4300 m a.s.l.), the large active surface ($\sim$ 6700 m$^2$ of Resistive Plate Chambers), the wide field of view ($\sim 2~$sr, limited only by the atmospheric absorption) and the high duty cycle ($>$ 86 %) make the ARGO-YBJ experiment particularly suitable to detect short and unexpected events like GRBs. With the scaler mode technique, i.e., counting all the particles hitting the detector with no measurement of the primary energy and arrival direction, the minimum threshold of $\sim$ 1 GeV can be reached, overlapping the direct measurements carried out by satellites. During the experiment lifetime, from December 17, 2004 to February 7, 2013, a total of 206 GRBs occurring within the ARGO-YBJ field of view (zenith angle $\theta$ $\le$ 45$^{\circ}$) have been analyzed. This is the largest sample of GRBs investigated with a ground-based detector. Two lightcurve models have been assumed and since in both cases no significant excess has been found, the corresponding fluence upper limits in the 1-100 GeV energy region have been derived, with values as low as 10$^{-5}~$erg cm$^{-2}$. The analysis of a subset of 24 GRBs with known redshift has been used to constrain the fluence extrapolation to the GeV region together with possible cutoffs under different assumptions on the spectrum., Comment: 43 pages, 6 figures, published in APJ

The measurement of cosmic ray energy spectra, in particular for individual species, is an essential approach in finding their origin. Locating the "knees" of the spectra is an important part of the approach and has yet to be achieved. Here we report a measurement of the mixed Hydrogen and Helium spectrum using the combination of the ARGO-YBJ experiment and of a prototype Cherenkov telescope for the LHAASO experiment. A knee feature at 640+/-87 TeV, with a clear steepening of the spectrum, is observed. This gives fundamental inputs to galactic cosmic ray acceleration models.

The optical and electrical properties of optically-thin one-dimensional (1D) Ag nanogratings and two-dimensional (2D) Ag nanogrids are studied, and their use as transparent electrodes in organic photovoltaics are explored. A large broadband and polarization-insensitive optical absorption enhancement in the organic light-harvesting layers is theoretically and numerically demonstrated using either single-layer 2D Ag nanogrids or two perpendicular 1D Ag nanogratings, and is attributed to the excitation of surface plasmon resonances and plasmonic cavity modes. Total photon absorption enhancements of 150% and 200% are achieved for the optimized single-layer 2D Ag nanogrids and double (top and bottom) perpendicular 1D Ag nanogratings, respectively.

Detecting specific target analytes and differentiating them from interfering background effects is a crucial but challenging task in complex multi-component solutions commonly encountered in environmental, chemical, biological, and medical sensing applications. Here we present a simple nanoplasmonic interferometric sensor platform that can differentiate the adsorption of a thin protein layer on the sensor surface (surface effects) from bulk refractive index changes (interfering background effects) at a single sensing spot, exploiting the different penetration depths of multiple propagating surface plasmon polaritons excited in the ring-hole nanostructures. A monolayer of bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecules with an effective thickness of 1.91nm is detected and differentiated from a 10-3 change in the bulk refractive index unit of the solution. The noise level of the retrieved real-time sensor output compares favorably with traditional prism-based surface plasmon resonance sensors, but is achieved using a significantly simpler collinear transmission geometry and a miniaturized sensor footprint.

We developed a nanoplasmonic sensor platform employing the extraordinary optical properties of one-dimensional nanogratings patterned on 30nm-thick ultrathin Ag films. Excitation of Fano resonances in the ultrathin Ag nanogratings results in transmission spectra with high amplitude, large contrast, and narrow bandwidth, making them well-suited for rapid and highly-sensitive sensing applications. The ultrathin nanoplasmonic sensor chip was integrated with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channel, and the measured refractive index resolution was found to be 1.46x10-6 refractive index units (RIU) with a high temporal resolution of 1 sec. This compares favorably with commercial prism-based surface plasmon resonance sensors, but is achieved using a more convenient collinear transmission geometry and a significantly smaller sensor footprint of 50x50um2. In addition, an order-of-magnitude improvement in the temporal and spatial resolutions was achieved relative to state-of-the-art nanoplasmonic sensors, for comparable detection resolutions., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

A $2$-semiarc is a pointset ${\mathcal S}_k$ with the property that the number of tangent lines to ${\mathcal S}_k$ at each of its points is two. Using some theoretical results and computer aided search, the complete classification of $2$-semiarcs in PG$(2,q)$ is given for $q\leq 7,$ the spectrum of their sizes is determined for $q\leq 9$, and some results about the existence are proven for $q=11$ and $q=13.$ For several sizes of $2$-semiarcs in $\mathrm{PG}(2,q)$, $q\leq 7$, classification results have been obtained by theoretical proofs.

The extended TeV gamma-ray source ARGO J2031+4157 (or MGRO J2031+41) is positionally consistent with the Cygnus Cocoon discovered by $Fermi$-LAT at GeV energies in the Cygnus superbubble. Reanalyzing the ARGO-YBJ data collected from November 2007 to January 2013, the angular extension and energy spectrum of ARGO J2031+4157 are evaluated. After subtracting the contribution of the overlapping TeV sources, the ARGO-YBJ excess map is fitted with a two-dimensional Gaussian function in a square region of $10^{\circ}\times 10^{\circ}$, finding a source extension $\sigma_{ext}$= 1$^{\circ}$.8$\pm$0$^{\circ}$.5. The observed differential energy spectrum is $dN/dE =(2.5\pm0.4) \times 10^{-11}(E/1 TeV)^{-2.6\pm0.3}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ TeV$^{-1}$, in the energy range 0.2-10 TeV. The angular extension is consistent with that of the Cygnus Cocoon as measured by $Fermi$-LAT, and the spectrum also shows a good connection with the one measured in the 1-100 GeV energy range. These features suggest to identify ARGO J2031+4157 as the counterpart of the Cygnus Cocoon at TeV energies. The Cygnus Cocoon, located in the star-forming region of Cygnus X, is interpreted as a cocoon of freshly accelerated cosmic rays related to the Cygnus superbubble. The spectral similarity with Supernova Remnants indicates that the particle acceleration inside a superbubble is similar to that in a SNR. The spectral measurements from 1 GeV to 10 TeV allows for the first time to determine the possible spectrum slope of the underlying particle distribution. A hadronic model is adopted to explain the spectral energy distribution., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, has been accepted by ApJ for publication

In this work complete caps in $PG(N,q)$ of size $O(q^{\frac{N-1}{2}}\log^{300} q)$ are obtained by probabilistic methods. This gives an upper bound asymptotically very close to the trivial lower bound $\sqrt{2}q^{\frac{N-1}{2}}$ and it improves the best known bound in the literature for small complete caps in projective spaces of any dimension. The result obtained in the paper also gives a new upper bound for $l(m,2,q)_4$, that is the minimal length $n$ for which there exists an $[n,n-m, 4]_q2$ covering code with given $m$ and $q$., Comment: 32 Pages

Tables of sizes of random complete arcs in the plane $PG(2,q)$ are given. The sizes are close to the smallest known sizes of complete arcs in $PG(2,q)$, in particular, to ones constructed by Algorithm FOP (fixed order of points). The random arcs are obtained in the region $\{3\leq q\leq 46337,~q \mbox{prime}\}$., Comment: 37 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, 57 references; Table is attached also as .csv files. To view attachments, please download and extract the gzipped tar source file listed under "Other formats". arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1404.0469