Search

Isotropic diffuse gamma-ray flux in the PeV energy band is an important tool for multimessenger tests of models of the origin of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and for new-physics searches. So far, this flux has not yet been observed. Carpet-2 is an air-shower experiment capable of detecting astrophysical gamma rays with energies above 0.1 PeV. Here we report the upper limits on the isotropic gamma-ray flux from Carpet-2 data obtained in 1999-2011 and 2018-2022. These results, obtained with the new statistical method based on the shape of the muon-number distribution, summarize Carpet-2 observations as the upgraded installation, Carpet-3, starts its operation., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, JETPL.cls; V2: references added, version accepted by JETP Letters

Galactic sites of acceleration of cosmic rays to energies of order 10^15 eV and higher, dubbed PeVatrons, reveal themselves by recently discovered gamma radiation of energies above 100 TeV. However, joint gamma-ray and neutrino production, which marks unambiguously cosmic-ray interactions with ambient matter and radiation, was not observed until now. In November 2020, the IceCube neutrino observatory reported an ~150 TeV neutrino event from the direction of one of the most promising Galactic PeVatrons, the Cygnus Cocoon. Here we report on the observation of a 3.1-sigma (post trial) excess of atmospheric air showers from the same direction, observed by the Carpet-2 experiment and consistent with a few-months flare in photons above 300 TeV, in temporal coincidence with the neutrino event. The fluence of the gamma-ray flare is of the same order as that expected from the neutrino observation, assuming the standard mechanism of neutrino production. This is the first evidence for the joint production of high-energy neutrinos and gamma rays in a Galactic source., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, AASTeX. V2: minor changes; Appendix with more analysis details added. Version accepted by Astrophys. J. Letters. V3: title corrected (text unchanged), matches the published version

We report on the search of astrophysical gamma rays with energies in the 100 TeV to several PeV range arriving in directional and temporal coincidence with public alerts from HAWC (TeV gamma rays) and IceCube (neutrinos above ~100 TeV). The observations have been performed with the Carpet-2 air-shower detector at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory, working in the "photon-friendly" mode since 2018. Photon candidate showers are selected by their low muon content. No significant excess of the photon candidates have been observed, and upper limits on gamma-ray fluences associated with the alerts are obtained. For events with good viewing conditions, the Carpet-2 effective area for photons is of the order of the IceCube effective area for neutrinos of the same energy, so the constraints start to probe the production of neutrinos in fast flares of Galactic sources., Comment: 4 pages paper + 5 pages Supplemental Material. V2: references added, version accepted by JETP Letters

Carpet is an air-shower array at Baksan, Russia, equipped with a large-area muon detector, which makes it possible to separate primary photons from hadrons. We report first results of the search for primary photons with energies E>100 TeV. The experiment's ongoing upgrade and future sensitivity are also discussed., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, ICRC 2019

Using data of the Baksan Underground Scintillation Telescope (BUST) we have made a search for muon neutrinos and antineutrinos with energies above 1 GeV coinciding with the gravitational wave event GW170817 that was recorded on August 17, 2017 by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo observatories. This is a first detection of the new type of events occurring as a result of a merger of two neutron stars in a binary system. A short gamma-ray burst GRB170817A accompanying this event is an evidence of particle acceleration in the source whose precise position was determined by detection of the subsequent optical signal. No neutrino signals were found with the BUST in the interval $\pm 500$ s around the moment of the gravitational wave event GW170817, as well as during the next 14 days. The upper limits on integral fluxes of muon neutrino and antineutrino from the source are derived., Comment: Submitted to JETP Letters

The experiment on recording neutrino bursts operates since the mid-1980. As the target, we use two parts of the facility with the total mass of 240 tons. The current status of the experiment and some results related to the investigation of background events and the stability of facility operation are presented. Over the period of June 30, 1980 to December 31, 2018, the actual observational time is 33.02 years. No candidate for the stellar core collapse has been detected during the observation period. An upper bound of the mean frequency of core collapse supernovae in our Galaxy is 0.070 year$^{-1}$ (90\% CL)., Comment: Submitted to Astropart.Phys

Carpet-2 is an air-shower array at Baksan Valley, Russia, equipped with a large-area (175 m^2) muon detector, which makes it possible to separate primary photons from hadrons. We report the first results of the search for primary photons with energies E_\gamma>1 PeV, directionally associated with IceCube high-energy neutrino events, in the data obtained in 3080 days of Carpet-2 live time., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. V2: minor copy-editing changes. Accepted by JETP Letters

Early results of the search for E_\gamma>1 PeV cosmic photons from point sources with the data of Carpet-2, an air-shower array equipped with a 175 m^2 muon detector, are presented. They include 95% CL upper limits on PeV photon fluxes from stacked directions of high-energy IceCube neutrino events and from four predefined sources, Crab, Cyg X-3, Mrk 421 and Mrk 501. An insignificant excess of events from Mrk 421 will be further monitored. Prospects of the use of the upgraded installation, Carpet-3 (410 m^2 muon detector), scheduled to start data taking in 2019, for searches of E_\gamma>100 TeV photons, are briefly discussed., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, webofc style. Presented at the VLVNT-2018 workshop, Dubna, October 2-4, 2018. V2: minor copy-editing changes

The matrices formed of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are very promising photosensors for the scintillation detectors. The use of SiPM matrices with appropriate optical collector gives, in principle, a possibility to do a snapshot of glowing track of charged particle traversing a scintillator. The prototype of such scintillation detector is under development now in INR RAS. The preliminary results of characterization study of the matrix ArrayC-60035-64P-PCB (SensL company) for the prototype of such detector are presented., Comment: Poster contribution to the International Conference on New Photo-detectors (July 6-9, 2015, Moscow, Troitsk, Russia), to be published in PoS (PhotoDet2015)

The multichannel data acquisition system is intended to be used in the EMMA experiment studying cosmic rays. The array will be in the Pihasalmi mine (central Finland) at a depth of about 85 m. The scintillator counters (SC-1) of the array are cast plastic scintillators with a wavelength of each SC-1 detector is 12.2{\times}12.2{\times}3.0 cm^3. 16 SC-1 detectors are placed in the metal case of 50.0{\times}50.0{\times}13.0 cm^3 dimension. Each case, called SC-16 detector, contains electronics of preliminary processing of signals and operating mode stabilization. The whole of the array will contain 96 detectors SC-16. It will make 1536 channels placed in three planes (48+24+24 detectors). The array will allow us to measure the time of flight of particles between SC-16 detectors and the coordinates of SC-1 fired detectors. This paper presents the function diagram of data acquisition system that includes electronic of detectors, the hodoscope pulse channels, the trigger block and VME blocks., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Current status and results of the experiment on recording neutrino bursts are presented. The observation time (since 1980) is 24.7 years. The upper bound of collapse frequency in our Galaxy is 0.093 $y^{-1}$ (90% CL)., Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. Presented at the 31 International Cosmic Ray Conference, Lodz, Poland, July 7-15, 2009

Experimental data of arrays "Andyrchy" and "Carpet-2" of Baksan Neutrino Observatory (Institute for Nuclear Research), obtained in the regime of a detection of the single cosmic-ray component, are used for a search of the bursts of cosmic gamma rays from evaporating primordial black holes. Different theoretical models of the evaporation process are used for the analysis. Distributions of the counting rate fluctuations on both arrays agree with the expectations from the cosmic ray background. The new constraints on the concentration of evaporating primordial black holes in the local region of Galaxy are obtained. The comparison of the results of different experiments is given., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Extended variant of the talk prepared for the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, to be held in Lodz, Poland, 2009

The technical procedure of a search of bursts of very high energy gamma rays from evaporation of primordial black holes on air-shower array "Andyrchy" of Baksan Neutrino Observatory of Institute for Nuclear Research is described. The theoretical model used in the present work assumes that the chromosphere around the evaporating black hole does not form. For minimization of the cosmic ray background the method of multidimensional analysis of modelled as well as experimentally detected events is applied. The new upper limit on the concentration of evaporating primordial black holes in the local region of Galaxy is obtained. The comparison of the results of different experiments is given., Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. A talk prepared for the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, to be held in Lodz, Poland, 2009

In this short note we present results of background measurements carried out with a polystyrene based cast plastic 12.0x12.0x3.0 cm^3 size scintillator counter with a wavelength shifting fibre and a multi-pixel Geiger mode avalanche photodiode readout in the Baksan underground laboratory at a depth of 200 meters of water equivalent. The total counting rate of the scintillator counter measured at this depth and at a threshold corresponding to ~0.37 of a minimum ionizing particle is approximately 1.3 Hz., Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, submitted to NIMA

Temporal and energy characteristics of the very-high-energy gamma-ray bursts from evaporating primordial black holes have been calculated by assuming that the photospheric and chromospheric effects are negligible. The technique of searching for such bursts on shower arrays is described. We show that the burst time profile and the array dead time should be taken into account to interpret experimental data. Based on data from the Andyrchy array of the Baksan Neutrino Observatory (Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences), we have obtained an upper limit on the number density of evaporating primordial black holes in a local region of space with a scale size of ~10^{-3} pc. Comparison with the results of previous experiments is made., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures