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A Modular COsmic Ray Detector (MCORD) was prepared for use in various physics experiments. MCORD detectors can be used in laboratory measurements or can become a part of large measurement sets. MCORD can be used as a muon detector, a veto system, or a tool supporting the testing and calibration of other detectors. MCORD can also work as a stand-alone device for scientific and commercial purposes. The basic element of MCORD is one section consisting of eight oblong scintillators with a double-sided light reading performed by silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). This work presents a practical description of testing, calibration, and programming of analogue and digital electronics modules. The characterisation and calibration methods of the analogue front-end electronic modules, the obtained results, and their implementation into an operating system are presented. In addition, we describe the development environment and the procedures used to prepare our kit for practical use. The architecture of the FPGAs is also presented with a description of their programming as a data-collecting system in a simple coincidence circuit. We also present the possibilities of extending the data analysis system for large experiments.

In 2009, the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) launched a project involving the establishment of the first radiation detector laboratory in Saudi Arabia. This project aims to d...

Andes Large-area PArticle detector for Cosmic-ray physics and Astronomy (ALPACA) is an international experiment that applies southern very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy to determine the origin of cosmic rays around the knee energy region ($10^{15}\, {\rm eV} - 10^{16}\, {\rm eV}$). The experiment consists of an air shower (AS) array with a surface of $83, 000\, {\rm m}^2$ and an underground water Cherenkov muon detector (MD) array covering $5, 400\, {\rm m}^2$. The experimental site is at the Mt. Chacaltaya plateau in La Paz, Bolivia, with an altitude of $4, 740\, {\rm m}$ corresponding to $572\, {\rm g}/{\rm cm}^2$ atmospheric thickness. As the prototype experiment of ALPACA, the ALPAQUITA experiment aims to begin data acquisition in late 2021. The ALPAQUITA array consists of a smaller AS array ($18, 450\, {\rm m}^2$) and underground MD ($900\, {\rm m}^2$), which are now under construction. ALPAQUITA's sensitivity to gamma-ray sources is evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations. The simulation finds that five gamma-ray sources observed by H.E.S.S. and HAWC experiments will be detected by ALPAQUITA beyond 10 TeV and one out of these five - HESS J1702-420A - above 300 TeV in one calendar year observation. The latter finding means that scientific discussions can be made on the emission mechanism of gamma rays beyond 100 TeV from southern sources on the basis of the observational results of this prototype experiment., This is the manuscript accepted by Experimental Astronomy. For the published article, see https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09796-8

In this study, daily cosmic ray data obtained with the KACST muon detector for the period 2002–2012 were analyzed for quasi-periodicities. Power-spectrum analysis was carried out and several periodicities were identified. The results reveal several periodicities at different frequency scales: 817 days (~2.19 years), 617 days (~1.7 years), 475 days (~1.3 years), 421 days (1.15 years), 290 days (~0.8 years), 227 days (~0.62 years), 185 days (~0.52 years), 153 days, 135 days, 120 days, 93 days, 84 days, 73 days, 65 days, 53–45 days, 38 days, 31 days, 25–27 days, 21 days and 13 days. The obtained periodicities are in an agreement with those previously reported by several investigators. The identified periodicities have strong relevance to solar activity parameters such as variations in the interplanetary magnetic field. In comparison, the data from two neutron monitors (NMs), Lomnický stit and Oulu NMs, for the same period were used and their power spectra were correspondingly obtained. Similarities and differences in the position of the cosmic-ray peaks measured by the KACST muon detector and by the two NMs have been presented and discussed. While most of the periodicities reported by the muon detector are also found in the NM data, the ~1.7-yr variation is not found. Instead, a shift of 1.6–1.8 years in the NM data is observed which may be due to the limited epoch considered in this study.

Model simulations of test experiments on muon radiography for several configurations of voids in the ground and different muon detector positions are presented. The sensitivity of the method for the considered cases is estimated. This study lays the basis for quantitative analysis of data in muon radiography and can be used for planning future experiments.

Variations of secondary cosmic rays on the Earth’s surface depend on the solar activity. To study these variations, neutron monitors and muon detectors are used. Observations of muons and hadrons complement each other in terms of the energies of the primary cosmic rays and their angular distribution. Muons save the direction of the motion of primary particles and make it possible to obtain the angular distribution of cosmic ray modulations using a single setup—as a muon hodoscope. This paper presents a comparison of variations of muon and neutron components of cosmic rays at the Earth surface at different phases of the solar activity in the period from 2008 to 2018. For the comparison, data of two neutron monitors (Moscow and Apatity stations) and the muon hodoscope URAGAN were used.

Ο μεγάλος επιταχυντής αδρονίων -Large Hadron Collider (LHC)- και τα πειράματα που έχουν αναπτυχθεί κατά μήκος του, έχουν επαληθεύσει με τις μετρήσεις τους την ύπαρξη διαφόρων σωματιδίων κατά την λειτουργία τους. Προκειμένου να διερευνηθούν πτυχές νέας Φυσικής που υπερβαίνουν το καθιερωμένο πρότυπο, οι συγκρούσεις των σωματιδίων (πρωτονίων-πρωτονίων) θα πρέπει να διενεργηθούν σε ακόμα μεγαλύτερες ενέργειες. Για τον λόγο αυτό έχει δρομολογηθεί η αναβάθμιση του υφιστάμενου επιταχυντή σε High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). Το πείραμα ATLAS έχει αποφασίσει να αναβαθμίσει μέρος του μιονικού φασματόμετρού του. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η νέα πραγματικότητα που θα δημιουργήσει ο HL-LHC δεν θα είναι διαχειρίσιμη, ειδικά για περιοχές κοντά στο σημείο αλληλεπίδρασης. Ένα νέο σύστημα στην θέση του προϋπάρχοντος, το λεγόμενο New Small Wheels (NSW), προτάθηκε να αντιμετωπίσει αυτές τις προκλήσεις. Το σύστημα αυτό θα αποτελείται από ανιχνευτές small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC) και resistive-strip Micromegas (MM). Η τεχνολογία sTGC επιλέχθηκε για να προσφέρει πληροφορίες σκανδαλισμού κυρίως, ενώ η τεχνολογία ΜΜ θα συνεισφέρει στην ανακατασκευή των τροχιών. Το NSW καταλαμβάνει μια επιφάνεια της τάξης των 1200 m2. Προκειμένου να κατασκευαστούν ανιχνευτές ικανοί να καλύψουν αυτήν την μεγάλη έκταση, χρησιμοποιήθηκαν εξειδικευμένες τεχνικές κατασκευής και εξεζητημένες πρώτες ύλες π.χ. PCB. Εξαιτίας αυτών των ιδιομορφιών επιλέχθηκε η κατασκευή των ανιχνευτών αυτών να λάβει χώρα σε εξειδικευμένα κατασκευαστικά εργαστήρια. Μετά την ολοκλήρωση της κατασκευής στα διάφορα εργαστήρια, οι ανιχνευτές στέλνονταν στις εγκαταστάσεις του CERN, όπου έλαβε χώρα η μελέτη της λειτουργίας των ανιχνευτών με κοσμική ακτινοβολία. Οι έρευνες αυτές είχαν να κάνουν με χαρακτηριστικά της λειτουργίας των ανιχνευτών όπως το φορτίο και η πολλαπλότητα των χτυπημένων readout strips. Επιπρόσθετα ελέγχθηκε το κατά πόσο επηρεάζεται το συλλεγόμενο φορτίο των readout strips από τον ρυθμό εισόδου του αερίου στον ανιχνευτή όπως επίσης και από την φορά εισόδου του. Μελετήθηκε ακόμα η χωρική διακριτική ικανότητά τους με διάφορα αέρια (ΑrCO2 και ArCO2C4H10). Κατά την αναβάθμιση σε HL-LHC οι πληροφορίες των ανακατασκευασμένων τροχιών των σωματιδίων δεν θα είναι ικανές να αντιστοιχήσουν τα σωματίδια αυτά με τις αρχικές αλληλεπιδράσεις. Για να γίνει εφικτό αυτό, θα πρέπει να χρησιμοποιηθεί επιπρόσθετα η πληροφορία του χρόνου με ακρίβεια καλύτερη από 30 ps. Για να καταφέρει ένας τυπικός ΜΜ αυτά τα χρονικά αποτελέσματα, πρέπει να τροποποιηθεί και να χρησιμοποιηθούν τα πλεονεκτήματα που προσφέρει η ακτινοβολία Cherenkov. Ο συγκεκριμένος ανιχνευτής ονομάζεται PICOSEC-Micromegas. Προκειμένου να μπορέσει να χρησιμοποιηθεί ένας ανιχνευτής σε πειράματα μεγάλης κλίμακας, είναι απαραίτητη η αύξηση της ενεργής επιφάνειάς του. Στην περίπτωση του PICOSEC-Micromegas προτάθηκε η λύση της κατακτημένης επιφάνειας με διαφορετικά κανάλια ανάγνωσης σήματος. Η πρώτη προσπάθεια δημιουργίας τέτοιου ανιχνευτή επηρεάστηκε από κατασκευαστικές αστοχίες που είχαν σαν αποτέλεσμα την μη ομοιόμορφη αποδοτικότητα του ανιχνευτή σε όλη την επιφάνειά του. Υπολογίστηκαν διορθωτικοί παράγοντες ώστε να εκτιμηθεί η απόδοση ενός άρτια κατασκευασμένου ανιχνευτή. Ένας επανασχεδιασμένος ανιχνευτής πολλαπλών καναλιών ακτινοβολήθηκε επίσης. Μελετήθηκαν συνεχόμενα γειτονικά κανάλια, αλλά και μικρότερες περιοχές εντός του κάθε καναλιού ανάγνωσης σήματος, ώστε να ελεγχθεί η ομοιόμορφη λειτουργία του κατά μήκος της επιφάνειάς του. Επίσης εκτιμήθηκε η χρονική διακριτική ικανότητα του ανιχνευτή για όταν διαμοιράζεται το σήμα μεταξύ γειτονικών καναλιών, όπως και μια «global» παραμετροποίηση που χαρακτηρίζει συνολικά τον ανιχνευτή., The operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its experiments have confirmed the existence of particles with their measurements. One of the last outstanding results was the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2013. The accelerated particles should interact with even higher energies to discover indices of New Physics beyond the Standard Model. Due to this demand, the accelerator will be upgraded to the High-Luminosity LHC. The ATLAS experiment, a general-purpose high luminosity experiment at the LHC, concluded to upgrade its muon spectrometer. This decision was made, as the old detecting system will not be sufficient to manage the high demands of the HL-LHC era, especially for regions nearby the interaction point. The New Small Wheels (NSW) proposed to replace the existing detecting system. The suggested design comprises small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC) and resistive-strip Micromegas (MM). The NSW will occupy a total area larger than 1200 m2. Custom materials, e.g., PCBs, and innovative techniques developed to construct large area detectors of such a size. Due to the uncommon detectors' dimensions and the unusual production methods, their construction took place in specialised laboratories. Various quality control measurements were performed during the construction of these parts of the detectors, as they should fulfil the strict specifications of the ATLAS experiment. After the construction completion, all MM detectors were sent to the CERN facilities. Cosmic ray studies validated their optimal operation. These studies tested several operational characteristics of the detectors like their gain, the strips' multiplicity, and the size of the clusters. Also, studies concerning any correlation between the gas flow (rate and direction) and the detector's operation were performed. Moreover, it was measured the detector's efficiency and the spatial resolution with different gas fillings mixtures (ArCO2 and ArCO2C4H10). After the HL-LHC luminosity upgrade, the tracking information will be insufficient to associate the interactions to the corresponding vertex. The data from the time dimension is necessary to separate these vertices. The time information should be with a resolution of at least 30 ps precision. To achieve this resolution a typical gaseous detector, like the MM, must be customised and benefit from the Cherenkov effect. That modified detector is called PICOSEC-Micromegas. To implement the PICOSEC-Micromegas detector on a large-scale experiment its surface should be increased. It was proposed a design of a multi-pad detector surface, with different readout channels on each pad. This design introduced new challenges regarding detector construction. Moreover, the data processing for the regions nearby neighbouring pads requires special treatment. The first multi-pad prototype had a non-uniform performance across its surface due to construction structure impact to the flatness of the PCB. It was estimated flatness correction parameters for this detector, which permitted the performance estimation of a well-flatted detector. It was studied also a redesigned multi-pad. It was estimated the uniformity of timing performance from consecutive pads. Moreover, it was estimated the timing resolution for sharing signals between neighbouring pads. Finally, it was calculated a “global” parametrisation which describes all the pads independently of their position.

In the effort to communicate modern physics to a vast audience, the flux of cosmic ray muons is commonly mentioned as the most abundant, naturally available particle/radioactivity source. The detection of atmospheric muons can therefore make up a powerful workbench for educational purposes, allowing many laboratory experiences in different topics of modern physics like: special relativity, cosmic rays, statistics and particle detection. Unfortunately, a particle detector being suitable for cosmic ray muon identification is typically expensive, cumbersome and requires high voltage, thus preventing its widespread application in laboratory sessions based on cosmic ray muons, ex.gr. for undergraduate courses. Here we describe the project for a low-cost muon detector based on a plastic scintillator coupled with silicon photomultipliers, whose signals are acquired and preprocessed via a common FPGA evaluation board. Besides the detector, which was developed by supervised master students, we describe some possible physics measurements.

A method is presented for restoring the performance of gas discharge detectors wherein a spontaneous self-sustaining current, i.e., Malter effect, occurs. A successful practical implementation of the method is demonstrated by the example of recovery of operability for multiwire proportional chambers used in the muon detector of the LHCb experiment carried out at the Large Hadron Collider. Four proportional chambers wherein Malter currents regularly occur during the experiment were subjected to high-voltage discharge training in the working gas mixture of 40% Ar + 55% CO2 + 5% CF4 with 2% of oxygen added. It is shown that, with addition of oxygen, the recovery of the proportional chambers occurs tens of times faster in compare to the training in the working gas mixture. The reconstructed chambers were installed in the LHCb muon detector and have been working in a collider beam experiment for more than two years already.

The Tibet ASgamma experiment is located at 4,300m above sea level, in Tibet, China.The experiment is composed of a 65,700 m2 surface air shower array and 3,400 m2 underground water Cherenkov muon detectors. The surface air shower array is used for reconstructing the primary particle energy and direction, while the underground muon detectors are used for discriminating gamma-ray induced muon-poor air showers from cosmic-ray (proton, helium,...) induced muon-rich air showers.Recently,the Tibet ASgamma experiment successfully observed gamma rays in the 100 TeV region from some point/extended sources as well as sub-PeV diffuse gamma rays along the Galactic disk.In this talk, The observational results as well as their interpretations will be presented, followed by some future prospect.

The project is conducting a series of muonic X-ray measurements in medium- and high-Z nuclei at PSI, utilizing a high-purity germanium detector array, in-beam muon detectors, and a modern digital data-acquisition system. A novel hydrogen target for muon transfer was developed, enabling measurements with as little as a few micrograms of target material. First measurements with radioactive Cm and Ra targets were conducted, aimed at determining their nuclear charge radii. These serve as important input for upcoming atomic parity violation experiments. The apparatus is also used to perform a feasibility study of an atomic parity violation experiment with the 2s-1s2s−1s muonic X-ray transition. In addition, the setup has been made available for a wider range of nuclear, particle, and solid-state physics measurements.

We report on the observation of an excess of E>300 TeV gamma-ray candidate events in temporal and spatial coincidence with the IceCube high-energy neutrino alert consistent with the origin in the Cygnus Cocoon. The Cygnus Cocoon is a prospective Galactic source of high-energy neutrinos and photons. The observations have been performed with Carpet-2, a surface air-shower detector equipped with a large-area muon detector at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory in the Northern Caucasus.

LHAASO-KM2A is a sub-array of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) with an area of kilometer squared scale, consisting of 5195 electromagnetic detectors and 1171 muon detectors. Horizontal Air Showers (HAS) are a fundamental tool to detect penetrating particles like neutrinos and to study hadronic interactions. HAS detected at the ground are mainly constituted by secondary muons. In this contribution first observations of HAS with half array of LHAASO-KM2A are reported. We show that the zenith angle distribution of extensive air showers (EAS) and the transition from electromagnetic-dominated showers to muon-dominated ones above a zenith angle of 60 degree.

Title: Half ALPACA and its sensitivity to sub-PeV gamma rays from the Galactic Center Presenter: Yoshichika Yokoe oral/poster: oral Abstract: ALPACA is a project aimed at the wide field-of-view observation of cosmic rays and gamma rays with an 83,000 m^2 air shower array composed of approximately 400 surface scintillation counters and a large underground muon detector array, at an altitude of 4,740m near the Chacaltaya mountain in Bolivia. After a prototype air-shower array currently under construction, we plan to expand the array to ‘half ALPACA’, which covers an area of 83,000 m^2 with roughly 200 surface scintillation counters. Also, we will construct an underground muon detector array with an area of 4,000 m^2 that allows us to dramatically improve the sensitivity to gamma rays by discriminating gamma rays from cosmic rays based on the number of muons in air showers. One of our main interests is the detection of gamma rays beyond 100 TeV from the Galactic center. In 2016, H.E.S.S observed the diffuse gamma-rays around the Galactic center. This data suggests that a cosmic-ray accelerator exists around it. In this presentation, we report on the performance of half ALPACA, especially its sensitivity to sub-PeV gamma rays from the Galactic center, based on our detailed MC simulations.

A set of Cosmic Ray detectors was newly installed in Syowa Station, in the Antarctic, to observe CR neutrons and muons simultaneously at the same location. The observing system has started working in February 2018 and is in stable operation with a high operation rate, >90%. We describe the new systems and show its stability.

In October 2017, a multi-layer small multi-wire (MW) detector for cosmic ray (CR) muon measurements was installed at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Rc = 14.4 GV). This detector is considered to be the first of its kind used for long term CR measurements. In this study, CR data collected from KACST-MW detection system and radiosonde measurements were used to investigate the effect of atmospheric pressure, ground temperature, height of the muon production layer, temperature at that layer, and temperature weighted by atmospheric mass, on CR muons. Regression analyses between the observed muon count rate and these variables were carried out and the corresponding coefficients were obtained and used to correct the observed muon count rate for the temporal variation of these variables. The effect of the atmospheric pressure was conducted first and used to correct the data for this effect. The pressure corrected count rate is anti-correlated with the height of muon production, ground temperature, and atmospheric mass-weighted temperature. On the other hand, the temperature at the muon production layer is positively correlated with the muon count rate. The obtained results from this study are in good agreement with those reported by several researchers. Taking advantages of the relationship between the detected CR muons and the temperature at the muon production layer (stratospheric temperature), this relationship is inverted to calculate this temperature from muon observations. The proposed technique provides excellent predictability of the stratospheric temperatures.

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