Neutron background in large-scale xenon detectors for dark matter searches

Simulations of the neutron background for future large-scale particle dark matter detectors are presented. Neutrons were generated in rock and detector elements via spontaneous fission and (α,n) reactions, and by cosmic-ray muons. The simulation techniques and results are discussed in the context of the expected sensitivity of a generic liquid xenon dark matter detector. Methods of neutron background suppression are investigated. A sensitivity of 10⁻⁹–10⁻¹⁰ pb to WIMP-nucleon interactions can be achieved by a tonne-scale detector.     

Volcanic eruption frequency over the last 45 ky as recorded in Epica-Dome C ice core (East Antarctica) and its relationship with climatic changes

The sulphate glacio-chemical profiles constitute a reliable proxy marker for reconstruction of past volcanic history, assuming a reliable method to distinguish sulphate spikes and to evaluate the flux of individual events is set up. The resulting volcanic event profile is used to reconstruct past event frequencies, and to investigate possible links between volcanism and climatic changes. Volcanic event signatures are useful also in comparing time scales from ice cores drilled at different locations. In this paper, a new method to pick out volcanic signals is proposed. It improves on methods based on the calculation of a threshold using a general mean value plus a multiple of the standard deviation by adding: (1) quantification of nonvolcanic sulphate contributions; (2) sulphate fluxes, instead of concentrations, accounting for accumulation rate changes; (3) data treatment using a log-normal statistic, instead of a Gaussian-type distribution, to take into account the real sulphate distribution; (4) a smoothed curve (weighted fitting) to better understand the residual variability of the sulphate background.This method is used to detect volcanic events throughout the 45 ky time span of the EDC96 ice core, drilled at Dome C on the East Antarctic plateau. A total of 283 volcanic signatures are recovered, with a mean of 6.3 events per millennium. The temporal event frequencies indicate that the last 2000 years were probably characterized by the highest volcanic activity in the period covered by the core and that there is no clear link between number of events recorded and climatic changes.     

Anchor depths of flux elements and depths of flux sources in relation to the two rotation profiles of the sun's surface magnetic fields

It is known for over two decades now that the rotation of the photospheric magnetic fields determined by two different methods of correlation analysis leads to two vastly differing rotation laws - one the differential and the other rigid rotation. Snodgrass and Smith (2001) reexamining this puzzle show that the averaging of the correlation amplitudes can tilt the final profile in favour of rigid rotation whenever the contribution of the rigidly rotating large-scale magnetic structures (the plumes) to the correlation dominates over that of the differentially rotating small-scale and mesoscale features. We present arguments to show that the large-scale unipolar structures in latitudes >40 deg, which also show rigid rotation (Stenflo, 1989), are formed mainly from the intranetwork magnetic elements (abbreviated as IN elements). We then estimate the anchor depths of the various surface magnetic elements as locations of the Sun's internal plasma layers that rotate at the same rate as the flux elements, using the rotation rates of the internal plasma layers given by helioseismology. We infer that the anchor depths of the flux broken off from the decay of sunspot active regions (the small-scale and mesoscale features that constitute the plumes) are located in the shallow layers close to the solar surface. From a similar comparison with helioseismic rotation rates we infer that the rigid rotation of the large-scale unipolar regions in high latitudes could only be coming from plasma layers at a radial distance of about 0.66–0.68 R _⊙ from the Sun's centre. Using Stenflo's (1991) ‘balloon man’ analogy, we interpret these layers as the source of the magnetic flux of the IN elements. If so, the IN flux elements seem to constitute a fundamental component of solar magnetism.     

Separators in 3D Quiet-Sun Magnetic Fields

At the confluence of four regions of different magnetic connectivity lies a distinct topological candidate for coronal heating, namely the magnetic separator. In this study, a method for tracing separator curves is developed and the statistical properties of separators in coronal fields are subsequently explored by analysing a model field with an exponential source distribution, similar to that studied by Schrijver and Title (2002). Magnetic fields based on data from an observed sequence of MDI magnetograms are also considered as a case study. The picture that emerges is one in which there are many more magnetic separators than previously thought, since many separators arise from each null point. For an exponential source distribution, an average of 10.1±0.13 separators per null are found, of which 1.04±0.04 multiply link pairs of nulls (i.e., there is more than one separator linking such pairs of nulls). For the observed sequence of magnetograms, these figures are 7.63±0.2 and 0.99± 0.059, respectively. The results obtained here show that separators have a tendency to group together into trunks about a null. In the case of prone nulls, these trunks lie either normal to the photospheric surface or on it. It is also established that pairs of coronal nulls are frequently interconnected, suggesting that they may have been created by purely coronal bifurcations.     

A semianalytical method for calculating the parameters of the electromagnetic halos around extragalactic gamma-ray sources

The ultrahigh-energy (>20 TeV ) gamma rays emitted by active galactic nuclei can be absorbed in intergalactic space through the production of electron-positron pairs during their interaction with extragalactic background photon fields. The electrons and positrons produced by this interaction form an electromagnetic halo. We have studied the halo formation and calculated the halo radiation spectrum. The magnetic field in the halo formation region is assumed to be strong enough for the electron velocities to be isotropized. For such fields, the halo formation process can be described by the method of generations. We calculated the synchrotron and Compton backscattering radiation spectra for the total halo luminosity. We obtained the spatial distribution of the radiation for a point gamma-ray source.     

Benchmarking a Light-Curve Model at Low-z

A set of well-measured, {low-z}, type Ia supernovae from the Calán/Tololo SNe data sets is used to determine benchmark parameters in our hydrodynamics-based, light-curve model. The light-curve data fit fairly well in B, V, and R passbands but not as well in the I passband. The fitting procedure, extracted best-fit model parameters, and their connection to type Ia SN parameters are presented. Our benchmarked light-curve model represents an alternative to empirical template methods for the analysis of light-curve data.     

MASS FLUX OF ASTEROIDAL ORIGIN METEOROIDS ON PERIODIC COMET NUCLEI

We examine the potential contamination of cometary nuclei through impacts from asteroidal origin meteoroids. The paper uses a simple model and has the goal of determining whether asteroidal contamination is potentially significant. We assume a meteoroid power law mass distribution with index values in the range from s=1.83 to s=2.09. We used maximum and minimum models which we believe will bracket the true meteoroid mass distribution. We identify those comets which are expected to be most significantly contaminated, and find values of up to 3.6 kg of asteroidal meteoroid impact per square meter of the cometary surface per orbital revolution. This is less than the expected mass loss per perihelion passage for most comets. Therefore any remnant effects of the contamination will depend on the penetration depth of the meteoroids in the cometary nucleus, and possibly on the distribution of active and inactive areas on cometary nuclei. We present a simple model which suggests that even small meteoroids will embed relatively deeply into a cometary nucleus.     

Synchrotron radiation from the Crab Nebula discriminates between models of space–time foam

It has been argued by Jacobson, Liberati and Mattingly that synchrotron radiation from the Crab Nebula imposes a stringent constraint on any modification of the dispersion relations of the electron that might be induced by quantum gravity. We supplement their analysis by deriving the spectrum of synchrotron radiation from the coupling of an electrically charged particle to an external magnetic fields in the presence of quantum-gravity effects of the general form (E/M_QG). We find that the synchrotron constraint from the Crab Nebula practically excludes 1.74 for M_QGm_P=1.2×10¹⁹ GeV. On the other hand, this analysis does not constrain any modification of the dispersion relation of the photon that might be induced by quantum gravity. We point out that such quantum-gravity effects need not obey the equivalence principle, a point exemplified by the Liouville-string D-particle model of space–time foam. This model suggests a linear modification of the dispersion relation for the photon, but not for the electron, and hence is compatible with known constraints from the Crab Nebula and elsewhere.