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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Model analysis of Space Shuttle dosimetry data

An extensive model analysis of plastic track detector measurements of high-LET particles on the Space Shuttle has been performed. Three Shuttle flights: STS-51F (low-altitude, high-inclination), STS-51J (high-altitude, low-inclination), and STS-61C (low-altitude, low-inclination) are considered. The model includes contributions from trapped protons and Galactic cosmic radiation, as well as target secondary particles. Target secondaries, expected to be of importance in thickly shielded space environments, are found to be a significant component of the measured LET (linear energy transfer) spectra.

Letaw, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Trapped iron measured on LDEF

Heavy ions far below the cutoff energy were detected on the 28.5 deg inclination orbit of LDEF in a plastic track detector experiment. The Fe-group particles show a constant energy spectrum at 50 less than or equal to E less than or equal to 200 MeV/nuc. The steep energy spectrum of Fe-particles at 20 less than or equal to E less than or equal to 50 MeV/nuc and the arrival directions of these ions is consistent with a trapped component incident in the South Atlantic Anomaly at values of L=1.4-1.6.

Beaujean, R.↗
DOE OSTI2025

MAIA: A new detector concept for a 10 TeV muon collider

Muon colliders offer a compelling opportunity to explore the TeV scale and conduct precision tests of the Standard Model, all within a relatively compact geographical footprint. This paper introduces a new detector concept, MAIA (Muon Accelerator Instrumented Apparatus), optimized for $\sqrt{s}=10$ TeV $\mu\mu$ collisions. The detector features an all-silicon tracker immersed in a 5T solenoid field. High-granularity silicon-tungsten and iron-scintillator calorimeters surrounding the solenoid capture high-energy electronic and hadronic showers, respectively, and support particle-flow reconstruction. The outermost subsystem comprises an air-gap muon spectrometer, which enables standalone track reconstruction for high-momentum muons. The performance of the MAIA detector is evaluated in terms of differential particle reconstruction efficiencies and resolutions. Beam-induced background (BIB) simulations generated in FLUKA are overlaid with single particle gun samples to assess detector reconstruction capabilities under realistic experimental conditions. Even with BIB, reconstruction efficiencies exceed 95% for energetic tracks, photons, and neutrons in the central region of the detector. This paper outlines promising avenues of future work, including forward region optimization and opportunities for enhanced flavor/boosted object tagging, and addresses the technological assumptions needed to achieve the desired detector performance.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1985

Muon and neutrino results from KGF experiment at a depth of 7000 hg/square cm

The KGF nucleon decay experiment at a depth of 7000 hg/sq cm has provided valuable data on muons and neutrinos. The detector comprised of 34 crossed layers of proportional counters (cross section 10 x 10 sq cm; lengths 4m and 6m) sandwiched between 1.2 cm thick iron plates can record tracks of charged particles to an accuracy of 1 deg from tracks that traverse the whole of the detector. A special two-fold coincidence system enables the detector to record charged particles that enter at very large zenith angles. In a live time of 3.6 years about 2600 events have been recorded. These events include atmospheric muons, neutrino induced muons from rock, stopping muons, showers and events which have their production vertex inside the detectors. The results on atmospheric muons and neutrino events are presented.

Krishnaswamy, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Super-TIGER Instrument to Probe Galactic Cosmic Ray Origins

Super-TIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is under construction for the first of two planned Antarctic long-duration balloon flights in December 2012. This new instrument will measure the abundances of ultra-heavy elements (30Zn and heavier), with individual element resolution, to provide sensitive tests of the emerging model of cosmic-ray origins in OB associations and models of the mechanism for selection of nuclei for acceleration. Super-TIGER builds on the techniques of TIGER, which produced the first well-resolved measurements of elemental abundances of the elements 31Ga, 32Ge, and 34Se. Plastic scintillators together with acrylic and silica-aerogel Cherenkov detectors measure particle charge. Scintillating-fiber hodoscopes track particle trajectories. Super-TIGER has an active area of 5.4 sq m, divided into two independent modules. With reduced material thickness to decrease interactions, its effective geometry factor is approx.6.4 times larger than TIGER, allowing it to measure elements up to 42Mo with high statistical precision, and make exploratory measurements up to 56Ba. Super-TIGER will also accurately determine the energy spectra of the more abundant elements from l0Ne to 28Ni between 0.8 and 10 GeV/nucleon to test the hypothesis that microquasars or other sources could superpose spectral features. We will discuss the implications of Super-TIGER measurements for the study of cosmic-ray origins and will present the measurement technique, design, status, and expected performance, including numbers of events and resolution. Details of the hodoscopes, scintillators, and Cherenkov detectors will be given in other presentations at this conference.

Mitchell, John W.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Electron/hadron separation with the TRD based on GaAs pixel detectors

Transition Radiation Detectors (TRDs) are widely used for particle identification in both high-energy physics and astroparticle physics. They are typically equipped with gaseous detectors. The main limitation of these types of detectors is that TR photons and ionization losses cannot be decoupled, which significantly reduces the particle separation power. Recent advancements in the development of pixel detectors based on GaAs sensors offer a unique opportunity to effectively detect TR photons and separate them from ionization losses. Such detectors represent novel devices that combine precise tracking capabilities with particle identification (PID) properties. The present work is dedicated to an experimental study of particle identification properties of the TRD prototype based on 500 μ m-thick GaAs sensor bonded to a Timepix3 chip. Studies were performed at the CERN SPS and it was shown that at a particle momentum of 20 GeV/c, the probability of misidentifying a hadron as an electron is below 10 −2 for an electron detection efficiency of 98%–99%, and it is 1 . 6⋅10 −4 for electron detection efficiency of 90%. This performance surpasses the electron/hadron rejection power of all known TRDs by an order of magnitude for the same detector length.

GaAs detectors↗
NASA NTRS2022

Pair Production Detectors for Gamma-ray Astrophysics

Electron-positron pair production is the essential process for high-energyγ-ray astrophysical observations. Following the pioneeringOSO-3counter telescope, the field evolved into use of particle tracking instruments, largely derived from high-energy physics detectors. Although many of the techniques were developed on balloon-borneγ-ray telescopes, the need to escape the high background in the at-mosphere meant that the breakthrough discoveries came from theSAS-2andCOS-Bsatellites. The next major pair production success was EGRET on the Comp-ton Gamma Ray Observatory, which provided the first all-sky map at energies above 100 MeV and found a variety ofγ-ray sources, many of which were vari-able. The current generation of pair production telescopes,AGILEandFermiLAT,have broadened high-energyγ-ray astrophysics with particular emphasis on multi-wavelength and multimessenger studies. A variety of options remain open for future missions based on pair production with improved instrumental performance.

Gamma rays↗
NASA NTRS2007

Comparison of Fluka-2006 Monte Carlo Simulation and Flight Data for the ATIC Detector

We have performed a detailed Monte Carlo (MC) simulation for the Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) detector using the MC code FLUKA-2006 which is capable of simulating particles up to 10 PeV. The ATIC detector has completed two successful balloon flights from McMurdo, Antarctica lasting a total of more than 35 days. ATIC is designed as a multiple, long duration balloon flight, investigation of the cosmic ray spectra from below 50 GeV to near 100 TeV total energy; using a fully active Bismuth Germanate(BGO) calorimeter. It is equipped with a large mosaic of.silicon detector pixels capable of charge identification, and, for particle tracking, three projective layers of x-y scintillator hodoscopes, located above, in the middle and below a 0.75 nuclear interaction length graphite target. Our simulations are part of an analysis package of both nuclear (A) and energy dependences for different nuclei interacting in the ATIC detector. The MC simulates the response of different components of the detector such as the Si-matrix, the scintillator hodoscopes and the BGO calorimeter to various nuclei. We present comparisons of the FLUKA-2006 MC calculations with GEANT calculations and with the ATIC CERN data and ATIC flight data.

Gunasingha, R.M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Cosmic ray experimental observations

The current experimental situation in cosmic ray studies is discussed, with special emphasis on the development of new detector systems. Topics covered are the techniques for particle identification, energy measurements, gas Cerenkov counters, magnet spectrometers, ionization spectrometers, track detectors, nuclear emulsions, multiparameter analysis using arrays of detectors, the Goddard ionization spectrometer, charge spectra, relative abundances, isotope composition, antinuclei in cosmic rays, electrons, the measurement of cosmic ray arrival directions, and the prehistory of cosmic rays.

Balasubrahmanyan, V. K.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Measurements of LET distribution and dose equivalent onboard the Space Shuttle IML-2 (STS-65) and S/MM#4 (STS-79)

Space radiation dosimetry measurements have been made onboard the Space Shuttle STS-65 in the Second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2: 28.5 degrees x 300 km: 14.68 days) and the STS-79 in the 4th Shuttle MIR mission (S/MM#4: 51.6 degrees x 300-400km: 10.2 days). In these measurements, three kinds of detectors were used; one is a newly developed active detector telescope called "Real-time Radiation Monitoring Device (RRMD-I for IML-2 and RRMD-II with improved triggering system for S/MM#4)" utilizing silicon semi-conductor detectors and the other detectors are conventional passive detectors of thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs) and CR-39 plastic track detectors. The main contribution to dose equivalent for particles with LET > 5.0 keV/micrometer (IML-2) and LET > 3.5 keV/micrometer (S/MM#4) is seen to be due to galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and the contribution of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is less than 5% (IML-2: 28.5 degrees x 300 km) and 15% (S/MM#4: 51.6 degrees x 400 km) in the above RRMD LET detection conditions. For the whole LET range (> 0.2 kev/micrometer) obtained by TLDs and CR-39 in these two typical orbits (a small inclination x low altitude and a large inclination x high altitude), absorbed dose rates range from 94 to 114 microGy/day, dose equivalent rates from 186 to 207 microSv/day and average quality factors from 1.82 to 2.00 depending on the locations and directions of detectors inside the Spacelab at the highly protected IML-2 orbit (28.5 degrees x 300 km), and also, absorbed dose rates range from 290 to 367 microGy/day, dose equivalent rates from 582 to 651 microSv/day and average quality factors from 1.78 to 2.01 depending on the dosimeter packages around the RRMD-II "Detector Unit" at the S/MM#4 orbit (5l.6 degrees x 400km). In general, it is seen that absorbed doses depend on the orbit altitude (SAA trapped particles contribution dominant) and dose equivalents on the orbit inclination (GCR contribution dominant). The LET distributions obtained by two different types of active and passive detectors, RRMDs and CR-39, are in good agreement for LET of 15 - 200 kev/micrometer and difference of these distributions in the regions of LET < 15 kev/micrometer and LET > 200 kev/micrometer can be explained by considering characteristics of CR-39 etched track formation especially for the low LET tracks and chemical etching conditions.

manned↗
NASA NTRS1975

Flux of high-LET cosmic-ray particles in manned space flight

On the Apollo and Skylab missions the high-energy heavy ion (HZE) flux was measured by means of plastic nuclear track detectors. Measurements involved the fluxes of high linear energy transfer (LET), particles with Z between 6 and 26 incident on astronauts and on several biological experiments. Partial results of these measurements are presented; the effects of shielding and solar modulation are discussed.-

Benton, E. V.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Absorbed dose and LET spectra measurements on LDEF

Total absorbed doses measured with TLD's, linear energy transfer (LET) spectra measured with plastic track detectors, and low energy neutrons measured on LDEF have been compared with model calculations. The total absorbed doses measured in TLD's were higher than predicted in the calculations of Armstrong et al. and differ from the calculations of Atwell et al. LDEF LET spectra are dependent on detector orientation, shielding and experiment location. These factors need to be taken into account when modeling the LDEF LET spectra. LET spectra measured with plastic nuclear track detectors (PNTD's) also deviate significantly from calculations especially for high LET particles (LET(sub infinity) H2O greater than 100keV/micron). Modeling efforts to date do not include the contribution of proton induced secondaries. Analysis of polycarbonate PNTD's from the West-side of LDEF has revealed a very high fluence of tracks (greater than 1 x 10(exp 7) tracks/cm(exp 2) under 2 gm/cm(exp 2) shielding). Fluence drops off rapidly as shielding depth increases. Tracks only form in the region of the detector closest to the surface, not in the bulk of the detector. To date no adequate explanation for this observation has been found. We plan to measure range distribution of very high LET (LET (sub infinity) H2O greater than 500 keV/micron) secondary particles produced in silicon wafer by high energy primary cosmic ray particles. Refinements of experimental techniques and model calculations are being carried out in order to understand existing discrepancies between experimental measurements and calculations.

Benton, E. V.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Cosmic ray particles with different LET values under various thicknesses of shielding in low altitude orbits: Calculations and Cosmos-2044 measurements

Fluxes of cosmic ray particles with different LET values were measured on board the COSMOS-2044 biosatellite under various thicknesses of shielding by stacks of CR-39 and nitrocellulose plastic nuclear track detectors (mounted outside the satellite). The component composition of the particles detected under shieldings of 0.1-2.5 g cm(exp -2) is verified by comparing experimental data with the results of model simulations of the fluxes of galactic cosmic ray particles and of radiation belt protons.

Benton, E. V.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Cosmic ray particles with different LET values under various thicknesses of shielding in low altitude orbits: calculations and Cosmos-2044 measurements

Fluxes of cosmic ray particles with different LET values were measured on board the Cosmos-2044 biosatellite under various thicknesses of shielding by stacks of CR-39 and nitrocellulose plastic nuclear track detectors (mounted outside the satellite). The component composition of the particles detected under shieldings of 0.1-2.5 g cm-2 is verified by comparing experimental data with the results of model simulations of the fluxes of galactic cosmic ray particles and of radiation belt protons.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗
NASA NTRS2006

A Detailed FLUKA-2005 Monte Carlo Simulation for the ATIC Detector

We have performed a detailed Monte Carlo (MC) calculation for the Advanced thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) detector using the MC code FLUKA-2005 which is capable of simulating particles up to 10 PeV. The ATIC detector has completed two successful balloon flights from McMurdo, Antarctica lasting a total of more than 35 days. ATIC is designed as a multiple, long duration balloon Bight, investigation of the cosmic ray spectra from below 50 GeV to near 100 TeV total energy; using a fully active Bismuth Germanate @GO) calorimeter. It is equipped with a large mosaic of silicon detector pixels capable of charge identification and as a particle tracking system, three projective layers of x-y scintillator hodoscopes were employed, above, in the middle and below a 0.75 nuclear interaction length graphite target. Our calculations are part of an analysis package of both A- and energy-dependences of different nuclei interacting with the ATIC detector. The MC simulates the responses of different components of the detector such as the Simatrix, the scintillator hodoscopes and the BGO calorimeter to various nuclei. We also show comparisons of the FLUKA-2005 MC calculations with a GEANT calculation and data for protons, He and CNO.

Gunasingha, R. M.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Operation of a Modular 3D-Pixelated Liquid Argon Time-Projection Chamber in a Neutrino Beam

The 2x2 Demonstrator, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) liquid argon (LAr) Near Detector, was exposed to the Neutrinos from the Main Injector (NuMI) neutrino beam at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). This detector is a prototype of a new modular design for a liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC), comprising a two-by-two array of four modules, each further segmented into two optically isolated LArTPCs. The 2x2 Demonstrator features a number of pioneering technologies, including a low-profile resistive field shell to establish drift fields, native 3D ionization pixelated imaging, and a high-coverage dielectric light readout system. The 2.4-tonne active mass detector is flanked upstream and downstream by supplemental solid-scintillator tracking planes, repurposed from the MINERvA experiment, which track ionizing particles exiting the argon volume. The antineutrino beam data collected by the detector over a 4.5 day period in 2024 include over 30,000 neutrino interactions in the LAr active volume—the first neutrino interactions reported by a DUNE detector prototype. During its physics-quality run, the 2x2 Demonstrator operated at a nominal drift field of 500 V/cm and maintained good LAr purity, with a stable electron lifetime of approximately 1.25 ms. This paper describes the detector and supporting systems, summarizes the installation and commissioning, and presents the initial validation of collected NuMI beam and off-beam self-triggers. In addition, it highlights observed interactions in the detector volume, including candidate muon antineutrino events.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Calibration of the DUNE Far Detector Using Cosmic-ray Muon Events

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) aims to set new limits on parameters associated with neutrino oscillations, neutrino astrophysics, and beyond the Standard Model (SM) searches such as nucleon decay. DUNE will quantify the magnitude of CP violation in the lepton sector, and determine the neutrino mass ordering. These benefit highly from the large target mass and excellent imaging, tracking, and particle identification capabilities of Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs). Detector calibration is essential to make precise physics measurements. For instance, accurate energy reconstruction is necessary for measuring many of the aforementioned quantities with the precision required for discovering new physics and fully exploiting the capabilities of the detector. Cosmic muons are a freely available natural source of calorimetric data and can be used for calibrating various detector parameters. This thesis provides an analysis of simulated cosmic-ray muon events generated with the Muon Simulation Underground (MUSUN) generator in the DUNE horizontal drift (HD) far detector (FD). The study focuses on analysing the energy and angular distribution of various classes of muon events, as well as characterising the different particles produced by cosmic muon interactions. The analysis of π0 → 2γ events within the cosmic-ray muon sample is presented in this thesis with a detailed study of reconstructing electromagnetic showers. The π0 mass is reconstructed within the DUNE FD, yielding a value of (136 ± 7) MeV/c2. Additionally, the thesis introduces methods for dE/dx calibration using simulated and reconstructed muon tracks. A calibration constant Ccal = (5.469 ± 0.003) × 10−3 ADC × tick/e is obtained through a model-dependent calibration process, where 1 tick corresponds to 500 ns of sampling time of an ADC. Furthermore, a calibration technique is presented, demonstrating precise translation from dQ/dx to dE/dx. This calibration method is applied to stopping muons, charged pions, and protons in the DUNE FD, addressing the measurement of energy loss in the detector volume. These are important calibrations of the DUNE FD and will contribute to achieving the exciting physics goals of the experiment.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Predicting Missing Regions in Charged Particle Tracks Using a Sparse 3D Convolutional Neural Network

The 2x2 Demonstrator is a prototype of ND-LAr, the liquid argon time-projection chamber of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment’s Near Detector complex. Both the 2x2 Demonstrator and ND-LAr are modular detectors that will have pixelated charge readouts and inactive regions wherein there is no sensitivity to charge deposition and light signals that arise from charged particle interactions with liquid argon. In the 2x2, these inactive regions are located in between the active detector modules, which introduces the challenge of inferring what charge signals ought to look like in these regions. This study explores the use of a Sparse 3D Convolutional Neural Network (ConvNet) to infer missing regions in charged particle tracks. Hits corresponding to energy depositions are voxelized into a three-dimensional grid for each track. Voxels that fall into predefined inactive regions are removed to simulate the lack of detector output. The model is trained to infer the topology of the missing track voxels, with the ultimate goal of inferring the missing charge or energy values in these voxels as well. Results indicate that this approach shows promise in prediction of missing track regions with some accuracy.

Utaegbulam, Hilary↗