E. Barbarito

The Data Acquisition and Transport Design for NEMO Phase 1

The NEMO collaboration proposes to build an underwater neutrino telescope located South-East off the Sicily coast. This paper describes the concepts underlying the communication link design going over the whole data acquisition and transport from the front-end electronics to the module sending data on-shore through a fiber optic link which relies on Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing. An on-shore board, plugged into a PC, extracts and distributes data both to first-level trigger and control systems. Underwater apparatus monitoring and controls are guaranteed by oceanographic instruments and dedicated sensors, whose data are packed and sent back to shore using the same optical link. The communication is fully bidirectional, allowing transmission of timing and control commands. The architecture described here provides a complete real-time data transport layer between the onshore laboratory and the underwater detector. During winter 2006 a first prototype of the apparatus has been deployed: calibration results from the currently working system are here reported.

A high rejection transition radiation detector prototype to distinguish positrons from protons in a cosmic ray space laboratory

Abstract We have carefully implemented a transition radiation detector prototype in order to design a similar device having 75 × 150 cm 2 active surface that will discriminate positrons from protons. This detector will be part of the spectrometer of the experiment WIZARD, planned to fly at 180 miles altitude on the NASA Space Station “FREEDOM” to search for primordial antimatter. Since the positron to proton ratio is expected to be of the order of 10 −4 , we have pushed the proton rejection factor of the spectrometer beyond this value using a compact transition radiation detector equipped with properly designed “cluster counting” electronics.

STRAW CHAMBERS OPERATING IN VACUUM FOR PARTICLE TRACKING AND TRANSITION RADIATION DETECTION IN ACCELERATOR AND SPACE EXPERIMENTS

We have designed and tested some straw tubes prototype detectors to investigate the possibility to operate a full size chamber with extremely reduced gas leaks in a high vacuum environment in accelerator experiments or in sealed mode for astroparticle physics researches in outer space. After completing the tests we have finally built a tracking detector of 1300 channels which has run in a vacuum chamber in the experiment E864 at BNL with a leak of 7 × 10−3Torr l/s compatible with the permeability of the materials used.

A transition radiation detector for positron identification in a balloon-borne particle astrophysics experiment

Abstract We have built and tested a transition radiation detector of about 76 × 80 cm 2 active surface to discriminate positrons from protons in an experiment performed on a balloon flight to search for primordial antimatter. The TRD is made of ten modules each consisting of a carbon fiber radiator followed by a multiwire proportional chamber. In order to achieve a proton-electron rejection factor of the order of 10 −3 with a strict limitation on power consumption to about 40 mW per chamber channel, as required by experimental constraints, we have developed a low power consumption “cluster counting” electronics. Different analysis procedures of calibration data are shown. In addition, comparisons of the performances of this detector are also made with a previous similar prototype equipped with standard fast electronics and similar detectors from other authors.

NEMO: A PROJECT FOR A KM3 UNDERWATER DETECTOR FOR ASTROPHYSICAL NEUTRINOS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

The status of the project is described: the activity on long term characterization of water optical and oceanographic parameters at the Capo Passero site candidate for the Mediterranean km3 neutrino telescope; the feasibility study; the physics performances and underwater technology for the km3; the activity on NEMO Phase 1, a technological demonstrator that has been deployed at 2000 m depth 25 km offshore Catania; the realization of an underwater infrastructure at 3500 m depth at the candidate site (NEMO Phase 2).

A large area transition radiation detector to measure the energy of muons in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory

Abstract We have designed and built a transition radiation detector of 36 m2 area in order to measure the residual energy of muons penetrating in the Gran Sasso cosmic ray underground laboratory up to the TeV region. It consists of three adjacent modules, each of 2 × 6 m2 area. Polystyrene square tubes, filled with a argon-carbon dioxide gas mixture, and polyethylene foam layers are used as proportional detectors and radiators respectively. We cover such a large surface with only 960 channels that provide adequate energy resolution and particle tracking for the astroparticle physics items to investigate. The detector has been calibrated using a reduced size prototype in a test beam. Results from one module exposed to cosmic rays at sea level are shown.

Status and first results of the NEMO Phase-2 tower

In March 2013, the NEMO Phase 2 tower has been successfully installed in the Capo Passero site, at a depth of 3500 m and 80 km off from the southern coast of Sicily. The unfurled tower is 450 m high; it is composed of 8 mechanical floors, for a total amount of 32 PMTs and various instruments for environmental measurements. The tower positioning is achieved by an acoustic system. The tower is continuously acquiring and transmitting all the measured signals to shore. Data reduction is completely performed in the Portopalo shore station by a dedicated computing facility connected to the persistent storage system at LNS, in Catania. Results from the last 9 months of acquisition will be presented. In particular, the analyzed optical rates, showing stable and low baseline values, are compatible with the contribution mainly of 40K light emission, with a small percentage of light bursts due to bioluminescence. These features reveal the optimal nature of the Capo Passero abyssal site to host a km3-sized Neutrino Telescope.

The optical modules of the phase-2 of the NEMO project

A 13-inch Optical Module (OM) containing a large-area (10-inch) photomultiplier was designed as part of Phase-2 of the NEMO project. An intense R&D activity on the photomultipliers, the voltage supply boards, the optical coupling as well as the study of the influences of the Earths magnetic field has driven the choice of each single component of the OM. Following a well-established production procedure, 32 OMs were assembled and their functionality tested. The design, the testing and the production phases are thoroughly described in this paper.

The trigger and data acquisition for the NEMO-Phase 2 tower

In the framework of the Phase 2 of the NEMO neutrino telescope project, a tower with 32 optical modules is being operated since march 2013. A new scalable Trigger and Data Acquisition System (TriDAS) has been developed and extensively tested with the data from this tower. Adopting the all-data-to-shore concept, the NEMO TriDAS is optimized to deal with a continuous data-stream from off-shore to on-shore with a large bandwidth. The TriDAS consists of four computing layers: (i) data aggregation of isochronal hits from all optical modules; (ii) data filtering by means of concurrent trigger algorithms; (iii) composition of the filtered events into post-trigger files; (iv) persistent data storage. The TriDAS implementation is reported together with a review of dedicated on-line monitoring tools.

Long-term optical background measurements in the Capo Passero deep-sea site

In March 2013, the Nemo Phase-2 tower has been successfully installed at 100 km off-shore Capo Passero (Italy) and 3500 m depth. This 8-floor tower hosts 32 10-inch PMTs. Results from optical background measurements are presented. In particular, the analyzed rates show stable and low baseline values, compatible with the contribution of 40K light emission, with a small percentage of light bursts due to bioluminescence. All these features are a confirmation of the stability and good optical nature of the site.