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A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

Explore educational and outreach activities in cosmic ray physics through a low-cost, reconfigurable mini-array facility. Learn modern physics, particle detectors, data analysis, and simulation techniques. Engage students from high school to graduate level. Participate in the EEE Project and conduct research on extensive air shower detection.

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A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

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  1. A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics Ghent – July 12th 2019 Chiara Pinto, University and INFN Catania

  2. Outline • Educational & Outreach activities with cosmicrayphysics in Catania • The mini-array project • The experimental setup • Preliminary tests • Conclusions C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  3. Education & Outreach with cosmicrayphysics Educational experiments with cosmic rays provide a nice opportunity to learn about: ● Modern physics ● Particle detectors ● Data analysis ● Simulation techniques … Student involvement is expected at all levels, from high school to university undergraduate and graduate. Our group is involved in several activities concerning cosmic rays physics, from local initiatives to the participation to a large international Collaboration (The EEE Project). C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  4. Currentactivities Participation to the EEE Project Build@CERN and operate@Home MRPC telescopes (~ 60 sites in Italy) EEE Regular meetings with students and teachers Data analysis sessions (see also talk by P. La Rocca on Sat. 13th in AstroparticlePhysics session) Educational measurements of the secondarycosmicradiation with small detectors Muondecay, altitudedependence, angulardistributions, solar effects,.. Bachelortheses, educational papers in PhysicsJournals,.. Outreachactivities in the metropolitan and regional (Sicily) area Town public events (Researchers Night, Open Labs,…) High school involvement of >1000 students in Sicily C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  5. The mini-array project A project to be employed for educational, outreach and research activities concerned with extensive air shower detection • A low costfacility • Easilyreconfigurable and transportable array Main features: ● Based on small scintillators with WLS and SiPM readout ● Number of modules ~ 50 in the final stage (30 already operational) ● DAQ, Trigger and GPS stamping with an Arduino board ● On-line and off-line coincidence with other detectors C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  6. Detectionmodule Extrudedscintillatortile20 x 20 x 1 cm3 1 x 1 x 20 cm3 WLS bar • GOALS: • Low dark rate count • High threshold • High efficiency SiPMAdvansid 4x4 mm2 or SiPM Hamamatsu 6x6 mm2 • Light-tight box with: • Fast front-end amplifier • Discriminator/ TTL shaper • Power supply P. La Rocca et al., 2019 JINST 14 T01003 C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  7. GEANT4 simulations Light collection efficiency → evaluated by GEANT4 simulation. Full GEANT4 simulations of the transport of optical photons inside the scintillator and WLS material carried out. Yield of collected photons and mechanisms of photon loss investigated under different conditions. P. La Rocca et al., 2018 JINST 13 P10013 C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  8. Electronics and data acquisition TTL signals from each module are sent to the digital inputs of an Arduino MEGA board. Arduino MEGA Digital Inputs Fast digital readout →around 800 ns per channel. GPS Time Stamping Information: 1 PPS + internal 16 MHz Arduino clock. Temp & Press. sensors 1 PPS + Data Signals GPS Antenna GPS Module C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  9. Moduleefficiency Detection efficiency measured against a 3-fold coincidence trigger: First modules → equipped with 4x4 mm2AdvansidSiPMs, detection efficiencies between 35% and 70% New modules → 6x6 mm2 Hamamatsu SiPMs, efficiencies close to 100% A C D B A●B●C●D εC = A●B●D C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  10. Experimental setup duringcommissioning • Data taking period: ~ 13 days Acquisition trigger: atleast 3-fold coincidences • Geometry: 30 modules in a hexagonal configuration over an area of ~ 50 m2, with a pitch of 1.5 m • Whetherconditionvariations: T: 14° C - 20° C; p: 990 mbar – 1010 mbar C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  11. A big Lecture Hall in our Department devoted for 2 weeks to commissioning measurements. • Student visits and on site lectures. • Demonstrations also with additional detectors (Geiger, cloud chambers, …). C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  12. Event display of real data → High multiplicitycoincidencesobserved → Evidence of extensive air shower C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  13. Showerreconstruction: multiplicitydistributions Rawmultiplicitydistribution • Acquisition rate ~0.30 Hz (m>3 ~ 0.05 Hz). • Average inclusive multiplicity ~ 3.6. • Coincidences between a large number of modules detected. • Related to muondensity C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  14. Coincidence with other detectors The availability of the GPS time stamping of events allows to study off-line coincidences with other detectors Coincidence time spectrum between the mini-array and an additional detector at 15 m distance • About 1.5 days data taking • Coincidences were extracted by the GPS information from the two detectors. • About 400 coincidences observed • Time resolution~ 15 μs C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  15. Coincidencemultiplicitydistributions → Exclusivemeasurementsselectlargermuondensities. • Averageinclusive multiplicity~ 3.6 • Averagecoincidencemultiplicity~ 6.5 C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  16. Conclusions • Summary A low-cost, easilyreconfigurable and modular array built and commissioned New possibilities for local educational & outreachinitiatives in cosmicrayphysics • Educational Impact Student involvement at all levels, from high school to university undergraduate and graduate: • Construction and testing of modules→ high school students in the school internship context • Bachelorstudenttheses • Upgrade of the setup, data taking and analysis→ part of PhD curriculum • Physics topics of interest for future studies • Study of inclinedshowers • Measurement of the decoherence curve • Investigation of extensive air showeratdifferentaltitudes • Systematic study of coincidences with other detectors • Investigation of specifictopologieswithin the array … C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  17. Educational papers from ouractivity • PhysicsEducation40(2005)461 • PhysicsEducation41(2006)204 • N.CimentoC29(2006)381 • Eur. J. Phys. 28(2007)913 • Eur. J. Phys. 29(2008)355 • PhysicsEducation43(2008)536 • Eur. J. Phys. 30(2009)685 • Eur. J. Phys. 32(2011)329 • Eur. J. Phys. 33(2012)539 • Eur. J. Phys. 33(2012)1207 • NIM A764(2014)142 • Eur. J. Phys. 37(2016)045702 • JINST 13(2018)P10013 • JINST 14(2019) T01003 For a list of additionalpapers (~40) of the EEE Collaboration seehttps://eee.centrofermi.it/research/pubblicazioni C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  18. Back-up slides C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  19. k-foldcoincidences • The probability to measure a k-fold coincidence between k given detectors is very small. • The overall effect of many detector combinations allows to measure a reasonable number of events. C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  20. k-foldcombinations The expectedspurious rate between k coincident detectors depends on the assumed coincidence window ∆t and on the individual rates of the detectors. →number of k-fold combinations over 30 modules →expected rate of spurious assuming a rate of 20 Hz and ∆t=30 μs →most of the residual spurious rate comes from 3-fold coincidences C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  21. Low cost? BASE COST: • SiPMbias supply 200 Euro • Arduino MEGA 50 Euro • PC 1000 Euro • GPS Engine 200 Euro • Sensors 30 Euro ------- Total -------- 500 Euro (For 30 Modules, 50 Euro/Module) ROUGH COST ESTIMATE PER MODULE: • SiPM (6x6 mm2) 100 Euro • Scintillator 60 Euro • WLS bar 60 Euro • Amplifier board 100 Euro • Discrim/shaper 50 Euro • Power supply 20 Euro • Cables, connectors 40 Euro • Light-tight box 20 Euro • Mechanics, consum 20 Euro ------- Total ------- 470 Euro C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

  22. Detectionmodule C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics C. Pinto - A low cost reconfigurable mini-array facility for (under)graduate studies in cosmic ray physics

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