HELYCON

Hellenic

Lyeum

Cosmic

Observatories

Network

Developing and Constructing

An Extensive Air Shower Detector

Antonis Leisos

Hep2006-Ioannina

Hellenic Open University

University of Patras

University of Athens

National technical University

NRCPS “Demokritos”

Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum

The Concept

• primary mass

• energy

• age, Xmax

• space angle

• shower core

Single Station

GPSScintillator-PMTScintillator-PMT

Scintillator-PMT

DAQ

~20 m

1 m2

Single Station Set-Up

Triangulation

Shower Direction

Multi Station Set upGPS Synchronisation

The HELYCON Scintillation Module

Scintillator 2

Scintillator 3

GPS timestamp

Station Server

Prototype Construction

10 x 12 cm tiles

80 tiles ~ 0.96 m2

12 WLS fibers per row

Single PMT read out

Scintillators & WLS fibers

WLS fibers: Bicron (BCF-91A)

Light attenuation length: 330cm

Scintillators :

Protvino (Russia) Emission spectrum:420 nm Decay time 2 ns

PMT Testing

Photonis XP-1912Standard, 10-stage, 19 mm (3/4") round tube

Detector Testing

DAQ

GPS Input

USB PortTrigger Ouput4 PMT Signal Inputs

25ps accuracy TDC

DAQ•Handles 4-channels

•Adjustable PMT Thresholds

•Relative Arrival times < 1ns

•Estimates Pulse sizes (TOT) and Shapes

•Synchronization with GPS ~ 25ns

•Digital Interface to PC

•Slow Controls & Environmental Monitoring

HPTDC

• 32 channels (LR) – 8 Channels (HR)

•25ps (HR) to 800 ps (LR) accuracy

•Self Calibrating

GPS

(Motorola M12+Timing Oncore)

• 25 ns UTC accuracy can be better (up to 5ns)

Software Tools

CORSICA(Extensive Air Shower

Simulation)

GEANT4(Scintillation, WLS & PMT response)

Software Tools

DAQSIM(DAQ Simulation)

HOUANA(Analysis &

Track Reconstruction)

Time (ns)

Height (mV)

Zentih (degrees)

Monte Carlo Studies• Reconstruction of Shower Direction

• Reconstruction of the Shower Core

Properties

Vertical Proton Showers (106-107 GeV)

Distance from core (m)

Particles/m2

Monte Carlo StudiesNeeded corrections

curvature

thickness

ns after 1st particle

Core distance>500m

Monte Carlo Studies

Time Delay (ns)

Distance from core (mm)

Time Spread (ns)

Distance from core (mm)

Some Corrections (thickness)

Vertical Proton Showers (106-107 GeV)

Monte Carlo Studies

Θrec-Θtrue Pull

Single Station Performance

Vertical Proton Showers (106-107 GeV)

Monte Carlo Studies

Distance from core (m) Distance from core (m)

Reconstruction efficiency Resolution (degrees)

Single Station Performance

Vertical Proton Showers (106-107 GeV)

SQC (σθ=6.4) SQC (σθ=6.4)

Monte Carlo StudiesExamples of a 3-Station Performance

(Crude Analysis)

Vertical Proton Showers (106-107 GeV)

Threshold Charge (pes)

Resolution per reconstructed track (degrees)

HELYCON Online Control & Data Analysis Package

control

real time monitor

shower reconstruction

data analysis

real data & data summary storage

graphics & presenter

Time SchedulePrototype detector full test

(PMT and Scintillator)

May 2006

Production & test of 15 detectors

July 2006 (2 detectors per week)

Electronics Testing May-June 2006 (the prototype is currently tested)

DAQ Test + Detectors July-September 2006

Online Software-Analysis Tools-Reconstruction Strategy Development

-September 2006

3 station Run Autumn 2006

HELYCON in Patras

1019 eV

1017 eV

1015 eV

2 km

Eurocosmics

The General Idea…

•Angular offset

•Efficiency

•Resolution

•Position

The Example of Amanda-Spase

30 stations (4 scint. 0.2 m2 in a triangular grid, 30m spacing)

B10 resolution 3.8 degrees

~4km

~20km

Very High Energy

Very High Zenith AngleExtreme low rate

Floating stations

(Sea Technology?)

The Concept

We propose a minimum of 3 stations with at least 3 m2 scintillator

detectors each

Monte Carlo StudiesExamples of a Multi-Station

Performance

(Crude Analysis)

Vertical Proton Showers (106-107 GeV)

Station Configuration

Not need for position holding

Resolution in determining a possible Angular Offset (degrees)-10 day operation

Number of stations