LAGO Node in Antarctica
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Laboratory design and setting of water cherenkov detectors for the first
Antarctic node of the Latin American Giant observatory
A. M. Gulisano1;2;3, S. Dasso 2;3;4 ,J. J.Masas-Meza3, H. Asorey 5,6, H. Arnaldi 5, X. Bertou 5,
M.Gmez Berisso 5, M. Gonzalez 5, I. Sidelnik 5, M. Sofo-Haro 5 for the LAGO collaboration 7,
H. Ochoa1 and E. Calvio1
1 Instituto Antrtico Argentino (DNA), Argentina2 Instituto de Astronoma y Fsica del Espacio, (IAFE,CONICET-UBA), Argentina3 Departamento de Fsica, FCEN-UBA, Argentina4 Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmsfera y los Ocanos FCEN-UBA, Argentina5 Laboratorio de Deteccin de Partculas y Radiacin (LabDPR), Centro Atmico Bariloche, e
Instituto Balseiro (CNEA/UnCUYO/CONICET), Bariloche, Argentina6 Grupo de Investigacin en Relatividad y Gravitacin (GIRG), Escuela de Fsica,
Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia7 The LAGO Project, see the full list of members and institutions at lagoproject.org/colab.html
ABSTRACTArgentine Antarctic Institute (IAA/DNA) have design and chosen an adequate setting for the joint projected installation of Water Cherenkov detectors in the Argentinean Marambio Station to be the first node of
the LAGO collaboration (Latin American Giant Observatory in Antarctica. Observations on the LAGO network have great importance in a topic of increasing interest in the World, Space Weather,
studying conditions near the Earth's atmosphere and space environment, which is crucial to understand the Sun-Earth coupling. LAGO operates a network of particle detectors based in the Cherenkov effect,
located in different parts of Latin America (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and recently Brazil). The LAGO network is recording the energy spectrum and the
integrated flux of atmospheric particles at several sites with different altitudes and geomagnetic rigidity cutoffs. The Antarctic continent has the unique advantage of combining infrastructure for location of
astroparticle detectors and low rigidity cutoffs that allow the arrival of cosmic rays that cannot reach another LAGO nodes, bringing information linked to physical processes related to space weather. These
studies have important relevance to the scientific community in Space Physics for the study on the arrival of cosmic rays in terrestrial environment, properties and anisotropy of solar wind measurements from
ground, the influence of the solar cycle in the arrival of cosmic rays at the Earth, etc. The measured data will be compared with this node recorded in situ with satellite data, creating a synergy that will gain
significant knowledge in this discipline. On the other hand, this is a special time to undertake this type of study because of the phase of the solar cycle in progress, where a greater amount of solar energy events
are expected , with the possibility of reaching the vicinity of the Earth and be detected in polar areas. A lot of these events can only be observed by the Antarctic node
Marambio Station (Lat. 64
1424.96" S, Long. 56
3730.34" W), (196 m a.s.l.).
Taking into account:
Gateway accesibility
Permafrost characteristics
Ultraviolet transparency
measurements of different
water sources
Optimal construction materials
and assembly
Scientific Objectives of the LAGO
Antarctic Node:
Study of cosmic rays (CRs) as tracers of Space
Weather:
Transport of CR in the heliosphere
Sources of background radiation
Solar Modulation of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR)
Magnetic reconnection in the Magnetosphere
Sun-Earth-Human Life connection
Atmospheric radiation at ground and flight level
Laboratory
location
Scientific
Pavilion
Connected
to
gateway
West
North East
Laboratory
location
Connected to
gateway
Due to the low temperatures during winter the Water
Cherenkov Detector (WCD) should be isolated to avoid
the uncontrolled freezing of the water and the consequent
lost in sensitivity. To do this, we designed a facility where
the WCD will be allocated. The laboratory design allow
the installation of up to three WCD and additional
equipment, while in this first stage only two WCD will be
deployed.
WATER CHERENKOV DETECTOR (WCD) MAIN FEATURES:
Side View of the LAGO Antarctic facility. The whole
structure, will be anchored to the permafrost with a depth of at
least 1 meter. The steel base will be elevated 1 m from ground,
to diminish the impact of
snow accumulation.
LABORATORY :
Pictures showing the planned location for the laboratory at Marambio Station
LOCATION SELECTED FOR THE FIRST ANTARCTIC NODE:
Sensitivity to charged secondary particles and (mainly through pairs
production (e-,e+))
Made of Commercial water tanks + internal reflective and diffusive bag
Associated electronics + Photo multiplier
Internal structure for the
WCD difussive bag.
One of the typical Water Cherenkov Detectors of the LAGO
project
Numerical simulations
for Marambio site :
Asymptotic directions (projected on the Earth's
surface) for 15 zenith incidence and eight
incidence azimuth values (45,90,...,360) at the
LAGO Marambio site. For this calculation we use
the International Geomagnetic Reference Field
(IGRF10) for the Earth magnetic field including
the effects of the solar wind over the main
magnetospheric current systems using the
Tsyganenko 2001 (TSY01) model. The symbol *
marks the position of particles arrival.
(J. Masas-Meza & S. Dasso Sun and Geosphere,
2014)
The Dst index is a good proxy to determine the
activity of the magnetosphere, and it is frequently
used to quantify the intensity of the so-called
geomagnetic storms, which are strong
geomagnetic disturbances, which typically last
~ten hours. The rigidity of a particle is R=cp/q,
with c the speed of light and q the electric charge
of the particle. An effective Rc can be computed
for a given location and the dependence of Rc with
Dst is such that for active geomagnetic activity,
lower energetic particles can reach ground level,
compared to the quiet conditions.
Evolution of the Effective cutoff rigidities as a function of the Dst
index; the linear decreasing rate is of Rc/Dst=-0.001GV/nT at
Buenos Aires and Rc/Dst=-0.003GV/nT at Marambio.
(J. Masas-Meza & S. Dasso, Sun and Geosphere, 2014)
WHAT IS LAGO?:
Latin American Giant
Observatory A very long baseline
array of water Cherenkov
detectors (WCD)
86 members from 28 institutions at 9
Latin American countries: Argentina,
Bolivia, Brasil,Colombia, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Mxico, Per, Venezuela.
Scientific goals:
The Extreme Universe, gamma
ray bursts and the Knees of the
Cosmic Rays Spectrum
Study transient and long term
Space Weather phenomena trough
Solar modulation (SM) of Cosmic
Rays (CR)
Measurements of background
radiation at ground level
Academic goals:
Train latin-american students in
H.E. and Astroparticle techniques
(including space weather )
Build a Latin-American network
of Astroparticle researchers
Forbush decrease measured
by one single LAGO detector
on March 8th, 2012.
Intercomparison with the
Auger Observatory scalers
measurements and a Neutron
monitor at Rome.
(H. Asorey for the LAGO
Collaboration, in Proc. 33th
ICRC, Rio de Janerio, p 1109
Vol 3, 2013)
Location of the current
and future LAGO
sites. The color code
show if the site is
currently operational
(green), will be
deployed in the near
future (yellow, 2014-
2015), or if the site is
under evaluation (red)
to hold a WCD of the
LAGO network of
detectors