A Neutron Detector Ground-Based Facility for Detecting the Neutral Component of Cosmic Rays
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ICAL INSTRUMENTS FOR ECOLOGY, MEDICINE, AND BIOLOGY
A Neutron Detector Ground-Based Facility for Detecting the Neutral Component of Cosmic Rays M. V. Philippova,*, V. S. Makhmutova, Yu. I. Stozhkova, O. S. Maksumova, J.-P. Raulinb, and J. Taczab a Lebedev
Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991 Russia b Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, EE, CRAAM, Sao Paulo, Brazil *e-mail: [email protected]
Received March 26, 2020; revised April 26, 2020; accepted April 27, 2020
Abstract—The Neutron Detector facility for detecting the neutral component of cosmic rays has been developed by the Dolgoprudny Scientific Station of the Lebedev Physical Institute. The description and performance characteristics of the facility are presented. Each module of the facility is based on SNM-18 counters. Unlike standard neutron monitors, this facility is sensitive to thermal neutrons. The integration time of the counters is 1 ms. The function of continuous monitoring of meteorological data and data on the state of the supply voltages of the facility has been created. The results of the barometric-coefficient determination for the Neutron Detector facility and the analysis of the first experimental data are also presented. DOI: 10.1134/S0020441220050292
INTRODUCTION Neutrons are part of secondary cosmic rays, level, which are produced by interactions of nuclei of primary cosmic rays with the atmosphere [1, 2]. Solar flares and radioactivity of terrestrial rocks can also be neutron sources in the atmosphere and its surface layer. Possible correlations of neutron-flux variations with the thunderstorm activity in the surface atmosphere and with the seismic activity have been actively investigated in recent years [3–6]. A hardware−software complex that includes three detecting modules of the Neutron Detector (ND) facility was developed by the Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) in 2014 within international cooperation with scientists from Brazil and Argentina. The neutron detector of the PAMELA research module is a prototype of the ND modules. This facility was put into continuous operation at the CASLEO astronomical complex in Argentina (31.47°S, 69.17°W, altitude 2550 m above sea level; geomagnetic cutoff rigidity Rc = 9.8 GV) in May 2015 [7, 8]. A similar facility consisting of one ND module was commissioned at the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan, 51.10° S, 71.26° W; Rc = 2.9 GV) in late 2017. The first ND module was been put in continuous operation on the territory of the Dolgoprudny Scien-
tific Station of the LPI (Dolgoprudny, Moscow oblast, 55.56° S, 37.3° W; Rc = 2.12 GV) in 2019.
716
Neutron counters
+1500 V
Anode pulses
±5 V
Board of shaping amplifiers
Shaped pulses
Telemetry
Power-supply and telemetry board
Interface unit +12 V, +5 V
Fig. 1. The block diagram of a single ND module.
A NEUTRON DETECTOR GROUND-BASED FACILITY R2
R1
0.1 μF
+
R3 50 МΩ 2
C1 470 pF U1
0.1 μF
100 kΩ +5 V
10 kΩ
HV
717
3
–
7
+
4
DA2 C2 0.1 μF R6 2 kΩ
6
–5
1 5
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