Abstract
At Mount Etna volcano, the focus point of persistent tectonic extension is represented by the Summit Craters. A muographic telescope has been installed at the base of the North-East Crater ...from August 2017 to October 2019, with the specific aim to find time related variations in the density of volcanic edifice. The results are significant, since the elaborated images show the opening and evolution of different tectonic elements; in 2017, a cavity was detected months before the collapse of the crater floor and in 2018 a set of underground fractures was identified, at the tip of which, in June 2019, a new eruptive vent started its explosive activity, still going on (February, 2020). Although this is the pilot experiment of the project, the results confirm that muography could be a turning point in the comprehension of the plumbing system of the volcano and a fundamental step forward to do mid-term (weeks/months) predictions of eruptions. We are confident that an increment in the number of telescopes could lead to the realization of a monitoring system, which would keep under control the evolution of the internal dynamic of the uppermost section of the feeding system of an active volcano such as Mount Etna.
Abstract
After its successful campaign of measurements beyond the Polar Arctic Circle, the PolarquEEEst experiment measured the cosmic charged particle rate at sea level in a latitude interval ...between 35
$$^{\circ }$$
∘
N and 82
$$^{\circ }$$
∘
N. In this paper, these measurements are described and the corresponding results are discussed.
The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga volcano in the South Pacific Ocean on January 15, 2022, at about 4:15 UTC, generated a violent explosion, which created atmospheric pressure disturbances in the form ...of Rayleigh-Lamb waves detected all over the globe. Here we discuss the observation of the Hunga-Tonga shock-wave performed at the Ny-Ålesund Research Station on the Spitsbergen island, by the detectors of the PolarquEEEst experiment and their ancillary sensors. Online pressure data as well as the results of dedicated offline analysis are presented and discussed in details. Results include wave arrival times, wave amplitude measurements and wave velocity calculation. We observed five passages of the shock wave with a significance larger than 3 Formula: see text and an amplitude up to 1 hPa. The average propagation velocity resulted to be (308 ± 0.6) m/s. Possible effects of the atmospheric pressure variation associated with the shock-wave multiple passages on the cosmic-ray rate at ground level are also investigated. We did not find any significant evidence of this effect.
This paper describes the simulation framework of the extreme energy events (EEE) experiment. EEE is a network of cosmic muon trackers, each made of three multi-gap resistive plate chambers (MRPC), ...able to precisely measure the absolute muon crossing time and the muon integrated angular flux at the ground level. The response of a single MRPC and the combination of three chambers have been implemented in a GEANT4-based framework (GEMC) to study the telescope response. The detector geometry, as well as details about the surrounding materials and the location of the telescopes have been included in the simulations in order to realistically reproduce the experimental set-up of each telescope. A model based on the latest parametrization of the cosmic muon flux has been used to generate single muon events. After validating the framework by comparing simulations to selected EEE telescope data, it has been used to determine detector parameters not accessible by analysing experimental data only, such as detection efficiency, angular and spatial resolution.
The MEV project aims at developing a muon telescope expressly designed for the muography of Etna Volcano. In particular, one of the active craters in the summit area of the volcano would be a ...suitable target for this experiment. A muon tracking telescope with high imaging resolution was built and tested during 2017. The telescope is a tracker based on extruded scintillating bars with WLS fibers and featuring an innovative read-out architecture. It is composed of 3×1m2 XY planes; the angular resolution does not exceeds 0.4msr and the total angular aperture is about ±45∘. A special effort concerned the design of mechanics and electronics in order to meet the requirements of a detector capable to work in a hostile environment such as the top of a tall volcano, at a far distance from any facility. The test phase started in January 2017 and ended successfully at the end of July 2017. An extinct volcanic crater (the Monti Rossi, in the village of Nicolosi, about 15 km from Catania) was the target of the measurement. The detector acquired data for about 120 days and the preliminary results are reported in this work.
The goal of the PolarquEEEst experiment was to measure the cosmic charged particle rate at latitudes greater than 66
∘
N, where no systematic and accurate measurements at sea level have ever been ...performed. A latitude range well above the Arctic Circle was explored on board of a sailboat, up to the unprecedented northernmost value of
82
∘
07
′
N. In this paper a description of the experimental set-up is reported, then the procedures for calibration and data analysis are described in detail. The results show that the rate measured in this latitude range stays constant within a novel accuracy of
±
1
%.
The Muon Portal Project has built a prototype of a real size detector (6m×3m×7 m) for the inspection of containers by muon tomography. This technique may provide 2D and 3D images of the interior of a ...container, to identify the presence of high-Z materials. In the present Project, 4800 extruded scintillator strips were arranged such as to cover four X–Y detection planes (6m×3 m), two placed above and two below the container to be inspected. Silicon photomultipliers were used as photosensors, to collect the light transported by Wave Length Shifter (WLS) fibres embedded in the scintillator strips. First tomographic images are here presented.
The ecological transition of the extreme energy events experiment Abbrescia, M.; Avanzini, C.; Baldini, L. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
10/2023, Letnik:
1055
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The need for reducing the emission of gases, potentially contributing to the greenhouse effect and climate change, has impacted many fields, including scientific research. The Extreme Energy Event ...(EEE) collaboration started, already several years ago, a series of tests aiming at finding a more eco-friendly replacement for the gases used in the Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs) of its network.
These tests identified a promising binary gas mixture, and data taking has begun with a subset of the telescopes of the EEE network, making EEE the first experiment in the world completely implemented with MRPCs and operating with an eco-friendly gas mixture. Here the results of the tests and a preliminary comparison of the telescope performance measured with the standard (non eco-friendly) and the new eco-friendly gas mixtures are presented and discussed.
Studies on new Eco-gas mixtures for Extreme Energy Events Project Bossini, E.; Abbrescia, M.; Avanzini, C. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
01/2023, Letnik:
1046
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) experiment, a joint project of the Centro Fermi and INFN Italian national research institutes, has a dual purpose: a scientific research program for measurements of ...the cosmic rays flux at ground level and an intense outreach and educational program with an active contribution of students and teachers in the construction and operation of the detectors in High Schools. The network counts 60 tracking detectors, each made by three Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC), operated so far with a gas mixture composed by 98% C2H2F4 and 2% SF6. Given its high Global Warming Potential (GWP), the collaboration, since few years, started a R&D on alternative mixtures environmentally sustainable. Latest results on a C3H2F4 + He eco-friendly mixture are here presented.
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