Aims. Radio observations have shown that galaxy clusters are giant reservoirs of cosmic rays (CR). Although a gamma-ray signal from the cluster volume is expected to arise through interactions of CR ...protons with the ambient plasma, a confirming observation is still missing. Methods. We searched for a cumulative gamma-ray emission in the direction of galaxy clusters by analysing a collection of stacked Fermi-LAT count maps. Additionally, we investigated possible systematic differences in the emission between cool-core and non-cool-core cluster populations. Results. Making use of a sample of 53 clusters selected from the HIFLUGCS catalog, we do not detect a significant signal from the stacked sample. The upper limit on the average flux per cluster derived for the total stacked sample is at the level of a few 10-11 ph cm-2 s-1 at a 95% confidence level in the 1–300 GeV band, assuming power-law spectra with photon indices 2.0, 2.4, 2.8, and 3.2. Separate stacking of the cool-core and non-cool-core clusters in the sample lead to similar values of around 5 × 10-11 ph cm-2 s-1 and 2 × 10-11 ph cm-2 s-1, respectively. Conclusions. Under the assumption that decaying π0, produced in collisions between CRs and the ambient thermal gas, are responsible for gamma-ray emission, we set upper limits on the average CR content in galaxy clusters. For the entire cluster population, our upper limit on the gamma-ray flux translates into an upper limit on the average CR-to-thermal energy ratio of 4.6% for a photon index of 2.4, although it is possible for individual systems to exceed this limit. Our 95% upper limits are at the level expected from numerical simulations, which most likely suggests that the injection of CR at cosmological shocks is less efficient than previously assumed.
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a future gamma-ray observatory that is planned to significantly improve upon the sensitivity and precision of the current generation of Cherenkov telescopes. ...The observatory will consist of several dozens of telescopes with different sizes and equipped with different types of cameras. Of these, the FlashCam camera system is the first to implement a fully digital signal processing chain which allows for a traceable, configurable trigger scheme and flexible signal reconstruction. As of autumn 2016, a prototype FlashCam camera for the medium-sized telescopes of CTA nears completion. First results of the ongoing system tests demonstrate that the signal chain and the readout system surpass CTA requirements. The stability of the system is shown using long-term temperature cycling.
•A full-scale prototype of the FlashCam Cherenkov camera is in operation.•System level testing and characterisation in a dark room is ongoing.•The performances of the data acquisition and the signal chain have been verified.•The system is stable over long periods and robust against temperature variations.
In the past few years gas insulated high voltage circuit breakers have improved considerably, in particular with respect to required drive energy for operation, compactness and reliability. A further ...reduction in size implies increasing operational field stress inside the breaker and, thus, a reduction in built-in safety margins. If the design comes closer to its physical limits, in particular the dielectric coordination of the contact systems becomes more and more challenging. The aim of the present work is to identify factors that may influence the dielectric coordination of contact systems with reduced coordination margin. The breakdown probability distribution of SF 6 insulated multi-contact systems was investigated with the focus on two aspects. First of all, the breakdown probabilities under lightning impulse (LI) stress were measured. These indicated that it is not feasible to extrapolate the breakdown probability curves of single contacts to a combined full contact system. Secondly, the findings on the same contact system stressed with very fast transient voltages (VFT) showed a considerable reduction in breakdown voltage and suggested a significant increase in the main contact breakdown probability, compared to the LI tests. The results and interpretation within this work identified the polarity and voltage shape dependent breakdown initiation of different contacts as causes for circuit breaker contact system failure.
In 2006, a final result of a measurement of the gravi- tational constant G performed by researchers at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, was published. A value of G=6.674252(122)×10−11 m3 kg−1 ...s−2 was obtained after an experimental effort that lasted over one decade. Here, we briefly summarize the measurement and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.
We have produced hydrogen-free diamond-like carbon (DLC) films by vacuum arc deposition for use as wall coating material in ultracold neutron (UCN) applications. The sp
3 fraction, the main quality ...factor for DLC used in UCN applications, was varied from 0.4 to 0.9, the coating thickness between 10 nm and 120 nm. The samples were characterized by using X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopy (XANES), X-ray induced Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Laser induced surface Acoustic Waves (LAwave), cold neutron reflectometry and Raman spectroscopy at visible excitation wavelength. We observe reasonable agreement between the different results for film thicknesses below 20 nm. For larger thickness, we find that the surface-sensitive methods XPS and XANES yield smaller sp
3 fractions (by up to 20%) than the bulk-sensitive LAwave, being consistent with the assumption of a lower-density surface layer on a nominal-density bulk layer.
We report a measurement of the reflection of ultracold neutrons from flat, large-area plates of different Fermi potential materials with low surface roughness. The results were used to test two ...diffuse reflection models, the well-known Lambert model and the micro-roughness model which is based on wave scattering. The Lambert model fails to reproduce the diffuse reflection data. The surface roughness
b
and correlation length
w
, obtained by fitting the micro-roughness model to the data are in the range 1
b
3 nm and 10
w
120 nm, in qualitative agreement with independent measurements using atomic force microscopy.
A combination is presented of all inclusive deep inelastic cross sections previously published by the H1 and ZEUS collaborations at HERA for neutral and charged current $e^{\pm}p$ scattering for zero ...beam polarisation. The data were taken at proton beam energies of 920, 820, 575 and 460 GeV and an electron beam energy of 27.5 GeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 1 fb$^{-1}$ and span six orders of magnitude in negative four-momentum-transfer squared, $Q^2$, and Bjorken $x$. The correlations of the systematic uncertainties were evaluated and taken into account for the combination. The combined cross sections were input to QCD analyses at leading order, next-to-leading order and at next-to-next-to-leading order, providing a new set of parton distribution functions, called HERAPDF2.0. In addition to the experimental uncertainties, model and parameterisation uncertainties were assessed for these parton distribution functions. Variants of HERAPDF2.0 with an alternative gluon parameterisation, HERAPDF2.0AG, and using fixed-flavour-number schemes, HERAPDF2.0FF, are presented. The analysis was extended by including HERA data on charm and jet production, resulting in the variant HERAPDF2.0Jets. The inclusion of jet-production cross sections made a simultaneous determination of these parton distributions and the strong coupling constant possible, resulting in $\alpha_s(M_Z)=0.1183 \pm 0.0009 {\rm(exp)} \pm 0.0005{\rm (model/parameterisation)} \pm 0.0012{\rm (hadronisation)} ^{+0.0037}_{-0.0030}{\rm (scale)}$. An extraction of $xF_3^{\gamma Z}$ and results on electroweak unification and scaling violations are also presented.
It seems generally accepted that HVDC technology is to become increasingly relevant in power systems. With this expected future advance of HVDC, the use of gas insulated switchgear or lines for dc ...application are getting increasingly interesting. As in the case of dc the electric fields are determined resistively in contrast to the capacitive fields in the case of ac, gas insulated technology has to be revisited. In many previous works surface charging of model spacers was investigated. However, the ion flow problem to properly account for the electric conduction in the gas has not yet been solved. Further, no combination with inhomogeneous electric conductivity determined for example by temperature profiles from ohmic heating in nominal condition has been performed so far. In this paper, the gas conductivity arising from ions produced by natural radiation is computed by solving the ion flow field problem, and its role is compared to spacer bulk conductivities. Further, the impact of temperature profiles on spacer charging is investigated. The results indicate that for actual disc spacers, the spacer bulk conductivity is more important than that from the gas ionized by natural radiation. Especially in the case of polarity reversal, thermally enhanced spacer charging can result in considerable increase of tangential field strengths.
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