Development of a Large-Area Aerogel Cherenkov Counter Onboard BESS

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a threshold type aerogel Cherenkov counter with a large sensitive area of 0.6 m${}^2$ to be carried onboard the BESS rigidity spectrometer to detect cosmic-ray antiprotons. The design incorporates a large diffusion box containing 46 finemesh photomultipliers, with special attention being paid to achieving good performance under a magnetic field and providing sufficient endurance while minimizing material usage. The refractive index of the aerogel was chosen to be 1.03. By utilizing the muons and protons accumulated during the cosmic-ray measurements at sea level, a rejection factor of 10${}^4$ was obtained against muons with $\beta \approx 1$, while keeping 97% efficiency for protons below the threshold.

arXiv comment13 pages, LaTex, 9 eps figures included, submitted to NIM A

References in corpus (5)

• Study of a Threshold Cherenkov Counter Based on Silica Aerogels with Low Refractive Indices
• Local Flux of Low-Energy Antiprotons from Evaporating Primordial Black Holes
• Expected Enhancement of the Primary Antiproton Flux at the Solar Minimum
• Feasibility Study of Single-Photon Counting Using a Fine-mesh Phototube for an Aerogel Readout
• Monte-Carlo Simulation for an Aerogel Cherenkov Counter

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Precise Measurement of Cosmic-Ray Proton and Helium Spectra with the BESS Spectrometer
• Precision Measurement of Cosmic-Ray Antiproton Spectrum
• Measurements of Primary and Atmospheric Cosmic-Ray Spectra with the BESS-TeV Spectrometer
• Measurements of 0.2 to 20 GeV/n cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra from 1997 through 2002 with the BESS spectrometer
• Measurements of Cosmic-ray Low-energy Antiproton and Proton Spectra in a Transient Period of the Solar Field Reversal
• Successive Measurements of Cosmic-Ray Antiproton Spectrum in a Positive Phase of the Solar Cycle
• Measurement of the cosmic-ray antiproton spectrum at solar minimum with a long-duration balloon flight over Antarctica
• Search for Cosmic-Ray Antideuterons
• Precise Measurements of Atmospheric Muon Fluxes with the BESS Spectrometer
• Hydrophobic silica aerogel production at KEK
• Measurements of Proton, Helium and Muon Spectra at Small Atmospheric Depths with the BESS Spectrometer
• Measurements of atmospheric muon spectra at mountain altitude
• Large-Area Scintillator Hodoscope with 50 ps Timing Resolution Onboard BESS
• The aerogel threshold Cherenkov detector for the High Momentum Spectrometer in Hall C at Jefferson Lab
• Measurement of Cosmic-Ray Proton and Antiproton Spectra at Mountain Altitude
• Measurement of low-energy antiproton detection efficiency in BESS below 1 GeV
• Experimental study of a proximity focusing Cherenkov counter prototype for the AMS experiment
• Measurements of Atmospheric Antiprotons