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Electronics and Timing for the AugerPrime Upgrade and Correlation of Starburst Galaxies with Arrival Directions of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays

Halliday, Robert Paul
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553599216169462

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Physics.
In this dissertation, we will describe work completed towards the Pierre Auger Observatory’s AugerPrime Upgrade as well as auxiliary timing work, hardware design and finally a test of correlations of Starburst Galaxies with the arrival directions of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). In the first three chapters, we review the history, observables and detection techniques of UHECR physics, both past and present. We then look at the future upgrade of Auger and give an in depth description of the firmware, software and hardware that make up the Upgraded Unified Board (UUB), which is to be at the heart of AugerPrime. A discussion of the scientific mechanisms and merits of event-by-event composition measurements is presented, and the necessity of a new board to support this is exposed. We then move into the precision timing implementation in AugerPrime, discussing GPS receiver selection and time-tagging system performance. We find that the timing resolution of the UUB is σ_det = 8.44 ± .15 ns, and confirm it using two methods. Subsequent to this, we discuss auxiliary timing projects which support Auger as well as the Cherenkov Telescope Array. Results are shown for an experiment to determine spatial correlations of GPS timing errors, and hardware for timing at CTA and in the Auger@TA cross calibration is described. In the final chapter of this work, we move on to examining the recent Starburst correlation result of the Auger Collaboration, and cross check this by invoking a magnetic field model and back-tracing the arrival directions of UHECRs seen by Auger. We test to see how likely it is that the observed UHECR sky is more correlated with the observed Starburst Galaxy (SBG) sky than an isotropically chosen set of random sources. The test shows a deviation from isotropy at the 1.6σ level. Finally, we describe future directions for SBG correlation tests.
Corbin Covault (Advisor)
John Ruhl (Committee Member)
Benjamin Monreal (Committee Member)
David Kazdan (Committee Member)
Astrophysics; Electrical Engineering; Particle Physics; Physics
Auger; Extensive Air Showers; AugerPrime; Time-tagging; Detector; detector electronics; detection electronics; GPS; timing; Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray; UHECR; Pierre Auger Observatory; Cherenkov Telescope Array; Telescope Array; Timing Instrumentation

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Halliday, R. P. (2019). Electronics and Timing for the AugerPrime Upgrade and Correlation of Starburst Galaxies with Arrival Directions of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553599216169462

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Halliday, Robert. Electronics and Timing for the AugerPrime Upgrade and Correlation of Starburst Galaxies with Arrival Directions of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553599216169462.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Halliday, Robert. "Electronics and Timing for the AugerPrime Upgrade and Correlation of Starburst Galaxies with Arrival Directions of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553599216169462

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1553599216169462
93
© 2019, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Electronics and Timing for the AugerPrime Upgrade and Correlation of Starburst Galaxies with Arrival Directions of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays by Robert Paul Halliday is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.