Simulation study of the performance of the Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope

The Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope(VLAST)is a mission concept proposed to detect gamma-ray photons through both Compton scattering and electron–positron pair production mechanisms,thus enabling the detection of photons with energies ranging from MeV to TeV.This project aims to conduct a comprehensive survey of the gamma-ray sky from a low-Earth orbit using an anti-coincidence detector,a tracker detector that also serves as a low-energy calorimeter,and a high-energy imaging calorimeter.We developed a Monte Carlo simulation application of the detector using the GEANT4 toolkit to evaluate the instrument performance,including the effective area,angular resolution,and energy resolution,and explored specific optimizations of the detector configuration.Our simulation-based analysis indicates that the current design of the VLAST is physically feasible,with an acceptance above 10 m^(2)sr which is four times larger than that of the Fermi-LAT,an energy resolution better than 2%at 10 GeV,and an angular resolution better than 0.2◦at 10 GeV.The VLAST project promises to make significant contributions to the field of gamma-ray astronomy and enhance our understanding of the cosmos.

“悟空”号——空间宇宙线探测的中国利器

浩瀚宇宙中,除了恒星、行星等各种天体之外,还充斥着无数快速飞行的高能粒子,我们的地球无时无刻不在经受这些高能粒子流的轰击,它们被统称为宇宙线。宇宙线中最主要的粒子是质子,约占87%,其次是α粒子(氦核),约占12%,余下约1%是各种重原子核、少量电子、伽马光子以及微量反物质粒子(主要有正电子和反质子)。宇宙线能量范围横跨超过十一个量级,最高可达1020电子伏特(电子伏特为能量单位,记作eV,太阳发出的光子能量约为1eV)以上,远高于人类制造的大型粒子加速器加速粒子所获得的能量上限,是人类研究极端条件下天体环境和物理规律的重要信使,蕴藏着宇宙起源、天体演化等丰富信息。

Design of a high-dynamic-range prototype readout system for VLAST calorimeter

In the future, the Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope is expected to observe high-energy electrons and gamma rays in the MeV to TeV range with unprecedented acceptance. As part of the detector suite, a high-energy imaging calorimeter(HEIC) is currently being developed as a homogeneous calorimeter that utilizes long bismuth germanate(BGO) scintillation crystals as both absorbers and detectors. To accurately measure the energy deposition in the BGO bar of HEIC, a highdynamic-range readout method using a silicon photomultiplier(SiPM) and multiphotodiode(PD) with different active areas has been proposed. A prototype readout system that adopts multichannel charge measurement ASICs was also developed to read out the combined system of SiPMs and PDs. Preliminary tests confirmed the feasibility of the readout scheme, which is expected to have a dynamic range close to 10~6.

CsXDH1 gene promotes caffeine catabolism induced by continuous strong light in tea plant

Tea plant(Camellia sinensis)is an important cash crop with extensive adaptability in the world.However,complex environmental factors force a large variation of tea quality-related components.Caffeine is essential for the formation of bitter and fresh flavors in tea,and is the main compound of tea that improves human alertness.Continuous strong light stimulation was observed to cause caffeine reduction in tea leaves,but the mechanism is not clear.In this study,the response of tea plant to light intensity was analysed mainly by multi-omics association,antisense oligodeoxynucleotide(asODN)silencing technique,and in vitro enzyme activity assay.The results revealed multiple strategies for light intensity adaptation in tea plant,among which the regulation of chloroplasts,photosynthesis,porphyrin metabolism,and resistance to oxidative stress were prominent.Caffeine catabolism was enhanced in continuous strong light,which may be a light-adapted strategy due to strict regulation by xanthine dehydrogenase(XDH).asODN silencing and enzymatic activity assays confirmed that CsXDH1 is a protein induced by light intensity to catalyze the substrate xanthine.CsXDH1 asODN silencing resulted in significant up-regulation of both caffeine and theobromine in in vitro enzyme activity assay,but not in vivo.CsXDH1 may act as a coordinator in light intensity adaptation,thus disrupting this balance of caffeine catabolism.

Genetic basis of high aroma and stress toleranee in the oolong tea cultivar genome

Tea plants(Camellia sinensis)are commercially cultivated in>60 countries,and their fresh leaves are processed into tea,which is the most widely consumed beverage in the world.Although several chromosome-level tea plant genomes have been published,they collapsed the two haplotypes and ignored a large number of allelic variations that may underlie important biological functions in this species.Here,we present a phased chromosome-scale assembly for an elite oolong tea cultivar,"Huangdan",that is well known for its high levels of aroma.Based on the two sets of haplotype genome data,we identi fi ed numerous genetic variations and a substantial proportion of allelic imbalance related to important traits,including aroma-and stress-related alleles.Comparative genomics revealed extensive structural variations as well as expansion of some gene families,such as terpene synthases(TPSs),that likely contribute to the high-aroma characteristics of the backbone parent,underlying the molecular basis for the biosynthesis of aroma-related chemicals in oolong tea.Our results uncovered the genetic basis of special features of this oolong tea cultivar,providing fundamental genomic resources to study evolution and domestication for the economically important tea crop.

DmpIRFs and DmpST:DAMPE instrument response functions and science tools for gamma-ray data analysis

Observing GeV gamma-rays is an important goal of the DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)for indirect dark matter searching and high energy astrophysics. In this work, we present a set of accurate instrument response functions for DAMPE(DmpIRFs) including the effective area, point-spread function and energy dispersion, which are crucial for gamma-ray data analysis based on statistics from simulation data. A dedicated software named DmpST is developed to facilitate the scientific analyses of DAMPE gamma-ray data. Considering the limited number of photons and angular resolution of DAMPE, the maximum likelihood method is adopted in DmpST to better disentangle different source components. The basic mathematics and framework regarding this software are also introduced in this paper.

An algorithm to resolve γ-rays from charged cosmic rays with DAMPE

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer（DAMPE）,also known as Wukong in China,which was launched on 2015 December 17,is a new high energy cosmic ray and γ-ray satellite-borne observatory.One of the main scientific goals of DAMPE is to observe Ge V-Te V high energy γ-rays with accurate energy,angular and time resolution,to indirectly search for dark matter particles and for the study of high energy astrophysics. Due to the comparatively higher fluxes of charged cosmic rays with respect to γ-rays,it is challenging to identify γ-rays with sufficiently high efficiency,minimizing the amount of charged cosmic ray contamination. In this work we present a method to identify γ-rays in DAMPE data based on Monte Carlo simulations,using the powerful electromagnetic/hadronic shower discrimination provided by the calorimeter and the veto detection of charged particles provided by the plastic scintillation detector. Monte Carlo simulations show that after this selection the number of electrons and protons that contaminate the selected γ-ray events at～10 Ge V amounts to less than 1% of the selected sample.Finally,we use flight data to verify the effectiveness of the method by highlighting known γ-ray sources in the sky and by reconstructing preliminary light curves of the Geminga pulsar.

Chromatin accessibility and translational Iandscapes of tea plants under chilling stress

Plants have evolved regulatory mechanisms at multiple levels to regulate gene expression in order to improve their cold adaptability.However,limited information is available regarding the stress response at the chromatin and translational levels.Here,we characterize the chromatin accessibility,transcriptional,and translational landscapes of tea plants in vivo under chilling stress for the first time.Chilling stress signi ficantly affected both the transcription and translation levels as well as the translation efficiency of tea plants.A total of 3010 genes that underwent rapid and independent translation under chilling stress were observed,and they were signi ficantly enriched in the photosynthesis-antenna protein and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways.A set of genes that were signi ficantly responsive to cold at the transcription and translation levels,including four(+)-neomenthol dehydrogenases(MNDs)and two(E)-nerolidol synthases(NESs)arranged in tandem on the chromosomes,were also found.We detected potential upstream open reading frames(uORFs)on 3082 genes and found that tea plants may inhibit the overall expression of genes by enhancing the translation of uORFs under chilling stress.In addition,we identi fied distal transposase hypersensitive sites(THSs)and proximal THSs and constructed a transcriptional regulatory network for tea plants under chilling stress.We also identi fied 13 high-con fidence transcription factors(TFs)that may play a crucial role in cold regulation.These results provide valuable information regarding the potential transcriptional regulatory network in plants and help to clarify how plants exhibit flexible responses to chilling stress.

Calibration and performance of the neutron detector onboard of the DAMPE mission

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE),one of the four space-based scientific missions within the framework of the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,was successfully launched on 2015 Dec.17 from Jiuquan launch center.One of the most important scientific goals of DAMPE is to search for evidence of dark matter indirectly by measuring the spectrum of high energy cosmic-ray electrons.The neutron detector,one of the four sub-payloads of DAMPE,is designed to distinguish high energy electrons from hadron background by measuring the secondary neutrons produced in the shower.In this paper,a comprehensive introduction of the neutron detector is presented,including the design,calibration and performance.The analysis with simulated data and flight data indicates a powerful proton rejection capability of the neutron detector,which plays an essential role for TeV electron identification of DAMPE.

Design and on-orbit status of the trigger system for the DAMPE mission

DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE), the first Chinese astronomical satellite, was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 2015 Dec. 17. DAMPE consists of four subdetectors: Plastic Scintillator array Detector(PSD), Silicon-Tungsten tracKer-converter(STK), Bismuth Germanium Oxide(BGO) imaging calorimeter and NeUtron Detector(NUD). The global hardware trigger signal, which is generated by hits from the BGO calorimeter and the trigger logic board in the data acquisition system(DAQ), is responsible for event selection and DAQ synchronization of DAMPE. On orbit,to improve the detection efficiency, different trigger logics are used for event selection in different regions of latitude. The DAMPE trigger system compresses the average on-orbit trigger rate to 60 Hz and reduces science data mass to less than 13 GB per day to meet the requirement for the satellite’s data link. The whole trigger system has run stably up to now, ensuring excellent on-orbit operation of DAMPE.

A method for aligning the plastic scintillator detector on DAMPE

The Plastic Scintillator Detector(PSD) onboard the DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)is designed to measure cosmic ray charge(Z) and to act as a veto detector for gamma ray identification.To fully exploit the charge identification potential of PSD and to enhance its capability to identify gamma ray events, we develop an alignment method for the PSD. The path length of a given track in the volume of a PSD bar is derived taking into account the shift and rotation alignment corrections. By examining energy spectra of corner-passing events and fully contained events, position shifts and rotations of all PSD bars are obtained, and are found to be on average about 1 mm and 0.0015 radian respectively. To validate the alignment method, we introduce artificial shifts and rotations of PSD bars into the detector simulation.These shift and rotation parameters can be recovered successfully by the alignment procedure. As a result of the PSD alignment procedure, the charge resolution of the PSD is improved from 4% to 8%, depending on the nuclei.

Comparison of Proton Shower Developments in the BGO Calorimeter of the Dark Matter Particle Explorer between GEANT4 and FLUKA Simulations

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)is a satellite-borne detector for high-energy cosmic rays and y-rays.To fully understand the detector performance and obtain reliable physical results,extensive simulations of the detector are necessary.The simulations are particularly important for the data analysis of cosmic ray nuclei,which relies closely on the hadronic and nuclear interactions of particles in the detector material.Widely adopted simulation softwares include the GEANT4 and FLUKA,both of which have been implemented for the DAMPE simulation tool.Here we describe the simulation tool of DAMPE and compare the results of proton shower properties in the calorimeter from the two simulation softwares.Such a comparison gives an estimate of the most significant uncertainties of our proton spectral analysis.

Calibration of the DAMPE Plastic Scintillator Detector and its on-orbit performance

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE) is a space-borne apparatus for detecting the highenergy cosmic-ray-like electrons, γ-rays, protons and heavy ions. The Plastic Scintillator Detector(PSD)is the top-most sub-detector of the DAMPE. The PSD is designed to measure the charge of incident highenergy particles and it also serves as a veto detector for discriminating γ-rays from charged particles. In this paper, a PSD on-orbit calibration procedure is described, which includes the five steps of pedestal, dynode correlation, response to minimum-ionizing particles, light attenuation function and energy reconstruction.A method for reconstructing the charge of incident high energy cosmic-ray particles is introduced. The detection efficiency of each PSD strip is verified to be above 99.5%; the total efficiency of the PSD for charged particles is above 99.99%.

Interpretations of the cosmic ray secondary-toprimary ratios measured by DAMPE

Precise measurements of the boron-to-carbon and boron-to-oxygen ratios by DAMPE show clear hardenings around 100 GeV/n,which provide important implications on the production,propagation,and interaction of Galactic cosmic rays.In this work we investigate a number of models proposed in literature in light of the DAMPE findings.These models can roughly be classified into two classes,driven by propagation effects or by source ones.Among these models discussed,we find that the re-acceleration of cosmic rays,during their propagation,by random magnetohydrodynamic waves may not reproduce sufficient hardenings of B/C and B/O,and an additional spectral break of the diffusion coefficient is required.The other models can properly explain the hardenings of the ratios.However,depending on simplifications assumed,the models differ in their quality in reproducing the data in a wide energy range.The models with significant re-acceleration effect will under-predict low-energy antiprotons but over-predict low-energy positrons,and the models with secondary production at sources over-predict high-energy antiprotons.For all models high-energy positron excess exists.

Optimal gamma-ray selections for monochromatic line searches with DAMPE

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a space high-energy cosmic-ray detector covering a wide energy band with a high energy resolution. One of the key scientific goals of DAMPE is to carry out indirect detection of dark matter by searching for high-energy gamma-ray line structure. To promote the sensitivity of gamma-ray line search with DAMPE, it is crucial to improve the acceptance and energy resolution of gamma-ray photons. In this paper, we quantitatively proved that the photon sample with the largest ratio of acceptance to energy resolution is optimal for line search. We therefore developed a line-search sample specifically optimized for the line-search. Meanwhile, in order to increase the statistics, we also selected the so-called BGO-only photons that convert into e^(+)e^(-) pairs only in the BGO calorimeter. The standard, the line-search, and the BGO-only photon samples are then tested for line-search individually and collectively. The results show that a significantly improved limit could be obtained from an appropriate combination of the date sets, and the increase is about 20% for the highest case compared with using the standard sample only.