Hisparc Status
hisparc project: outreach
 hisparc mission
examples of students
participation
progress 2004
plans for 2005
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Showers

Hisparc: outreach project
bring high-school students in
contact with science
participate in scientific
experiment
air showers: highest energies
occur rarely (e.g. 1 event per 100
square kilometer per year)
determine energy and direction
with scintillators on school roofs.
(figure from Nagano en Watson,
Rev. Mod. Phys. 72, 689 (2000)).
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
detector
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2 scintillator detectors placed a few meters apart (typical
coincidence rate of 0.3 Hz)
a GPS antenna for accurate timing
From the ‘profielwerkstuk’ from Utrecht (Pieter de Goeje, Veerle
Bodewes, Brend Wanders) http://osgschoonoord.doorn.kennisnet.nl/vwo-5/intern/napohisparc/
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Activities 2004
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Nahsa (Nijmegen, Charles Timmermans) started in 2002.
 increased to 7 active detectors
 focuses also on data analysis
 published first scientific result (NtvN).
Active detectors in Amsterdam (14 built, 12 installed)
 new electronics
 hisparc website, www.hisparc.nl (Kees Huyser)
Leiden
 1 detector active, above minigrail
 2 more in progress in region Leiden. Next year: Khartoum Sudan (pierre van Baal)
Utrecht
 1 detector active, 2 being built
 measured tracks
Groningen
 4 detectors being built
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
High school student activities
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In Nijmegen: building and analysis
In other clusters: mainly building the detector
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Student activities
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about 150 “profielwerkstukken”
building detector
particles, muons, cosmic rays, showers, scintillation, photo-electric effect
oscilloscope, impedance matching, fast electronics
hardware, grinding, polishing etc.
calibrations, excel, statistics (Poisson, Gaussian distributions)
several movies and interviews
most schools with web sites
software development
cosmic rays
GPS positioning
weather
promotion videos etc.
students calibrating a scintillator plate
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Hisparc DAQ
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Data retrieval
10000
Data : retrievable via website
mysql database
1000
aantal


pulshoogte
100
10
1
0
50
100
pulshoogte [mV]
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
150
200
data analysis

Rate dependence on weather ( F. Hidde, Herman Wesselink College)
thunderstorm on Nov. 26
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Electronics
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lineair amplification
modified filter,
impedance matching,
integrator circuit
12 volt circuit for
photomultiplier tube
modified coincidence
timing
integrated scalers
many thanks to Henk
Peek
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Electronics, Altran
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current design not scalable,
too much man power involved
Improved design from Altran
Rob Derlage (Altran)
analog part: Hans Verkooijen
(NIKHEF)
usb interface
integrated ADC’s – 440 MHz
sampling
integrated GPS timing
fully programmable logic and
settings
up to 4 channels
scaler readout, etc.
cost reduction, factor 3
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Altran design (Rob Derlage)
Scintillator I
GPS Antenna
IF
ADC 1A
12-bit
210 MSPS
Integrator
Control DAC
GPS Receiver
Module
To Photo Multipliers I and II
12V PS
Photo Multiplier
Scintillator II
ADC 1B
12-bit
210 MSPS
IF
Scintillator III
Optional
ADC 2A
12-bit
210 MSPS
Central Processing
Unit
(FPGA)
Trigger I/O
Status
Indicators
Master BUS
ADC 2B
12-bit
210 MSPS
IF
SLAVE BUS
OCXO
(Clock Generator)
Scintillator IV
Photo Multiplier
Control DAC
EEPROM
(Settings)
USB Interface
IF
Clock Skew
and PLL
JTAG Interface
technical design specifications are being discussed now
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Press Coverage
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many (~50) news paper
articles
 including 3 in
Volkskrant and 1 in
NRC
 Natuur, wetenschap
and techniek
 intermediair
national radio,
television Noord Holland
 article in Nature

 june 17, 2004 vol.
6993
first scientific results
in Nederlands
tijdschrift voor
Natuurkunde (Charles
Timmermans)
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Outlook
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Next year: get most out of Altran award
 ready to grow
 electronics
 data warehousing
 funding, professional organization
electronic learning environment (J. Colle and F. Hidde)
analysis, profielwerkstukken, teacher network (F. van Liempt et al.)
contacts with Coach people (Amstel Institute)
 hisparc analysis in coach, detector compatible with coach
European contacts (Poland, Sweden, Portugal, England...)
make detector network
 www.geluids.net
 weather information
 Lofar – Nijmegen is testing with a Lofar detector
possible grid at high schools, virtual school lab
 Peter Sloot (UvA)
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04
Virtual laboratory
…
Cosmics
…
LOFAR
Sound
Wind
…
Intelligent Detector Interface
GPS
Grid Middleware
…High School Network…
Connect experiments, data and students in ‘Virtual
Laboratory’
H.J. Bulten
NIKHEF annual meeting, 21-22 Dec. 04