Scaler Mode Technique for the ARGO-YBJ Detector

TL;DR

The paper discusses the ARGO-YBJ detector's scaler mode technique, which enables detection of low-energy cosmic phenomena by recording counting rates at high altitude, providing insights into transient astrophysical events.

Contribution

It introduces and evaluates the scaler mode technique for the ARGO-YBJ detector, enhancing its ability to study low-energy air showers and transient signals.

Findings

Successful operation of scaler mode at low energies (~1 GeV)

Detection of transient signals like Forbush Decreases and Gamma Ray Bursts

Performance analysis of the detector in scaler mode

Abstract

The ARGO-YBJ experiment has been designed to study the Extensive Air Showers with an energy threshold lower than that of the existing arrays by exploiting the high altitude location(4300 m a.s.l. in Tibet, P.R. China) and the full ground plane coverage. The lower energy limit of the detector (E $\sim$ 1 GeV) is reached by the scaler mode technique, i.e. recording the counting rate at fixed time intervals. At these energies, transient signals due to local (e.g. Forbush Decreases) and cosmological (e.g. Gamma Ray Bursts) phenomena are expected as a significant variation of the counting rate compared to the background. In this paper the performance of the ARGO-YBJ detector operating in scaler mode is described and discussed.