High-temperature superconducting level meter for liquid argon detectors
Capacitive devices are customarily used as probes to measure the level of noble liquids in detectors operated for neutrino studies and dark matter searches. In this work we describe the use of a high-temperature superconducting material as an alternative to control the level of a cryogenic noble liquid. Lab measurements indicate that the superconductor shows a linear behaviour, a high degree of stability and offers a very accurate determination of the liquid volume. This device is therefore a competitive instrument and shows several advantages over conventional level meters.

title: The Pierre Auger Observatory I: The Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum and Related Measurements
abstract: Studies of the cosmic ray energy spectrum at the highest energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory

title: A search for anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultra high energy cosmic rays recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory
abstract: Observations of cosmic rays arrival directions made with the Pierre Auger Observatory have previously provided evidence of anisotropy at the 99% CL using the correlation of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with objects drawn from the Veron-Cetty Veron catalog. In this paper we report on the use of three catalog independent methods to search for anisotropy. The 2pt-L, 2pt+ and 3pt methods, each giving a different measure of self-clustering in arrival directions, were tested on mock cosmic ray data sets to study the impacts of sample size and magnetic smearing on their results, accounting for both angular and energy resolutions. If the sources of UHECRs follow the same large scale structure as ordinary galaxies in the local Universe and if UHECRs are deflected no more than a few degrees, a study of mock maps suggests that these three method can efficiently respond to the resulting anisotropy with a P-value = 1.0% or smaller with data sets as few as 100 events. using data taken from January 1, 2004 to July 31, 2010 we examined the 20, 30, ... , 110 highest energy events with a corresponding minimum energy threshold of about 49.3 EeV. The minimum P-values found were 13.5% using the 2pt-L method, 1.0% using the 2pt+ method and 1.1% using the 3pt method for the highest 100 energy events. In view of the multiple (correlated) scans performed on the data set, these catalog-independent methods do not yield strong evidence of anisotropy in the highest energy cosmic rays.

title: Search for First Harmonic Modulation in the Right Ascension Distribution of Cosmic Rays Detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory
abstract: We present the results of searches for dipolar-type anisotropies in different energy ranges above 2.5 x 10(17) eV with the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, reporting on both the phase and the amplitude measurements of the first harmonic modulation in the right-ascension distribution. Upper limits on the amplitudes are obtained, which provide the most stringent bounds at present, being below 2% at 99% C.L. for EeV energies. We also compare our results to those of previous experiments as well as with some theoretical expectations.

title: Ultrahigh Energy Neutrinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory
abstract: The observation of ultrahigh energy neutrinos (UHE nu s) has become a priority in experimental astroparticle physics. UHE nu s can be detected with a variety of techniques. In particular, neutrinos can interact in the atmosphere (downward-going nu) or in the Earth crust (Earth-skimming nu), producing air showers that can be observed with arrays of detectors at the ground. With the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory we can detect these types of cascades. The distinguishing signature for neutrino events is the presence of very inclined showers produced close to the ground (i.e., after having traversed a large amount of atmosphere). In this work we review the procedure and criteria established to search for UHE nu s in the data collected with the ground array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. This includes Earth-skimming as well as downward-going neutrinos. No neutrino candidates have been found, which allows us to place competitive limits to the diffuse flux of UHE nu s in the EeV range and above.

title: The Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum and Related Measurements with the Pierre Auger Observatory
abstract: Studies of the cosmic ray energy spectrum at the highest energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory.

title: MSM Self-Energies at Finite Temperature in the Presence of Weak Magnetic Fields: Towards a Full Symmetry Restoration Study
abstract: The study of the universe's primordial plasma at high temperature plays an important role when tackling different questions in cosmology, such as the origin of the matter‐antimatter asymmetry. In the Minimal Standard Model (MSM) neither the amount of CP violation nor the strength of the phase transition are enough to produce and preserve baryon number during the Electroweak Phase Transition (EWPT), which are two of the three ingredients needed to develop baryon asymmetry. In this talk we present the first part of the analysis done within a scenario where it is viable to have improvements to the aforementioned situation: we work with the degrees of freedom in the broken symmetry phase of the MSM and analyze the development of the EWPT in the presence of a weak magnetic field. More specifically, we calculate the particle self‐energies that include the effects of the weak magnetic field, needed for the MSM effective potential up to ring diagrams.