Effect of cosmic rays on the resonant gravitational wave detector Nautilus at temperature T=1.5 K

Abstract The interaction between cosmic rays and the gravitational wave bar detector Nautilus is experimentally studied with the aluminum bar at temperature of T =1.5 K. The results are compared with those obtained in the previous runs when the bar was at T =0.14 K. The results of the run at T =1.5 K are in agreement with the thermo-acoustic model; no large signals at unexpected rate are noticed, unlike the data taken in the run at T =0.14 K. The observations suggest a larger efficiency in the mechanism of conversion of the particle energy into vibrational mode energy when the aluminum bar is in the superconductive status.