Transcript Directional Muon Flux Study

DIRECTIONAL
MUON FLUX
By Laura Thorsett and Promita
Nandy
INTRODUCTION
 Testing muon flux at 8 compass directions and 3 azimuth angles.
 Research Question: At which angle and direction do muons reach our
detectors in the highest concentration?
 Hypothesis: Most at 90°, least at 0°.
 We believed that there would be no difference
in flux at
different compass directions.
THE ANGLE OF ACCEPTANCE
 When stacked directly on top of one another, the angle of
acceptance is approx. 168°.
 This creates a problem:
~ 168°
THE SOLUTION
 The farther apart the detectors are, the smaller the angle of acceptance.
 We decided that we wanted an angle of acceptance of about 45
degrees:
 To achieve this, we calculated that the (at the time) 4 detectors should
be approx. 9 inches apart.
BOX (ONLY 2 DETECTORS)
PARKING GARAGE MISHAP
 We wanted to take the detectors out of the building to escape the
concrete walls, which are thicker in places.
 We took it to the top of the parking garage.
 Light leaks. Yay.
 We took them back to the building and retested them, they didn’t work
as well as expected.
 We borrowed 2 detectors from Stu, and re-calibrated them.
COLLECTING DATA
 First, we aligned the box with the horizon (0°):
Side View
 We took data with the box facing N-S,
NE-SW, E-W, SE-NW.
 We did not need to do individual data runs for
Top View
North and South or the other pairs, because
at 0°, they are the same thing.
45 DEGREES
 For 45°, we did take separate data from each of the compass directions.
Side View West
 West
Side View East
East 
90 DEGREES
 We only needed to take the 90° (straight up) once.
Front View
Top View
Side View
North
900
RESULTS
800
Northwest
700
Northeast
600
500
400
300
200
100
0 Degrees
45 Degrees
West
East
0
90 Degrees
Southwest
Southeast
South
COMPARISONS
Muon Count
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Muon Count
FROM EACH AZIMUTH ANGLE
Averages
81, 6%
0
860,
64%
413.125,
30%
45
90
45 DEGREES BY DIRECTION
Muon Count at 45
45 North
13%
12%
45 NE
45 East
11%
13%
45 SE
45 South
45 SW
13%
13%
45 West
14%
45 NW
11%
Muon Count
600
500
400
300
Muon Count
200
100
0
45 North
45 NE
45 East
45 SE
45 South
45 SW
45 West
45 NW
0 COMPARED TO 45
Muon Count at 0
26%
25%
Composites of 45
0 North-South
24%
0 NE-SW
26%
NE-SW
0 East-West
East-West
0 NW-SE
27%
22%
North-South
NW-SE
26%
24%
EXTRA ALTITUDE EXPERIMENT
 We measured the muon count in 3 different positions at Lick
Observatory and here at SCIPP:
Stacked
Side
33 Inches
Lick
4063
4138.5
38.5
SCIPP
3401
1441
33.5
CONCLUSIONS
 There was no consistent difference in the muon count in relation to
compass direction.
 When the box was straight up, there was a huge increase (more than
doubling) in the count from the 45 degree count.
THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!