QuarkNet and Cosmic Ray Muon Flux Experiments Alfred Menendez and Michael Abercrombie with Dr. Marcus Hohlmann, Dept. of Physics and Space Sciences Abstract QuarkNet is a nation-wide outreach program run by Fermilab National Laboratory to help high-school teachers introduce their students to the world of high-energy particle physics. Teachers, students, and physicists collaborate to inform students about the science and technology behind detecting cosmic ray muons as well using that data for studies. Here we present how the QuarkNet detectors work as well as several interesting experiments measuring the flux from different detector orientations that we ran on our college campus, the studies we conducted, and some of the results that followed from them. We use scintillator paddles, photomultiplier tubes, a DAQ card, and a computer to detect and capture the data from the cosmic ray muon strikes. Flux Orientation Study Flux (events/m2/60 seconds) Time UTC (hours) Detector is horizontal (i.e. in the x-y plane) Using data from channel 1 Flux average is about 750 events/m2/60 sec What are Cosmic Rays? 90% are protons (other 10% are nuclei) from outside of our solar system Cosmic rays travel at nearly the speed of light Observed to have reached energies up to 1021 eV Ideas about possible sources of these high-energies include: Active galactic nuclei Quasars Gamma Ray Bursts Dark Matter How Cosmic Rays Create Muons (μ) Cosmic rays strike the Earth’s atmosphere, undergo nuclear reactions and produce pions (π) Pions then decay into a muon (μ) and a muon neutrino (v). Some muons decay into two neutrinos and an electron (e), while others last long enough to reach the Earth’s surface. Flux (events/m2/60 seconds) Time UTC (hours) Detector is vertical (i.e. in the x-z plane) How Do We Detect Muons? Using data from channel 1 Flux average is about 450 events/m2/60 sec Muon passes through paddles and generates light burst in scintillator paddles The Photo Multiplier Tube (PMT) converts light burst into electric pulse which is read by the QuarkNet Data AcQuisition card (DAQ) The DAQ card connects to a computer which records the data (via HyperTerminal) Detector is horizontal Flux is dependent on threshold of detector Threshold is level at which DAQ card allows data to go to the computer to be recorded Flux increases with decreasing threshold Low threshold Flux (events/m2/60 seconds) High threshold Time UTC (hours) Photo of setup in High Energy Physics (HEP) lab at Florida Tech