Detection Of GeV Cosmic Rays In An Undergraduate Laboratory

我们正在创建一个新的创新的高能物理本科生实验室，该实验室基于费米实验室完成的一项关于µ子灾难性能量损失的研究，并于今年发表在物理评论D上。在费米实验室实验中，使用铁/闪烁体热量计研究了宇宙射线的能量沉积光谱。本科生实验室版本正在建造中，由铅和闪烁体组成。尽管典型的宇宙射线µ子储存的能量很少，但每10,000个µ子中就有一个遭受灾难性的能量损失，并在探测器内产生高能电磁簇射。学生们不仅自己研究电磁簇射，还使用最高能量的簇射来估计宇宙射线光谱。该装置足够小，可以放在实验室的工作台上，但它让学生接触到当今粒子物理实验中使用的最先进的量热和数据采集技术。

We are creating a new and innovative undergraduate laboratory in high-energy physics, based on a study of catastrophic energy loss by muons which was done at Fermilab and published this year in Physical Review D. In the Fermilab experiment, the energy deposition spectrum of cosmic rays was studied using an iron/scintillator calorimeter. The undergraduate laboratory version is being constructed of lead and scintillator. Although typical cosmic-ray muons deposit very little energy, one in 10,000 muons undergo a catastrophic energy loss and create a high-energy electromagnetic shower within the detector. Students not only study the electromagnetic showers themselves but also use the highest energy showers to estimate the cosmic ray spectrum. The apparatus is small enough to fit on a lab bench, yet exposes the student to state-of-the-art techniques for calorimetry and data acquisition which are used in present-day particle-physics experiments.