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DIRECTIONAL MUON FLUX By Laura Thorsett and Promita Nandy

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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.

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THE ANGLE OF ACCEPTANCE When stacked directly on top of one another, the angle of acceptance is approx. 168. This creates a problem: ~ 168 Overlap

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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.

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BOX (ONLY 2 DETECTORS)

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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 didnt work as well as expected. We borrowed 2 detectors from Stu, and re-calibrated them.

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COLLECTING DATA First, we aligned the box with the horizon (0): Side View Top 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 North and South or the other pairs, because at 0, they are the same thing.

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45 DEGREES For 45, we did take separate data from each of the compass directions. Side View WestSide View East East West

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90 DEGREES We only needed to take the 90 (straight up) once. Front ViewTop ViewSide View

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RESULTS

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COMPARISONS

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FROM EACH AZIMUTH ANGLE

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45 DEGREES BY DIRECTION

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0 COMPARED TO 45

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EXTRA ALTITUDE EXPERIMENT We measured the muon count in 3 different positions at Lick Observatory and here at SCIPP: StackedSide33 Inches Lick40634138.538.5 SCIPP3401144133.5

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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.

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THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!