The physics behind The CosmicWatch Desktop Muon Detectors

Author(s)
Axani, Spencer Nicholas Gaelan.
Thumbnail
Download1132265188-MIT.pdf (12.99Mb)
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics.
Advisor
Janet M. Conrad.
Terms of use
MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The CosmicWatch Desktop Muon Detector is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Polish National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) based undergraduate-level physics project that incorporates various aspects of electronics-shop technical development. The detector was designed to be low-power and extremely portable, which opens up a wide range of physics for students to explore. This document describes the physics behind the Desktop Muon Detectors and explores possible measurements that can be made with the detectors. In particular, we explore various physical phenomena associated with the geomagnetic field, atmospheric conditions, cosmic ray shower composition, attenuation of particles in matter, radioactivity, and statistical properties of Poisson processes.
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2019
 
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
 
Includes bibliographical references (pages 79-84).
 
Date issued
2019
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123386
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Physics.
Collections