A water tank muon spectrometer for the characterization of low energy atmospheric muons

Daniela Munteanu (1) , Soilihi Moindjie (1) , Jean-Luc Autran (1)

1 IM2NP - Institut des Matériaux, de Microélectronique et des Nanosciences de Provence

In this work, a water tank muon spectrometer was designed, assembled and operated to measure the energy distribution of low energy atmospheric muon flux induced by cosmic-rays at sea level in the energy range 100-500 MeV. The principle of this experiment is to use water as muon moderator inserted between two coincidence detectors to select the cutoff energy below which muons can no longer be detected. The differential and integral muon spectra are then derived from successive measurements by varying the liquid height within the water tank. The instrument was entirely characterized and modeled in terms of detector efficiency, cutoff energy and counting rate. Experimental data are reported for the energy distribution of muon flux at sea level (43°N of latitude) and finally compared with literature survey.

Keywords: atmospheric muons; low energy muons; cosmic rays; muon flux; muon spectrometer; sea level muon intensity; differential spectrum; integral spectrum

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]; Micro and nanotechnologies/Microelectronics

Daniela Munteanu, Soilihi Moindjie, Jean-Luc Autran. A water tank muon spectrometer for the characterization of low energy atmospheric muons. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2019, 933, pp.12-17. ⟨10.1016/j.nima.2019.03.061⟩. ⟨hal-02087354⟩