SIR Earth and Space Sciences Investigation Abstract
MUON CHARGE RATIO FOR DATA FROM THE MINOS FAR DETECTOR
Presenter:
Junwei Ye, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 W. Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL 60506
Mentor:
Dr. Maury Goodman, Argonne National Laboratory
Abstract:
Neutrinos are different from other subatomic particles in that they rarely interact with their surroundings. They carry no charge, have very little mass and travel at near the speed of light. There are three types of neutrinos to correspond to the three leptons: electron, tau and muon. Previous neutrino experiments such as those conducted by Super-Kamiokande and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory showed that even though the sun only produces electron-type neutrinos, the actual count of electron-type neutrinos that reach the detectors is not as expected. An explanation for this phenomenon is that neutrinos can oscillate between the three different types. In spring of 2005, the MINOS project will send a beam of neutrinos from the Main Injector at Fermilab through a near detector at Fermilab to a Far Detector in the Soudan mine in Minnesota. Before the results can be understood, the acceptance of the Far Detector must first be understood. My contribution to the project will be a ROOT program that will interpolate NASA’s data for the moon’s shadow’s right ascension and declination as a function of time, because the shadow of the moon on Earth affects the number of muons that reach the detector.