Measuring the Muon Background in Phillips 143 (2016)
Undergraduate: Jason Surbrook
Faculty Advisor: John Wilkerson
Department: Physics & Astronomy
Understanding background radiation and radiation composition is crucial to assess the feasibility and required experimental sensitivity in extremely low level background or radiation detector based physics experiments. We aim to study the cosmogenic muon energy spectrum on campus in the laboratory space located at Phillips Hall 143 (PH143). Muon flux in this space is expected to differ from elevation based predictions due to shielding effects by Phillips Hall¿¿¿s upper floors. Background spectra will be taken in PH143 with repurposed Saint-Gobain¿¿¿s 412 PVT (polyvinyltoluene) scintillator and Philips XP2262/PA photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) supplied to the University of North Carolina¿¿¿s Experimental Nuclear and Astroparticle Physics group as surplus from the KARMEN (KArlsruhe Rutherford Medium Energy Neutrino) experiment. Coincidence event discrimination across an additional stacked panel installation will significantly reduce spectra contributions from non-muon radiation sources. This muon background data will serve as a baseline for future muon sensitive measurements in PH143.