Muon decay

Meenu Kumari
Y0911030
Abstract
In this experiment, we study the decay of muons, an elementary particle
belonging to lepton family. We investigate the distribution of decay times
among muons to verify if the decays are independent. Thus, we calculate
the mean lifetime of muons.
0.1 Introduction
Muons are elementary particles similar to the electron, with a unitary nega-
tive electric charge and a spin of . Together with the electron, the tau, and
the three neutrinos, it is classied as a lepton. As is the case with other
leptons, the muon is not believed to have any sub-structure at all (i.e., is
not thought to be composed of any simpler particles).
The muon is an unstable subatomic particle with a mean lifetime of 2.2 s.
This comparatively long decay life time (the second longest known) is due
to being mediated by the weak interaction. The only longer lifetime for an
unstable subatomic particle is that for the free neutron, a baryon particle
composed of quarks, which also decays via the weak force. All muons decay
to three particles (an electron plus two neutrinos of dierent types), but the
daughter particles are believed to originate newly in the decay.
Like all elementary particles, the muon has a corresponding antiparticle
of opposite charge but equal mass and spin: the antimuon (also called a
positive muon). Muons are denoted by

and antimuons by
+
.
Muons have about 200 times the mass of an electron. Since the muons in-
teractions are very similar to those of the electron, a muon can be thought of
as a much heavier version of the electron. Due to their greater mass, muons
are not as sharply accelerated when they encounter electromagnetic elds,
and do not emit as much bremsstrahlung (deceleration radiation). This al-
lows muons of a given energy to penetrate far more deeply into matter than
electrons, since the deceleration of electrons and muons is primarily due to
energy loss by the bremsstrahlung mechanism. As an example, muons, gen-
erated by cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere, can penetrate to the Earths
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surface, and even into deep mines.
Because muons have a very large mass and energy compared with the de-
cay energy of radioactivity, they are never produced by radioactive decay.
They are produced in copious amounts in high-energy interactions in normal
matter, such as occur during certain particle accelerator experiments with
hadrons.
0.2 Objective
1. To determine the mean lifetime from the distribution of decay times.
2. To calculate the Fermi coupling constant G
F
using an accepted value
for muon mass.
3. To compute the ration of positive to negative muons at ground level.
0.3 Theory
0.3.1 Mean muon lifetime :
The muon decay is a radioactive process which follows the usual exponential
law for the probability of survival for a given time t.
N(t) = N
0
exp(t/)
Here, is the mean muon lifetime, which we get by tting the data by this
exponential function.
0.3.2 Charge ratio :
The ratio of positively charged muons to negatively charged muons,
N
+
N

= ,
is:
=

(

obs

obs
)
2
where,
+
and

represent the muon lifetime of positive muons, negative

muons and the experimentally observed lifetimes respectively, that is, =
2.197s and = 2.034s.
0.3.3 Muon ux :
The muon ux, , at the location of the experiment is given by :
=
N
st
where N is the number of muons counted, t is the time period over which
they are counted and s is the surface area of the scintillator.
0.3.4 Fermi coupling constant, G
F
:
The Fermi coupling constant, G
F
, can be calculated from the equation:
= 192

3
h
7
G
2
F
m
5
c
4
0.4 Equipments
1. Plastic scintillator
2. Photomultiplier tube (PMT)
3. Signal amplier
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0.5 Observation and calculations:
0.5.1 Mean muon lifetime :
From curve t, we obtain
= 2.082 0.093sec

2
= 8.6/18 = 0.48
From literature, we know
+
and

, that is,

= 2.034sec

+
= 2.197sec
The value we obtain, is between these two values, thus, in accordance with
literature value. Also, t error (4.5%) and
2
values is very small. Thus,
the data resembles the exponential distribution.
4
0.5.2 Charge ratio :
=

(

obs

obs
)
= 0.45
Error in
=

obs

obs
= 1.24
So,
= (0.45 1.24)
This imples, range of is 0 to 1.69. Expected value is about 1.
0.5.3 Muon ux :
The muon ux, , at the location of the experiment is given by :
=
N
st
N = Number of muons counted =245222
s = surface area of the scintillator = 589cm
2
t = time = 20hrs 22min 23sec = 73343 sec = 1222.38min
= 0.3406 muons /cm
2
/min
=

N
N
= 0.0006 muons /cm
2
/min
So,
exp
= (0.34 0.0006) muons /cm
2
/min, while literature value is 1
muons /cm
2
/min at sea level.
0.5.4 Fermi coupling constant, G
F
:
The Fermi coupling constant, G
F
, can be calculated from the equation:
= 192

3
h
7
G
2
F
m
5
c
4
5
G
F
= ( hc)
3

192
3
h
m
5
c
10

So, G
F
= 1.192 GeV
2
0.6 Discussions and Precautions
The data was taken for approximately a day, and the mentioned results
are according to that. In between, the curve was tted many times, but
the result did not seem to stabilize, although the rate of change of mean
lifetime, obtained from tting the curve, was seen to decrease. Since, it did
not stabilize, and we cannot run the instrument here for approximately 1
week to see if it completely stabilizes after that time, so we cannot be sure of
the mean lifetime obtained. Also, changed appreciably on the variation of
threshold voltage and discriminator voltage. We cannot run the instrument
for a large set of possible values for these two. So, there is a large uncertainty
in the result due to these limitations.
Also, the calculation of charge ratio hardly mean anything here, because
with a slight deviation of , its change is very large. Also, the propagation
error involved in it is very large.
The eciency of detector is seen to be very low, due to which the time for
the experiment increases.
Since very high voltage is applied in this experiment, we must be very
much careful about connections.
Voltage limit of any instrument should not be exceeded.
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