Experiment 1

Statistical Counting of Cosmic Rays

High energy cosmic ray flux at the top of the atmosphere is made of, in terms of
numbers, 98% of protons and nuclei, and 2% of electrons. Of the protons and nuclei,
about 87% are protons, 12% are helium nuclei and the remaining 1% are heavier nuclei.
Most of these cosmic rays would interact with the atmosphere while approaching the
Earth surface. These nuclear interactions produce mostly pion mesons, which decay into
muons with a lifetime of about 2.6x10-8 s. What we measure in the laboratory are mostly
the decay product muons. The average lifetime of muons is about 2.197x10-6 s.

In this experiment we will learn about operation of high voltage power supplier,
discriminator, coincidence, scaler, digital oscilloscope and photomultiplier counters. We
will perform a statistical analysis of cosmic ray measurement.

1) use a pocket pulser and a digital oscilloscope to look at input/output pulses from
discriminator and coincidence modules. Understand the characteristics of these
electronics modules. Discriminator: threshold setting and output width; Coincidence:
coincidence time.

2) HV plateauing of PhotoMultiplier Tube (PMT). In a counting application, electronic

signal from a PMT is analyzed by a discriminator and a scaler. We need to find an
optimal operation of a high voltage setting for the PMT, the so called plateau
procedure.

The PMT plateau depends on many factors, in particular,

a) The spectrum of the particles and the response (noise) of the counter,
b) The gain voltage relationship of the PMT, and
c) The threshold value of the discriminator (50 to 100 mV).

If use a beta source to plateau a PMT, because beta spectrum is continuous and PMT
noise increases with high voltage, we will not be able to get a flat plateau curve with a
beta source. In this experiment we shall use three scintillator counters on top of each
other to define cosmic rays as a source of particles. Let C1, C3 and C2 to denote three
scintillator counters aligned from top to bottom. Here is the procedure for plateauing
the C3 HV. We use two coincidence counters C1.and.C2 to define a cosmic ray
traversing C1 and C2 counters. Then the coincidence rate C1.and.C2.and.C3
measures the number of cosmic ray traversing all three counters. We study the rate of
(C1.and.C2.and.C3)/(C1.and.C2) as a function of C3 high voltage. Note C1 and C2
should be at a nominal PMT high voltage. You may prove that the plateau does not
depend on counting efficiencies of C1 and C2.

You can find the nominal PMT high voltage from the specification sheet from the
manufacture. It should specify the nominal operating HV for the PMT.
Experimentally we can monitor the PMT output with a scope, and gradually increase
the HV on the PMT until you observe signals from the cosmic rays. If you observe
 very bright signals, many at low amplitudes, you may have a light leak. This can be
easily checked if the bright signals disappear after you cover the PMT counter with a
black clothe. You should always turn on the HV slowly for PMT operations.

You should attempt to obtain data points each with statistical error less than 5%. This
may be difficulty when the counting rate is very slow while the PMT HV is below the
nominal voltage. Nevertheless you should have an estimate of reasonable amount of
running time and the statistical accuracy of your measurement.

HV (Volts)
C3 / Time
C1.and.C2.and.C3/ Time
C1.and.C2 / Time

3) We will study characteristics of mean and variance for Poisson and Gaussian
distributions:
a) Count the number of cosmic rays traversing two scintillator counters (e.g.,
C1.and.C3 in coincidence). Properly select two time intervals, Δt1 and Δt2. For Δt1
the average number of counts is small say around 2, and for Δt2 the average
number of counts should be large (about 100 or so).
b) Take 100-150 measurements at each time interval.
c) Histogram the number density and fit to Poisson and Gaussian distributions.
Calculate the mean and variance of the data sample. What is the rate of cosmic
 rays (number of cosmic rays per second)? Are the measurements from the two
time intervals consistent with each other?

4) Write up laboratory report (see handout for laboratory report requirement). Discuss
procedure and result of PMT HV plateau. Describe the setup for the cosmic ray
measurement. Histogram your results and fit your histograms with a Poisson or
Gaussian distribution. Compare your fit parameters (mean and variance) with those
calculated from summing of data entries from the definitions of mean and variance.
Use the Gaussian sample to illustrate the probability of a data entry within a variance
to the mean value---68.3% of the sample within one variance, 95.5% within two
variances and 99.7% within three variances. Calculate the rate of cosmic rays.
Discuss whether the two measurements from the two time intervals are consistent
with each other.