The Higgs Bozos 1

Investigating the Energy and Intensity of a

Proton Beam in Causing Neutron Spallation
Yang Zijun, Ryan Au, Terezija Šarec, Keisha Kwok, Mohammadamin Yarahmadi, Salman
Azzimani, Dhir D Michael and Diego Ocran
The Higgs Bozos

Abstract
2. Get rid of the colon and add say "...reactor. For example, the neutron source can be pulsed and more..."
Neutron spallation is a potent source of neutrons that offers several advantages over
producing neutrons in a fission reactor:2.the neutron source can be pulsed, and more neutrons
1. are
1. is produced in one pulse of the particle beam than in a reactor within the same time frame.[1]
This makes them ideal for producing large numbers of neutrons on demand. In this proposal,
we will investigate neutron spallation caused by targeting two different materials with an
3.
accelerated proton beam. By varying the intensity and energy of the proton beam, we will
investigate the changes in the total neutron yield,4. and average number of neutrons ejected by 5. are not is
each incident proton, and determine which combination of factors5.is the most efficient at
producing neutrons. 3. I might be wrong depending on the definitions you are referring to,
but energy and intensity are often proportional to each other so it might be
4. no comma or "and". Say "...yield and the average..." more concise to only say that you are varying the energy.
7.
wish to pursue careers involving them. We believe
I. Introduction that international8. cooperation, in which people of
7. dream
different cultures and origins come together, is better
Proper storage of high-level radioactive waste is
contributes to great discoveries. This is9. how this here
expensive. To reduce the volume of such waste, we
team was created and persisted despite the time
can bombard spent fuel with neutrons, turning the
zone challenges. Furthermore, the discoveries of the
long-lived, dangerous radioisotopes into something 8. collabor-
LHC,10.the Higgs boson, pentaquark, quark-gluonation is
that decays quickly into more stable elements. The
plasma, and 59 new hadrons, are just incredible. Itbetter here.
inspiration for this proposal came from
inspires and excites us, as a whole new world ofAlso I'm not
accelerator-driven systems, where neutrons
particles remains undiscovered.[4][5][6] We admire thesure the
produced from spallation are used in transmuting smart people
amount of work past researchers have put intoat CERN
spent fuel.[2] Spallation occurs when a highly
furthering physics and we wish to follow in theirwould appre-
energetic particle collides with a large atomic
footsteps. 10. "of the LHC, including the Higgs boson..." ciate you
nucleus, exciting the nucleus enough that nuclear giving them
9. "This is the primary reason this team..."
evaporation occurs, where neutrons are ejected from a definition
III. Experimental Setup and Methodology
the nucleus.[3] This is good. Gives a clear reason for studying the
phenomenon of spallation. (Also makes for a good reason
of what
international
for sponsors to spend money on your research)
A. Variables collaboration
II. Why We’d Like to Go is...
The objective of this experiment is to cause
We're a group of students from various places spallation in tungsten and lead targets with the T9
including Singapore, Iran, Croatia, UK, India and proton beam at CERN and record the following data
the USA, who came together under the using a variety of instruments (See III.B),
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the top ● Total number of produced neutrons from
particle physics research facilities. We are driven by each pulse of the beam
our passion for physics and6.research, making it our

6. I'm not sure any of you would have participated in actual physics research,
so it might be more understandable to reader if you say "...our passion for
physics and interest in research..."
 2 Investigating the energy and intensity of a beam in neutron spallation
● Number of protons that don’t interact with
the target material "that don't cause a..."
● Number of protons scattered without
causing a spallation event
We will repeat these measurements and obtain
an average value since there will be factors such as
the inherent randomness of spallation events beyond
our control.
B. Setup
We will need metal targets made of lead and
tungsten. Since we are currently unsure how thick
the target should be to obtain good results, we will
prepare ten square plates with dimensions 5x5x1cm
for both metals, stack them together, and test which
thickness is best for this experiment.
The dimension of the target will in effect be a highly informed decision
by the physicists helping you. I think it would be better to refrain from
giving the seemingly random dimension of 5 by 5 by 1 cm and instead be more vague
and say "prepare the target metals..."
We will place the WENDI neutron detector at
90 degrees to the target to detect the neutron flux at
that position, which we can use to estimate the total
number of neutrons from each pulse of the proton
beam.[7]
Behind the target, a Delay Wire Chamber is
placed to record the number of protons exiting the
metal target without causing spallation events, and a
halo counter to detect the protons scattered by the
material. Finally, a scintillator counter is used to
BL4S
confirm the number of protons that pass through
without interacting.
Not that I'm a professional but the above instruments seem
properly mentioned, good.
C. Methodology
We will be conducting the same process using
the tungsten target and the lead target, to observe
any difference in graph patterns between materials
(see Part III.D.) Good, CERN is big on graphs to unveil relationships.
Experiment 1: Varying the Energy of Proton Beam
We start with a fixed beam flux of 10⁶ m⁻²s⁻¹ at 1
GeV of energy and slowly move up to 15 GeV in
0.5 GeV increments.[8]
This is your choice but use inverse femtobarns instead of inverse meters squared.
It's the conventional particle physics unit for cross sectional area.
Experiment 2: Varying the Intensity of the Proton
Beam
"We plan on varying the beam flux."
We decrease the beam flux from 10⁶ m⁻²s⁻¹. We
vary
will adjust how much we decrease it until the total
amount of neutrons dropsor increases
by a reasonable amount.
For example, if decreasing the beam by 10^5 yields
too big of a difference where the total amount of
neutrons drops by 90%, we will decrease it by 10^4
instead. We will repeat this until we find a suitable
interval. Don't be bias in only speaking of dropping it. There should
be equal emphasis on increasing.
Then, we will obtain data for the suitable
intervals and repeat Experiment 1 for all energy
values.
D. Conclusion From Data
At the end, we will use the data obtained to plot
9 graphs for each metal target:
1. The proton beam’s energy against the
average number of protons that caused
spallation events.
2. The proton beam’s energy against the
average number of neutrons produced from
every spallation event.
3. The proton beam’s energy against the
average number of neutrons for every proton
fired.
4. The proton beam’s energy against the energy
of the proton beam divided by the total
number of neutrons.
 BL4S The Higgs Bozos 3
Graphs 5-8 will be similar to the above, where V. What we Hope to Take Away
“proton beam’s energy” is replaced with “beam
The field of particle physics is broad and
What's the difference between the two (energy and intensity)? It should be described.
complex, and as high school students we have
intensity” instead. Graph 9 will be a 3-dimensional
limited understanding of what this field entails.
graph where,
Hence, we intend to make full use of the trip to
For the Z axis prepare as much for our future research careers by
learning invaluable skills directly from individuals
𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 × 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 engaged in cutting-edge research.
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
Witnessing the passion, effort, and time invested
For the Y axis
by the physicists and engineers at CERN will
𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 provide us with insight into the thought processes
and minds of those at the forefront of particle
For the X axis physics research, making us understand the job and
𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 field. "allowing us to..."

"If we are to realize this..."

Realizing this project at the beamline, we expect
Graphs 1-8 will include both data for lead and "unforeseen..."
to encounter unlisted problems and solve them as a
tungsten, while graph 9 remains separated.
team, gaining practical experience and effective
communication with strangers.
IV. Data Analysis "various collaborators..." strangers is a rough term in this context.

After calculating the average total neutron Ultimately, we also hope to return home with
production, non-interacting protons, and scattered more inspiration and appreciation for this field, so
protons without spallation, we'll use ANOVA tests we can spark the same interest within our school
to assess mean differences across intensity and communities.
energy levels. Each measurement has a null
hypothesis (Ho) stating no significant difference in
means, with alternative hypotheses (Ha) suggesting
at least one combination yields significantly
different means. Post-ANOVA, we'll employ
Tukey’s HSD Hypothesis Test to evaluate multiple
mean differences. Once all tests are completed,
we'll conclude the statistical significance of our
findings.
I'm not familiar with any of these statistical methods of analysis so I
don't have much of an opinion. But unless these are commonly used
methods of analysis in particle physics I wouldn't assume that whoever
reads these is aware of them.
4 Investigating the energy and intensity of a beam in neutron spallation BL4S

VI. Outreach Activity

We eagerly wish to share our knowledge and experiences within our communities and promote diversity
in science. Being an international group featuring members from six different countries, we aim to both
generate outreach within our respective communities and foster global connections.

Firstly, we will present our work and experience at CERN in our schools, explaining the scientific
process and sharing insights gained from the experiments we have conducted.

We also intend to establish clubs within our schools aimed at introducing students to particle physics
through hands-on model building and analysis of real datasets. Furthermore, we aim to foster global
connections among students from our schools to promote diversity in science, facilitating monthly online
meetings for students from all included countries to interact, discuss, and share discoveries.

The ultimate goal is to create an online platform where we publish information and experiments to help
students become more familiar with the practical applications of particle physics, building a network of high
school students passionate about particle physics across the globe.

VII. Acknowledgements
We would like to give thanks to Dr Markus Joos for his swift response to our email inquiries and for
answering our questions during the Q&A session. Without his assistance, we would have been completely
lost and still stuck in the process of trying to figure things out.

Additionally, thanks to dmckee (we don’t know his real name, link to his blogger profile) a particle
physicist and former teacher, for his immediate online responses to questions we had difficulty researching
ourselves due to limited sources when we were pondering another topic for our proposal.

VIII. References
[1] Bauer, G. S. (2001). Physics and technology of spallation neutron sources. In Nuclear Instruments and
Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated
Equipment (Vol. 463, Issue 3, pp. 505–543). Elsevier BV.
https://doi.org/10.1016/s0168-9002(01)00167-x

[2] World Nuclear Association. (2020). Accelerator-driven Nuclear Energy.

https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/accelerator-driven-nuclear-e
nergy.aspx

[3] Fujimoto, Y., & Yamaguchi, Y. (1950). High Energy Nuclear Evaporation. In Progress of Theoretical
Physics (Vol. 5, Issue 5, pp. 787–799). Oxford University Press (OUP).
https://doi.org/10.1143/ptp/5.5.787
BL4S The Higgs Bozos 5

[4] Aad, G., Abajyan, T., Abbott, B., Abdallah, J., Abdel Khalek, S., Abdelalim, A. A., Abdinov, O., Aben,
R., Abi, B., Abolins, M., AbouZeid, O. S., Abramowicz, H., Abreu, H., Acharya, B. S., Adamczyk, L.,
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Physics Letters B (Vol. 716, Issue 1, pp. 1–29). Elsevier BV.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2012.08.020

[5] Aaij, R., Adeva, B., Adinolfi, M., Affolder, A., Ajaltouni, Z., Akar, S., Albrecht, J., Alessio, F.,
Alexander, M., Ali, S., Alkhazov, G., Alvarez Cartelle, P., Alves, A. A., Amato, S., Amerio, S., Amhis,
Y., An, L., Anderlini, L., … Anderson, J. (2015). Observation of J/ψp Resonances Consistent with
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[6] Rafelski, J. (2020). Discovery of Quark-Gluon Plasma: Strangeness Diaries. In The European Physical
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[7] Olsher, R. H., Hsu, H.-H., Beverding, A., Kleck, J. H., Casson, W. H., Vasilik, D. G., & Devine, R. T.
(2000). WENDI. In Health Physics (Vol. 79, Issue 2, pp. 170–181). Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer
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[8] CERN. (2024). Beam and detectors.

https://beamline-for-schools.web.cern.ch/sites/default/files/Beams_Detectors_BL4S2024.pdf