English

Angular distribution of low momentum atmospheric muons at ground level

Instrumentation and Detectors 2023-04-14 v4 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

We report measurements of the angular distributions of low momentum atmospheric muons at 38 m above sea level for zenith angles θ\theta between -60 and 60 degrees in the south-north direction. The muon detection was performed with two NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors mounted in coincidence. An adjustable lead thickness placed between the detectors allowed to select muons with a minimal momentum ranging from 0.3 to 0.9 GeV//c. The integrated and the differential muon flux were determined by analyzing the deposited energy spectra in the scintillators backed up by a Geant4 simulation of the experimental setup. The results are consistent with the cosn(θ)\cos^{n}(\theta) distribution in good agreement with the literature. These data contribute to fill the gap in the geomagnetic cutoff rigidity interval 8~GV<Pc<<P_c<14~GV where no similar measurements were performed before. We found that n=1.880.12 Pμcn=1.88-0.12~P_{\mu}^c in this domain of muon momenta cutoff PμcP_{\mu}^c<1 GeV//c. The present measurements are useful for many muon studies requiring an accurate integrated flux.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2206.13061,
  title  = {Angular distribution of low momentum atmospheric muons at ground level},
  author = {Issa Briki and Malek Mazouz and Lotfi Ghedira},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.13061},
  year   = {2023}
}