Study and measurements of the muon decay

• Grant number: 09/09192-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2009
• End date: July 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Anderson Campos Fauth
• Grantee: Alysson Ferreira Morais
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

A detector with 12,000 liters of water will be used to measure the average life time of muons. This detector uses the Cherenkov effect in water to measure the time decay of muons of cosmic radiation. The distortion in the distribution of decay times of the muons due to the capture of negative muons will be studied to obtain the value of the average life time of muon in the free space. The student will have the opportunity of using experimental modern techniques, detectors of elementary particles, with electronic data acquisition and using computer. Explore the physics of cosmic rays, the interaction of particles with matter, special relativity, and particle physics techniques of data analysis.