Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Introduction
- 1 Interactions of particles and radiation with matter
- 2 Characteristic properties of detectors
- 3 Units of radiation measurements and radiation sources
- 4 Accelerators
- 5 Main physical phenomena used for particle detection and basic counter types
- 6 Historical track detectors
- 7 Track detectors
- 8 Calorimetry
- 9 Particle identification
- 10 Neutrino detectors
- 11 Momentum measurement and muon detection
- 12 Ageing and radiation effects
- 13 Example of a general-purpose detector: Belle
- 14 Electronics
- 15 Data analysis
- 16 Applications of particle detectors outside particle physics
- Résumé
- 17 Glossary
- 18 Solutions
- Appendix 1 Table of fundamental physical constants
- Appendix 2 Definition and conversion of physical units
- Appendix 3 Properties of pure and composite materials
- Appendix 4 Monte Carlo event generators
- Appendix 5 Decay-level schemes
- Index
11 - Momentum measurement and muon detection
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Introduction
- 1 Interactions of particles and radiation with matter
- 2 Characteristic properties of detectors
- 3 Units of radiation measurements and radiation sources
- 4 Accelerators
- 5 Main physical phenomena used for particle detection and basic counter types
- 6 Historical track detectors
- 7 Track detectors
- 8 Calorimetry
- 9 Particle identification
- 10 Neutrino detectors
- 11 Momentum measurement and muon detection
- 12 Ageing and radiation effects
- 13 Example of a general-purpose detector: Belle
- 14 Electronics
- 15 Data analysis
- 16 Applications of particle detectors outside particle physics
- Résumé
- 17 Glossary
- 18 Solutions
- Appendix 1 Table of fundamental physical constants
- Appendix 2 Definition and conversion of physical units
- Appendix 3 Properties of pure and composite materials
- Appendix 4 Monte Carlo event generators
- Appendix 5 Decay-level schemes
- Index
Summary
I think that a particle must have a separate reality independent of the measurements. That is, an electron has spin, location, and so forth even when it is not being measured. I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it.
Albert EinsteinMomentum measurement and, in particular, muon detection is an important aspect of any experiment of particle physics, astronomy or astrophysics. Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are currently at the forefront of astroparticle physics searching for the accelerators in the sky. These questions can be studied by the detection of extensive air showers at ground level by measuring secondary electrons, muons and hadrons produced by primary cosmic rays which initiate hadronic cascades in the Earth's atmosphere. The detectors have to operate for many years in order to map the galactic sources of high-energy cosmic rays which may be visible at the experimental sites. There are several experiments dedicated to studying these air showers that employ large detector arrays for electron and muon detection. Apart from water Cherenkov and scintillation counters, typical detectors such as limited streamer tubes [1] and resistive-plate chambers are also used [2].
In the field of high energy physics, over the last several decades many outstanding discoveries have been made from the studies of muons along with other precision measurements of leptons and hadrons.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Particle Detectors , pp. 327 - 345Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008