Syracuse University QuarkNet Center
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on Friday, September 13, 2013 - 09:06
Description
Welcome to the Syracuse University QuarkNet center. We meet on the campus of SU and serve teachers in the surrounding area.
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2014 Annual Report - Syracuse University
Cosmic Ray Detectors and LHCb MasterClass with the SU HEP Group
(S. Blusk, Sept. 12, 2014)
The Syracuse High Energy Physics group held a 3-day Quarknet workshop from Jun 30 – July 2 in the physics department. Prof. Blusk and Prof. Soderberg hosted the event. Seven teachers were able to join the event, who are shown in the photo below. The phot shows: (bottom row, left to right) Alexa Perry (Fayetteville-Manlius), Justin Shute (Fayetteville-Manlius), Cynthia Lamphere (Port Byron), Michael Madden (Candidagua); and (top row, left to right) Prof. Mitch Soderberg, Bob Peterson (Quarknet), Ryan Sokol (Liverpool), Ranald Bleakley (Weedsport), Prof. Steven Blusk, and Josh Buchman (Fayetteville-Manlius). Bob Peterson was on hand to help facilitate the worskshop.
In this year’s workshop the focus was to introduce the new suite of tools available in the Cosmic Ray Detector e-Lab. In addition, the teachers learned about the new graphical user interface (GUI) to communicate with the data acquisition. In addition to learning the new features, we set a goal to develop a laboratory or demonstration, which could be used in their classroom this year. In the case of the laboratory, the teachers were to draft the lab writeup for the students, so that it would be (more or less) ready to use in this academic year.
In addition to the summer program, we hosted our first LHCb MasterClass on March 28, 2014. About 30 students from the local high schools came to the physics department to participate. In the morning, the students listened to a pair of lectures by Profs Blusk and Soderberg on the Standard Model and on the phenomena of weak decays. After lunch, each student was given his/her own computer where they got to analyze real LHCb data on D0-->Kpi decays. In the first part, they got to scan single events one at a time to try and find the D0 decays. In the second part, they performed a fit to the reconstructed decay time to measure the D0 lifetime. Several stories were run in the local news or in the SU News, such as these: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/physics_teachers_get_a_chance.html, and http://asnews.syr.edu/newsevents_2012/releases/QuarkNet_story.html, and http://asnews.syr.edu/newsevents_2014/releases/physics_masterclass.html. Some photos from the event are shown below.
Activity - Know your Muon Detector
This document will guide you and your students through an updated plateauing process with EQUIP as well as uploading data.
Detecting Cosmic Rays
Regents Physics Lab Name:_______________________________________
Title: Detecting Cosmic Rays
This lab is sponsored by Quarknet, a national organization for the exploration of high energy particle interactions with our Earth. QuarkNet provides professional development and on-going support for physics teachers and students.
Video: What are high energy particles? (3-5 mins)
Start Detector - data collection begins without lead - 5 mins
Pre-Lab Discussion:
All day, every day, and every night too, cosmic rays from sources in deep space strike the Earth. Cosmic rays can be of two types. The first is high energy particles such as fast moving protons, and the second is high energy electromagnetic photons. The majority of these rays interact with atoms or molecules in out upper atmosphere and “shatter” those particles into a shower of fragments that then cascades to Earth. Watch the following video for a good representation of such an event.
Link to video
Start Detector - data collection begins with lead shielding - 5 mins
We do not have equipment at school to detect the original cosmic rays, but we do have a particle detector (the CRD or Cosmic Ray Detector) the detects the most prevalent of the shower particles, the Muon.
Video: What is a Muon?
As muons pass through our detectors they deposit some of their energy in the detector the detector responds by “Scintillating” or emitting light. This light is then collected by the photomultiplier tube (PMT) and converted into an electrical pulse. It is those pulses that we collect and analyze.
Discussions of Detector
Purpose:
The purpose of this lab is to discover ways in which to use the CRD to measure various aspects of cosmic ray influx to the Earth and find the various factors that modify that influx.
Materials:
A Quarknet Cosmic Ray Detector
Computer
E-Lab software
Safety For You:
The CRD is powered by 110volt mains current. Be careful what yo touch on the circuit board.
Safety For the Equipment:
Do not put any liquids, food, chemicals etc, near the detector.
Do not pile objects on top of the detector
The detector must remain unplugged and “powered down” until your setup has been check by your instructor.
Do not pick up the detector panels by the PVC tubes.
Procedure Data Collection: (may be done in your lab groups or by your teacher)
1. Make sure detectors are stacked on top of each other as demonstrated by the teacher
2. Choose one of the experiments below.
3. Follow the instructions provided to turn the detector on and collect data for that expderiment.
Procedure for analyzing data:
1. Open e-Labs http://www.i2u2.org/elab/cosmic/home/index.jsp
2. Use the log-in and password provided
3. Data will have been uploaded for you so Click directly on Data
4. Click onFlux
5. Click on menu and select Detector ID
6. Type in 6771 and hit search data
7. Click on arrow next to school name
8. Select the correct date by checking the box to the left of the date
9. Click on Run Flux Study (located on the top right of the page)
Data
Conclusions:
Discussion:
Questions:
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