Our Center analyzed data from The 2017 Eclipse project.  Teachers and students presented their results at APPT in San Diego Jan. 2018.

We also participated in a CMS Master Class at Glenbrook North, videoing with students from Shangai and Honolulu.

The summer workshop was hosted at Naperville Central.  teams measured the muon rate versus overburden sheilding.  During a  tour of Fermilab neutrino facilities our group assessed the MINOS access shaft in preparation for a proposal to measure cosmic ray muon rates versus distance from the shaft.

The theme of the UIC QuarkNet summer workshop was preparation for the solar eclipse.  Eighteen students and 5 teachers assembled and tested three varieties of cosmic ray telescopes: fixed-angle; tracking with plumbing pipe sframe; and tracking with PVC support.

Results - 

With fixed angle telescopes, students measured the cosmic ray rates pointing at empty sky, at the moon and at the sun.  This was done by dead reconning inside a building with no view of the sky.  We relied on a nice website suncalc.org (mooncalc.org) that agreed well with the sun's position at the time.  In the short runs, there was no observed difference in muon rates in the sky at the same zenith angle for those three conditions.  Changes due to cahnges in pressure were seen.  Rate ariation versus zenith angle were also measured and were consistent with a cos²(theta) dependence.  In one test it was verified that the muon rate does not vary with vertical position, onthe scale of our telescopes.

Tracking telescopes were assembels and tested outside.  They both tracked the sun well, but we have to correct several problems:

1. the motor drive for the pipe version stopped working, so we must debug why the controller can no longer initialize itself.

2. the PVC version is heavy and we need to extend the counter blancing weight further from the rotation axis or add more mass.

Several alignment techniques were tried and it seem easy to align using the shadow cast by a tube, cross-hairs target of telescope shadow itself.

For both types of telscope initial steps were taken decide which muon rates for what types of scintillator combinations will be most useful.  The normalization scheme using pairs of counters at teh top or bottom of the telescope worked well.

Great successes and lot of progress!

Objectives

Participating teachers will be able to:

• Configure a cosmic ray detector appropriately for acquisition of data for calibration and analysis of measurements
• Identify and describe the e-Lab tools available for conducting studies with data collected using a cosmic ray detector
• Create, organize and interpret a data plot to make a claim based on evidence; provide reasoning and identify data limitations
• Develop a plan for taking students from their current level of data use to subsequent levels using activities and/or ideas from the workshop.

Agenda 

Times and specific activities are subject to adjustment.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1DlFzBuWdfQgNRh7lpv1A532XFBQ&hl=en

Report of QuarkNet Activities at UIC and CSU during 2014-2015

The QuarkNet Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago State University provides mentoring, organization and collaborative structure to students and teachers at ten Chicagoland high schools that host cosmic ray detectors. UIC and CSU provides detectors and develops analysis software for students so they can carry out physics experiments based on detecting cosmic ray muons.  Yearly summer workshops are held at UIC during which new students are recruited and trained.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zl9zMEZG24yo.kx2jOVu0S4ek

A wide variety of other cosmic ray activities in addition to school visits and the workshop have taken place this year. At Glenbrook North three projects matured: a multi-year project of the reconstruction of the cosmic ray direction; a proposal to CERN for use of a test beam to simulate radiation damage in nuclear control rods; and a study of whether muon rates are affected by fire.

At Naperville Central students measured muon rates over time and worked on a design to measure rates in a one-degree aperture, along with a veto design to reduce backgrounds from multiple muons.

A Winter one-day workshop was hosted by Naperville Central High School on Sunday, February 22, 2015.  Thirteen QuarkNet participants from five high schools and three research centers attended to discuss the projects they were exploring during the academic year: Muons through Fire, Cosmic Ray Direction Reconstruction, and Observation of a Shadow of Muons Cast by the Sun.

A proposal to mount a 60-counter cosmic ray detector on the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park in Chicago was submitted to the city and to the Pavilion’s architect Frank Gehry last year.  The City of Chicago is still reviewing proposals, however UIC is designing a prototype detector based on SIPMs.  We collaborated with others to assemble a prototype and students compared its operation to that of normal QuarkNet detectors during our summer workshop.

During the next grant period, UIC and CSU will continue to visit high school sites to assist students operate their cosmic ray detectors, will mentor students on their choice of experimental activities and will host a week-long summer workshop at UIC for intense experimental training for students, as well as sponsor a fall weekend mini-workshop at CSU 2015.

Adams has also worked extensively with QuarkNet staff to upgrade sections of e-Lab to correct the Cosmic Ray Shower-finding module, calibrate all existing data files for their absolute time determination and design and implement a Time of Flight analysis tool.