Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Date of Award
Spring 2015
Document Type
Honors Paper
Degree Name
Physics-BS
Department
Physics
Advisor
Nathaniel Tagg, PhD
First Committee Member
Nathaniel Tagg, PhD
Second Committee Member
Aaron Reinhard, PhD
Third Committee Member
Wendy Sherman-Heckler, PhD
Keywords
particle physics, experiment, Tagg, neutrino, microboone
Subject Categories
Elementary Particles and Fields and String Theory
Abstract
The MicroBooNE experiment at Fermilab was designed both to investigate results from anomalies seen in short-baseline experiments and to prototype technology for larger scale experiments. MicroBooNE hopes to investigate an excess of low-energy events seen in a preceding experiment, using improved detector resolution. The goal of this thesis was to perform a calibration of the MicroBooNE detector by determining the Michel electron energy spectrum inside the detector. Michel electrons result from the decay of muons, and have a very well understood energy spectrum. Muons from cosmic rays continually pass through the detector, roughly 1% of which will decay within the detector volume. From these decayed muons it is possible to measure the energy spectrum of Michel decays occurring within the detector. Comparison of this spectrum with the spectrum provided by theory gives a conversion factor between the arbitrary detector units and true energy in MeV. This calibration is necessary for producing good physics data to meet the goals of the experiment. Here a procedure is developed that performs robust, low-level calibration. Development started with a simplified scenario, and ended with a more high-level calibration procedure, which found the detector to be calibrated at 54 ± 8 ADC/MeV.
Recommended Citation
Kellogg, Philip Griffith, "Analysis of the Energy Spectrum of Michel Electrons In MicroBooNE" (2015). Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects. 15.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/stu_honor/15