It's a great educational project for a physics class, from what I can tell. The article (
http://arxiv.org/abs/1606.01196) is nicely detailed and accessible to undergraduates. Good introduction to instrument design and construction, especially if (as the author suggests) the students are asked to write their own analysis software for it.
As far as applications go, the article offers a few ideas:
1. Measure the relative depths of subway stations across the city, using the measured
muon rates.
2. Test relativistic time dilation on the cosmic ray flux by measuring the flux at various elevations, such as in an airplane or on a mountain, compared to sea level.
3. Investigate correlations between the atmospheric temperature/pressure/humidity and the count rate.
4. Investigate seasonal variations in muon rates.
5. Using multiple detectors, measure the angular muon rate by looking at the coincidence rate.
6. Lower the gain of the circuit to look at high-energy stopping muon events. Investigate whether or not one can see the Michel electron from the muon decay.
Tempted to build one, but I don't immediately understand how it discriminates between muons and other forms of ionizing radiation that an ordinary Geiger counter will pick up.
As far as applications go, the article offers a few ideas:
1. Measure the relative depths of subway stations across the city, using the measured muon rates.
2. Test relativistic time dilation on the cosmic ray flux by measuring the flux at various elevations, such as in an airplane or on a mountain, compared to sea level.
3. Investigate correlations between the atmospheric temperature/pressure/humidity and the count rate.
4. Investigate seasonal variations in muon rates.
5. Using multiple detectors, measure the angular muon rate by looking at the coincidence rate.
6. Lower the gain of the circuit to look at high-energy stopping muon events. Investigate whether or not one can see the Michel electron from the muon decay.
Tempted to build one, but I don't immediately understand how it discriminates between muons and other forms of ionizing radiation that an ordinary Geiger counter will pick up.