1. Flying Radioactive Intergalactic Bunnies
MoNA
PAN
(Modular Neutron Array)
(Physics of the Atomic Nuclei)
MoNA, MoNA, here’s to thee,
Who bestows data unto me,
About muons that I can’t see,
And plus, I like your symmetry.
When cosmic rays pass through your core,
They hit charged particles, what’s more,
These protons ask, you while they soar,
“Light your plastic scintillator!”
The light produced goes through a guide,
Which concentrates it (thin from wide),
To takes which make sure it can’t hide,
(N.B. there is one on each side).
The photo-multiplier tubes,
(or PMT’s unless you’re noobs),
Increase the photons (sphere, not cubes),
So all the lights are bright (not rubes).
So, in conclusion, MoNA’s cool;
With photon converted to volt,
We can detect the particles,
That pass through her (I Love This School);
She helps grads in this science cult,
Write dissention articles.
In the PAN program, a select group of high school students from around the world are given the opportunity to explore the realm of nuclear physics at the number one university for the subject in the nation, Michigan State University. Each day a different professor from the university gave a presentation regarding various aspects of nuclear physics used at the university. In the afternoons three different experiments were performed using multiple machines regularly used at NSCL (National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory), such as MoNA (Modular Neutron Array), which detects neutrons and cosmic rays, and an oscilloscope and the program SpecTcl, both of which are used for registering and analyzing the data produced by the experiments with MoNA. PAN exposed the students to top nuclear physics programs by allowing them to work with top students and graduates and perform top level research in the number one rare isotope laboratory in the americas. Soon graduates and researchers at Michigan State University and researchers in collaboration with the university will be working with the number one rare isotope beam laboratory in the world, FRIB (Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.) Thanks to JINA for the sponsoring of PAN and the laboratories used. PAN has been an incredibly advantageous opportunity.
Special thanks to Dr. Z
Go Spartans!
Samuel Caradonna, Margaret Durbin, Cody Johansen, and Rachel Polus
Experiment 1
Experiment 3
In experiment one we learned the basics of the MoNA detector by recognizing cosmic rays using the oscilloscope which interprets the data from MoNA and graphs the continuous information one random case at a time. This experiment was tedious in that we had to find the random case at the right time, otherwise you don’t have all the information at one time. We recorded data points for five different points of neutron emission sources put at different places behind the detector.
In Experiment three, we determine the angle at which the cosmic rays (mostly muons) hit MoNA. We used trigonometry to determine the angle at which the rays hit by measuring the position of the ray as it enters the first bar on MoNA and the position of the rays as it enters the last bar on MoNA. We then graphed the distribution of the angles at which the rays hit.
Experiment 2
Oscilloscope
Experiment two was similar to Experiment one in that it was centered around finding a neutron source with MoNA, but the former built upon the latter through use of a computer with SpecTcl rather than an oscilloscope. It involved keeping track of the energy levels of particles passing though MoNA and filtering out the non-muon data.
One of the Cyclotrons at NSCL
Thank you JINA!!!