Publication Date

12-6-2019

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Hedin, David

Degree Name

B.S. (Bachelor of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Physics

Abstract

This paper focuses on the effects of a pion degrader for the Mu2e experiment at Fermilab. The Mu2e experiment will be sending a beam of negatively charged pions and muons into an aluminum (Al) target in order to observe the decay of muons directly into electrons without emitting any neutrinos, which would be an example of Charged Lepton Flavor Violation (CLFV). In order to detect the presence of CLFV decays, the energy of the electrons leaving the target material must be found and measured as accurately as possible. We will calibrate the energy with positive pions that stop in the target, and allowing them to decay into positrons of well-known momentum. Using this known process, we can correctly scale our detectors and describe the amount of energy lost while exiting the target material. In order to stop pions, however, we must first reduce their kinetic energy into an acceptable range before they strike the target. A pion energy degrader will be constructed to accomplish this effect, stripping a portion of the kinetic energy of the pions, as well as reducing the number of muons allowed to strike the target, which add extra background noise to the pion decay measurement. A comprehensive study of the effect of an aluminum degrader on the energy of pions and muons using Monte Carlo simulations will be provided in this report.

Extent

15 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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