Particle Physics: First Ever Cosmic Muons Spotted with School Bus-Sized Detector

Scientists have observed the first ever cosmic muons with the help of a school bus-sized detector. The new findings were made using MicroBooNE, a liquid-argon time projection chamber, which recorded images of the tracks of cosmic muons.

"This is the first detector of this size and scale we've ever launched in the U.S. for use in a neutrino beam, so it's a very important milestone for the future of neutrino physics," said Sam Zeller, one of the researchers, in a news release.

Cosmic muons are particles that shower down on Earth when cosmic rays collide with nuclei in our atmosphere. Picking up cosmic muons is actually just one brief stop during MicroBooNE's expedition into particle physics. MicroBooNE will actually pursue the elusive neutrino, taking data about this weakly interacting particle for about three years.

One of MicroBooNE's goals is to measure how often a neutrino that interacts with an argon atom will produce certain types of particles. In fact, MicroBooNE will carry signals up to two and a half meters across the detector, which is the longest drift ever for a LArTPC in a neutrino beam.

"The entire particle physics community worldwide has identified neutrino physics as one of the key lines of research that could help us understand better how to go beyond what we know now," said Matt Toups, run coordinator and co-commissioner for MicroBooNE, in a news release. "Those questions that are driving the field, we hope to answer with a very large LArTPC detector."

The findings reveal a bit more about particle physics and are just the first step to understanding a bit more about mysterious neutrinos.

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