Download - Muon Lifetime and time dilation effect
MUON LIFETIME AND TIME DILATION EFFECT
Measuring the stopping rate of muons, as a function of depth in the atmosphere to demonstrate the time dilation effect of special
relativity.Melinda Jolley
THE MUON WAS SO UNEXPECTED THAT, REGARDING ITS DISCOVERY, NOBEL LAUREATE ISIDOR ISAAC RABI FAMOUSLY QUIPPED, “WHO ORDERED THAT?”
Where do muons come from?
• Not completely sure• Somewhere in deep space?• Very recent NASA research
Muons were originally thought to be meson• It’s name is a combination of
mu and meson• Femi Coupling Constant (
The Muon• Nope, it is a Lepton
• Nicknamed ‘The Heavy Electron’• 𝜇± →e± +2 ν
THE GOALS OF MY EXPERIMENT Determine the
Measured Lifetime of the Muon• Muon Physics • Moun.exe
• Accepted τ = 2.20 µs
The Fermi Coupling Constant
• Use the measured τ
Is there no Time Dilation?
• Rates of Muon decays at one elevation
• Approximation for rate at second elevation
• Correction factors for Energy Loss over distance and
Variations in the shape of the muon energy spectrum
CORRECTING FOR ENERGY LOSS
• .
THE MUON ENERGY
SPECTRUM
THE PREDICTIONS
• = • =
THE EQUIPMENT USED
• Scintillator is placed at the bottom of a black anodized
aluminum alloy tube• Plastic Scintillator made of
Organic Transparent Material
HOW THE DATA LOOKS
MY DATA
• High Voltage set to -1154 Volts• Threshold Voltage set to 206 MeV• First location: Pueblo, CO, Elevation 1420 m• Second location: Monarch Mountain Base Summit, CO, Elevation 3290 m• ΔH= 1870 m
• Much more Pueblo Data than Monarch Data
FERMI COUPLING CONSTANT • Accepted value:
• Pueblo value : • Monarch value :
• Mass of the Muon = • Reduced Planck’s Constant =
STOPPING RATES
• Pueblo’s Stopping Rate = • Monarch’s Stopping Rate =
RATES ACCOUNTING FOR
ENERGY LOSS
• t=6.28 µsec or • . • , , •
• Remember t is the transit time assuming no Time Dilation
• t’ assumes Time Dilation Effects
MUON ENERGY SPECTRUM
CORRECTIONAND PREDICTIONS
GREAT INCONSISTENCY OF THE MEASURED ANSWER WITH THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THERE IS NO
RELATIVISTIC TIME DILATION EFFECTS ON THE MUON
The data was consistent with the Relativistic Time Dilation Hypothesis.
“
”IF WE KNEW WHAT IT WAS WE WERE DOING, IT WOULD NOT BE CALLED
RESEARCH, WOULD IT
Einstein
Thanks to:Dr. BrownDr. WallinMy family
Special thanks to Annika, Thomas, and Olivia