the cosmic ray observatory project in nebraska conference on teacher research experiences university...
TRANSCRIPT
The Cosmic Ray Observatory Project in Nebraska
Conference on Teacher Research ExperiencesUniversity of Rhode Island
25-27 April 2005
An education and research experiment for Nebraska high schools
PresentersProfs. Daniel Claes and Gregory Snow / University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Fr. Michael Liebl / Mt. Michael Benedictine High School, Elkhorn, NE
Overview• CROP is in its 5th year of operation
• Funded by a $1.34 Million grant, U.S. National Science Foundation
• Managed by a small team at the University of Nebraska
• 26 participating schools, about 5 new schools added per year
• 4-week summer training workshops and 2 academic year meetings
• Hardware and software• 6060 cm2 scintillators, PMTs, high voltage supplies from
the now-complete Chicago Air Shower Array• Data acquisition electronics card developed jointly with
Fermilab and QuarkNet• LabView control and monitoring program runs on PC at school• Inter-school data analysis starting, development underway
A small number of inter-school coincidences have been observed
Air shower cartoon, school set-up, participating schools
700 km
November 2004 One-day Participant Meeting
Teachers and students from about half of CROP’s schools, all yearsTypical school team: 1-2 physics teachers, 3-4 students
• CROP uses retired detectors from the Chicago Air Shower Array• 1089 boxes each with:
• 4 scintillators and photomultiplier tubes (PMT)• 1 high voltage and 1 low voltage power supply
• Two removal trips (September 1999, May 2001) yielded over 2000 scintillator panels, 2000 PMTs, 500 low and power supplies• Sufficient hardware for all Nebraska high schools
CROP’s Cosmic Ray Detectors
Summer 2004 Workshop ActivitiesDetector assembly and testing
Summer 2004 Workshop ActivitiesOscilloscope and DAQ card lessons
Summer 2004 Workshop ActivitiesPractice experiments to be performed at school
Summer 2004 Workshop ActivitiesDetectors return to school
5 VoltDC power
To PCserial port
Four analogPMT inputs
Discriminatorthreshold
adjust
GPS receiverinput
Eventcounter
Programmablelogic device
Time-to-digitalconverters
CROP data acquisition electronics card
Developed by Univ. Nebraska, Fermilab (QuarkNet), Univ. Washington
• 43 Mhz (24 nsec) clock interpolates between 1 pps GPS ticks for trigger time• TDC’s give relative times of 4 inputs with 75 psec resolution
User-friendly, LabView-based control and monitoring GUI
Two detectorsfiring at thesame time
Data streamfor eachevent
Eventcounter
Elapsedrun
time
Some lessons learned
• Big variation among schools in independent activity/investigations during school year. Some real successes, some inactive sites
• Close contact very important during academic year
• Scheme for replacing/training new students as classes graduate important
• Classroom integration, affect on curriculum is not automatic. Scheme to guide this is needed.
• Hardware and software delays create frustration and idleness
• Hard to recruit for long summer workshops
• High school schedules are packed, hard to get full participation in academic year Saturday meetings of all participants