Observation of seasonal variation of atmospheric multiple-muon events in the MINOS near and far detectors

Journal Article · Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.112006· OSTI ID:1212732

Adamson, P. ^[1]

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1. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States). et al.

We report the first observation of seasonal modulations in the rates of cosmic ray multiple-muon events at two underground sites, the MINOS Near Detector with an overburden of 225 mwe, and the MINOS Far Detector site at 2100 mwe. Thus, at the deeper site, multiple-muon events with muons separated by more than 8 m exhibit a seasonal rate that peaks during the summer, similar to that of single-muon events. In contrast and unexpectedly, the rate of multiple-muon events with muons separated by less than 5–8 m, and the rate of multiple-muon events in the smaller, shallower Near Detector, exhibit a seasonal rate modulation that peaks in the winter.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Contributing Organization: The MINOS Collaboration
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1212732
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-15-102-ND; PRVDAQ; arXiv eprint number arXiv:1503.09104
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, Vol. 91, Issue 11; ISSN 1550-7998
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English