Gamma Calibration of Scintillators for the MUon Scattering Experiment

Author

Anne Gloria Flannery

Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Physics and Astronomy

First Advisor

Steffen Strauch

Abstract

The MUon Scattering Experiment (MUSE) at the Paul Scherrer Institute seeks to measure the muon-proton and electron-proton elastic cross-sections in the same experiment by measuring the scattering angle of particles from a 115-160 MeV beam onto a liquid hydrogen target. The timing detectors, as well as several of other detectors in the experiment, are plastic scintillators. This document discusses a method for the energy calibration, using ²⁰⁸Tl, ²²Na, and 88Y sources, signal attenuation, and hit-position reconstructions of various timing detectors, as well as their function in the experiment as a whole. This method involves first attaining the pulse-height spectra experimentally, then creating a coincident Monte Carlo simulation, and finally finding a fit based on the two. The method of fitting uses iterative techniques to minimize the maximum likelihood in an energy range that covers the Compton edge in the distribution. Final calibration demonstrates the accuracy of this method to within 2 % for the various source measurements at the threshold of the detectors (around 2 MeV).

Rights

© 2023, Anne Gloria Flannery

Recommended Citation

Flannery, A. G.(2023). Gamma Calibration of Scintillators for the MUon Scattering Experiment. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/7350