The Production of Prompt Cosmic Ray Muons and Neutrinos

205 Tl in the lorandite (TiAsS 2 ) mine of Allchar (Majdan, FYR Macedonia) is transformed to 205 Pb by cosmic ray reactions with muons and neutrinos. At depths of more than 300 m, muogenic production would be sufficiently low for the 4.3 Ma old lorandite deposit to be used as a natural neutrino detector. Unfortunately, the Allchar deposit currently sits at a depth of only 120 m below the surface, apparently making the lorandite experiment technically infeasible. We here present 25 erosion rate estimates for the Allchar area using in situ produced cosmogenic 36 Cl in carbonates and 10 Be in alluvial quartz. The new measurements suggest long-term erosion rates of 100–120 m Ma −1 in the silicate lithologies that are found at the higher elevations of the Majdanksa River valley, and 200–280 m Ma −1 in the underlying marbles and dolomites. These values indicate that the lorandite deposit has spent most of its existence at depths of more than 400 m, sufficient for the neutrinogenic 205 Pb component to dominate the muon contribution. Our results suggest that this unique particle physics experiment is theoretically feasible and merits further development.

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Measuring Cosmic Ray and Atmospheric Neutrinos in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

International Journal of Modern Physics A ◽

10.1142/s0217751x05025863 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 20 (14) ◽

pp. 3106-3109 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

◽

CHARLES A. CURRAT

Keyword(s):

Atmospheric Neutrino ◽

Cosmic Ray ◽

High Energy ◽

Great Depth ◽

Cherenkov Detector ◽

Atmospheric Neutrinos ◽

Cosmic Ray Interactions ◽

The World ◽

Muons And Neutrinos ◽

Model Independent

High energy muons and neutrinos are produced by the interaction of primary cosmic rays in the Earth's upper atmosphere. These primary interactions produce mesons that decay into muons and neutrinos. SNO is in a unique position amongst underground experiments in the world. At the depth of over 6 km water equivalent, it is the deepest underground laboratory currently in operation. SNO can make a number of novel measurements using muons. First, SNO is sensitive to the downward muon rate coming from primary cosmic ray interactions. Second, SNO's great depth makes possible the detection of atmospheric neutrinos (via the detection of neutrino induced muons) from the nadir to inclinations as large as cos (θ zenith ) ≃ 0.4 above the horizon. Although SNO is a modest-size Cherenkov detector, SNO's unique niche allows it to make important model-independent checks of atmospheric neutrino oscillations.

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ON THE POSSIBILITY TO SIMULTANEOUSLY DETERMINE THE LONG-TERM AVERAGE FLUXES OF SOLAR pp-NEUTRINOS AND COSMIC RAY MUONS

Modern Physics Letters A ◽

10.1142/s0217732311035626 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (17) ◽

pp. 1267-1271 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

I. V. ANICIN ◽

V. PEJOVIĆ ◽

M. K. PAVIĆEVIĆ ◽

G. AMTHAUER ◽

B. BOEV ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

International Collaboration ◽

Solar Neutrino ◽

Neutrino Flux ◽

Cosmic Ray ◽

Muon Flux ◽

Capture Reaction ◽

Muons And Neutrinos

The Allchar mine in the southern FYR Macedonia contains the world's largest known concentration of thallium bearing minerals. LOREX (acronym for the geo-chemical LORandite EXperiment) is an international collaboration exploring the opportunity to use the rare mineral lorandite ( TlAsS 2) for the determination of the solar pp-neutrino flux, averaged over the 4.3 million year age of the deposit. Here we discuss the possibility to determine simultaneously both the solar neutrino and the cosmic ray muon flux, averaged over the same period of time. Cosmic-ray muons participate in the reaction 205 Tl (μp, n)205 Pb , whereas the neutrinos induce the capture reaction 205 Tl (νe, e)205 Pb * → 205 Pb . Both fluxes can in principle be determined by counting the number of atoms of the long-lived 205 Pb present in the mineral, produced by both muons and neutrinos in the reactions with the most abundant stable isotope, 205 Tl .

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