Cosmic Ray e-Lab
 
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Abstract:
Students experience the environment of scientific collaborations in this series of investigations into high-energy cosmic rays. Schools with cosmic ray detectors can upload data to the web. A virtual data portal enables students to share this data and associated analysis code with students at other schools whether or not those schools have their own cosmic ray detectors.

To begin, students check the performance of the detectors they have chosen for their study. They can then perform one of three investigations: muon lifetime, muon flux or extended air showers. Students post the results of their studies as online posters.

Students start this e-lab with an animation that raises questions researchers ask about cosmic rays. Bookmark it as it is different than either Student Home below and you will want to direct your students there.

View Student Home as a: new student - returning student.
News Alert
21 August 2008: Cosmic e-Lab may experience intermittent outages from 25 Aug to 5 Sep. Argonne IT staff plan to upgrade server Operating Systems. Each machine will go offline independently and tested before rejoining the server cluster. Try alternative analysis options listed under "Execution Controls" (e.g., analyzing locally rather than on the cluster or GRID). We apologize for any disruption of e-Lab work.
Send concerns to: HELPDESK.
Use these URLs:
  • quarknet.fnal.gov/e-lab
  • www.i2u2.org/elab/cosmic


    • Published: August 21, 2008 at 10:00:00 AM Chicago Time

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    Introduction to Research:
    Cosmic rays are typically protons, neutrons, gamma rays or other particles that originate in any number of astronomical objects. When these "primary" cosmic rays encounter earth's atmosphere, they can interact with nuclei of atoms and produce new, often unstable particles (e.g., pions and kaons.) In turn, these secondary cosmic rays further decay and create muons, electrons, photons and neutrinos. If these cosmic rays are sufficiently energetic, they can reach the earth's surface and be detected. (Neutrinos are capable of passing through the earth and are generally undetected.)

    Occasionally the primary possesses tremendous energy. These create many, many decay products. An array of detectors on the earth's surface can indirectly measure the energy of the primary by counting the number of particles in the detector array simultaneously. These observations can lead to a calculation of the part of the sky that the primary came from.

    Prior Knowledge and Skills: Before doing this project, students should know how to:
    • Make simple measurements.
    • Make simple calculations.
    • Interpret simple graphs.
    • Write a research question.
    • Make a research plan.
    We provide refresher references for students who need to brush up on these skills. Here is what the students see:
    Review of Basic Skills

    Learner Outcomes: Students will know and be able to:
    • Content and Investigation:
      • Identify components of primary, secondary and later generation cosmic rays.
      • Provide a complete list of properties of cosmic rays revealed in the observations.
      • Design an investigation that asks a researchable question, can be answered from the cosmic ray data and provides an explanation about what you will learn about cosmic rays.
    • Process:
      • Explain the data collection process including what corrections need to be made in order to obtain reliable data.
      • Evaluate the data to decide which are reliable/usable and which are not and explain how you arrived at the decision to include some data and exclude others.
      • Collect, organize and analyze data to obtain meaningful findings.
      • Use the data to provide evidence to support your claims.
      • Describe the contribution team members make in a several-person project.
    • Technology/Grid:
      • Demonstrate technical skill in accessing data from the Grid and Grid computing techniques.
      • Describe Grid-related careers and education paths to those careers.
    • Literacy:
      • Demonstrate an ability to articulate meaning in writing (such as in science notebooks, reports) and negotiate meaning with others (such as peer review, discussion).
    Research Question:
    How much area can a cosmic ray shower cover? Where do cosmic rays come from? Students can pose a number of questions and then analyze the data for answers. Some answers are new to students but well answered by physicists. These include the muon lifetime, rate of cosmic ray arrival as well as the source of low-energy air showers. However, the origin of the highest-energy cosmic rays is an open question-several experiments are actually exploring it now. Students may be able to contribute data to these efforts. Many experiments have measured cosmic array showers, including CASA (Chicago Area Scintillator Array), project G.R.A.N.D. (Gamma Ray Astrophysics at Notre Dame) and the Pierre Auger Project (an array being set up in Argentina).

    Students will be able to look into the size of cosmic ray showers by comparing their cosmic ray detector data with that from others across a wide area to see where particles struck earth's surface in closely correlated time windows. Also, students will be a part of this ongoing research by providing data to a collaboration of their peers. These data contain stamps for time and geographic location information.

    Assessment:
    Asssessment is aligned to learner outcomes. We provide the following tools to meet specific outcomes for your students. You may wish to modify some to meet your needs.