Pitt-CoRTExCosmic Ray Tracker Experiment for Education and Outreach

The Pitt-CoRTEx (Cosmic Ray Tracker Experiment) is a modular muon detector

designed to be easily transportable for education and outreach purposes. The grid-

like detector is able to record spatial information about the path of the muon and

displays its path in real time on an LED cube. The detector makes use of multiple

solid-state scintillating panels which can be interlocked to form a 3D grid. As muons

pass though this grid, they deposit energy which is then emitted as scintillation light.

The light is ultimately transmitted to a silicon photomultiplier via a optical fiber,

enabling reconstruction of muon tracks. Due to the modular nature of our detector,

it can easily be transported to new locations both for education and data capturing

purposes. In initial simulations of the detector, we have shown that we can reconstruct

the path of a muon and display its trajectory in real time using low-power, portable

hardware such as a Raspberry Pi 4. We also implement a live monitoring web server

to be able to track the health of the detector and individual panels; as well as a LED

visualization cube, to be able to show the path of the muon in real time. Future version

of the detector will feature built-in LEDs to eliminate the need for the visualization

cube. This presentation will highlight the ongoing work of the construction of 3x3x3

prototype detector and the R&D for an 8x8x8 in the near future for improved data

acuracy and spatial resolution.