Design and Construction of Muon Detector for Cosmic Muon Detection

Muons are elementary particles listed in the Standard Model. Muons are produced when high energy cosmic rays collide with the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in showers that rain muons upon the Earth's surface. The high energy at which muons are produced cause them to reach a relativistic speed, allowing them to reach the Earth's surface for detection. CosmicWatch is a cost-effective, compact, and portable muon counter applying plastic scintillator as the muon target and a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) for light detection. The easy construction and data collection provided by CosmicWatch's simplistic design allows for inexpensive particle physics research at an undergraduate level. Possible future experiments include observing the effect of thunderstorms on muon rates and utilizing two detectors as a direct proof of concept of the muon flux as a function of the incident angle with respect to the zenith, which is approximated as the intensity of the flux times the cosine of the angle squared.