The underground muon flux with 24 years of data of the LVD detector

C F Vigorito

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1181/1/012057

C F Vigorito

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1181/1/012057

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Abstract

The Large Volume Detector (LVD), in the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory (Italy), has been taking data since June 1992. The experiment, 1 kton of liquid scintillator at the equivalent depth of 3600 m w.e., has been mainly designed to observe low energy neutrinos from the core collapse of a supernova but allows also the measure of the atmospheric muon flux underground as well as the induced neutron production.In this work we summarize the results of the analysis of the global LVD data set, 5.6 107 muons in a livetime of 8402 days collected during 24 years of continuos operations since 1994 up to 2017. The present measurement represents an unprecedented collection obtained by a unique experiment in a fixed location. The modulation in time of the flux and its correlation with the the effective temperature in the upper atmosphere are here discussed.

Highlights

The flux of muons detected in underground laboratories is directly related to the production of mesons in the stratosphere by hadronic interactions between cosmic rays and the nuclei of air molecules and to the probability that they decay before interacting
In this work we summarize the results of the analysis of the global Large Volume Detector (LVD) data set, 5.6 107 muons in a livetime of 8402 days collected during 24 years of continuos operations since 1994 up to 2017
In this work we present the results of the monitoring of the muon flux by LVD, the largest dataset ever provided so far for undeground muons by a single detector

Summary

Introduction

The flux of muons detected in underground laboratories is directly related to the production of mesons in the stratosphere by hadronic interactions between cosmic rays and the nuclei of air molecules and to the probability that they decay before interacting This flux shows time variations which are, at first approximation, seasonal and related to the air density fluctuations affecting the fraction of mesons decaying to high energy muons able to trigger the underground detector. This effect has been known and studied for many decades [1]. DX W (X), the relation between effective temperature and muon intensity variations can be simplified as:

The LVD detector

Results

Conclusions