Investigating the behaviour of muons

 

On Wednesday 29th of March, physics students from Woodhouse, joined by others across London, presented their research into the properties of cosmic radiation at Queen Mary University of London for the annual ‘Cosmic Con 23’ conference.

 

The students had been working in groups with a particle detector called a Minipix, investigating the behaviour of a particle called a muon. These are created in the upper atmosphere when cosmic radiation collides with atoms. The muon is one of the fundamental subatomic particles, the most basic building blocks of the universe as described in the Standard Model of particle physics. Muons are similar to electrons but weigh more than 207 times as much.

 

Over a five month period the students investigated many aspects of the muon’s behaviour...