Desarrollo y calibración de un nuevo sistema de detección y obtención de anisotropías de muones cósmicos basado en centelladores

Abstract

This thesis presents an innovative system capable of obtaining muon flux and trajectory direction by using only a pair of one square meter stacked organic scintillators. The novel contribution of this work to the muon detection field lies in the capability of determining the muon’s trajectory direction from the pulse height generated by eight photomultipliers located on the lateral faces of the scintillators. Compared to solutions used in traditional muon telescopes, such as the one in Nagoya, which uses 72 similar scintillators distributed over two floors of 36 m2 , the practical application of this new concept has advantages such as simplicity of design, implementation, portability, operation on mobile platforms and cost. In addition to the starting hypothesis and its theoretical study, this document includes the practical demonstration of operation through the complete design, construction and commissioning of the first prototype, which has been installed at the Juan Carlos I Spanish Antarctic Base (Livingston Island). The electronic circuitry design includes original low-cost and high-performance solutions which make easier its assembly, installation, adjustment, data recording, data analysis and remote monitoring and control. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the design of some modules such as the level discriminator or the pulse height detector. It is also remarkable the optimal use of a low-cost single-board computer, which becomes the soul of the data acquisition system thanks to its main processor and its two built-in real-time processors. Preliminary results and conclusions are eventually presented after analyzing data collected by the first prototype during 2020, verifying the proper system operation and validating the initial hypothesis and the viability of its implementation.