MuON is a research collaboration founded by students at the SFN Kassel with the aim to investigate particle sources in the sky using the detection of cosmic muons.
Muons are charged elementary particles that are primarily created in air-showers when energetic cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere and interact with air molecules. These particles travel towards Earth and can be measured using ground-based detectors.
Global network of detectors
The MuON collaboration plans to establish a network of many individual particle detectors spanning the globe. The modular detectors take up minimal space and measure the cosmic muon flux using a cost effective scintillation detector and are designed by our research group in Kassel, Germany. We are currently developing an improved version using a new design approach to enable measurements of the muons energy at detection. All detectors are linked to a centralised database storing all events. Once the network operates, the data will be made accessible via an API.
Current Research and Future Directions
The current research focusses on the investigation of the solar particle flux and its interaction with the interplanetary magnetic field, comparing muon data with solar events such as solar flares and solar winds. We also plan to study the interaction of charged particles with solar, galactic and extragalactic origin with magnetic fields by correlating muons measurements with satellite data, multi-messenger events and comparisons with magnetic field maps obtained by radio polarisation measurements of dust clouds.
Community Involvement and Collaboration
To set up the network, the MuON collaboration presents the project to schools, universities, and interested people worldwide. Our collaboration partners, will be provided with an easy-to-set-up detector unit, requiring only very little electric power and a working internet connection. We provide technical support and invite partners to join our collaborative research or conduct their own investigations using network data where we will aid the correspondence with other investigators in the field.
Citizen and Student Research Opportunities
We are also working together with institutions supporting citizen- and student-research, enabling curious individuals
without formal scientific training, such as school students or interested citizens, to join the collaboration or conduct
their own research.
The low cost and simple design makes it possible to use the detectors as educational tools for teaching astro-particle
physics to students ranging from high-school to university level.
As the network expands, new questions and problems will arise, and the MuON collaboration should serve as a forum to bring together curios people with different backgrounds and help them to join forces on similar research questions.
