Investigação de sinais de múons, elétrons, fótons e hádrons provenientes de chuveiros atmosféricos em um detector de radiação Cherenkov em água

Abstract

Many experiments in high-energy physics use Cherenkov radiation as a detection method. Detectors that record Cherenkov photons produced in water are used in important cosmic ray astrophysical observatories around the world. The wide use of this technique is due to its proven robustness in different environments, its low cost and high performance. This dissertation contemplates the characterization, via Monte Carlo simulation (Geant4), of a water Cherenkov radiation detector (WCD) for the detection of secondary particles produced in the Earth’s atmosphere due to the interaction of cosmic-ray protons coming from the outer space. High-energy primary cosmic-ray particles colliding with atmospheric nuclei initiate a cascade of secondary interactions, producing particles that reach ground level. Using the differential energy spectrum of hadronic, electromagnetic and muonic particles at the Earth’s surface and their angular distributions, the WCD response to the signals produced by these particles in the detector was investigated, such as the distributions of Cherenkov photons, photoelectrons arriving at the photomultiplier, and the charge spectrum of the particles.