Date of Award
12-1997
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Dr. Paul Pancella
Second Advisor
Dr. Gerald Hardie
Third Advisor
Dr. Lisa Paulius
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Alvin Rosenthal
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
A new, large, scintillation detector, called the "K" detector has been designed and built for use in a series of nuclear physics experiments being performed at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF). This project describes the design, construction and testing of this scintillation detector. The K detector was designed to augment an existing detector stack at IUCF, and will serve to increase the energy range of previous studies of neutral pion production in proton-proton collisions near threshold. The test data for the current project came from a proton-proton scattering experiment, during which several runs were carried out between the bombarding proton energies of 200 MeV and 500 MeV. The scale factor, calculated to convert raw pulse heights into the energies deposited in the K detector by the forward scattered protons, exhibits angle dependence, indicating an angle or position dependence in the light collection efficiency of the K detector. In view of this angle dependence, a dimensionless angle dependent factor F(Θ) was introduced and calculated, which produces a better agreement with the theoretical predictions for the energy lost by the forward scattered protons in the K detector. The angle dependence in the light collection efficiency of the K detector has been confirmed by the ongoing experiments at IUCF.
Recommended Citation
Pathak, Apurva, "A Large Scintillation Detector for Nuclear Physics Experiments at Indiana University Cyclotron Facility" (1997). Masters Theses. 4269.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4269