Flux of the vertical negative muons stopping at depths 0.35–1000 hg/cm²

Abstract

The vertical negative muon stopping rate at depths 0.35–1000 hg/cm2 of standard rock has been evaluated by means of a Monte Carlo simulation of the muon transport underground. The muon energy losses take into account both continuous (ionization and pair production) and stochastic (bremmstrahlung and nuclear interaction) processes. The dependence of the charge ratio μ+/μ− on the muon momentum is included. The effect of muon multiple scattering has been estimated. Results are given both for high‐latitude and equatorial sites, and they are compared to previous calculations and to experimental data.

Determination of muon attenuation lengths in depth profiles from in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides

“…Despite agreeing with Heisinger et al [11][12][13][14] for slow muons contribution for 26 Al, this study reveals large discrepancies for slow muons regarding 10 Be and for fast muons contributions regarding both 10 Be and 26 Al. Simply oppose laboratory experiments conducted by Heisinger et al [11][12][13][14] at concentrations of cosmogenic nuclides measured in natural samples collected along depth profiles is not completely satisfactory to explain the differences in the contributions of muons.…”

“…Two cores, 25 m long, have been sampled and processed for 10 Be and 26 Al measurements. Quartz was isolated and purified from samples, and targets prepared for accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) analysis of 10 Be and 26 Al.…”

“…These percentages have been then reduced to 2-3% by [7]. In 2003, Braucher et al [8] proposed muon contributions to be on the order of (1.20 ± 0.60)% and of (0.65 ± 0.25)% of total production for slow and fast muons, respectively, for 10 Be. These contributions are equivalent to sea level high latitude (SLHL) production rates in the order of (0.022 ± 0.008) atoms g À1 a À1 and of (0.029 ± 0.012) atoms g À1 a À1 for slow and fast muons, respectively, considering a modern spallation production rate of 4.49 ± 0.03 atoms g À1 a À1 .…”

“…All these numbers have been deduced from experimental data from natural rock samples. However, there is currently a growing body of theoretical literature examining production of cosmogenic nuclides induced by muons [9][10][11][12][13][14]. It has been observed that muon contributions proposed by Heisinger et al [11][12][13][14] might have been overestimated [8,15,16] because physical experiments that yield to these numbers have been conducted at two discrete energies that may not be representative of the natural muon spectrum energy range.…”

In-Situ Radiocarbon Production by Neutrons and Muons in an Antarctic Blue Ice Field at Scharffenbergbotnen: A Status Report

“…We use (1.2) with (1 .3) where A n and A m are the 14 C surface concentrations produced by neutrons and captured muons, respectively, as related to the ablation rate of a cm.yr −1 and the production rates P n and P m at.g −1 .yr −1 (Lal et al 1990), with λ = ln 2/5730 yr −1 the decay constant and µ n and µ m the attenuation lengths with µ n = 1.67 m (Lal et al 1990) and µ m = 15.2 m (Bilokon et al 1989). …”