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Neutron Flux measurements correlated to the Regener-Pfotzer Maximum

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Abstract

During the summer of 2022, the St. Catherine's all women's team expanded upon work with personal neutron dosimeters (PNDs) utilizing 1200 g helium filled High-altitude balloons (HABs). The PND devices flown on the missions can detect the interaction with aneutron colliding with the tube material. The neutron collision creates abubble that can be accompanied by a popping sound during this collisional eventwhich is recorded via a digital camera. Neutrons measured via the PND are plotted in conjunction with the charged particle maximum known as the Regener-Pfotzer (R-P) maximum. The R-P maximum is a region created when acosmic ray (often times a proton) collides with atmospheric nuclei creating ashower of charged and neutral particles in the atmosphere as a result of the collision. Current work shows that neutron events have a peak flux in the 15,000 to 25,000 m range, which correlates with the charged particle R-P maximum altitude region. Again, both the charged as well as the neutral particles have a maximum number of detections in the same altitude region. In addition to improvements in video capture (i.e., lighting and glare reduction), the PND data have been expanded to include two tubes in each payload box paired with an omnidirectional Geiger-Müller tube. The experimental setup can now look at coincidences between the two PNDs, and the updated configuration adds to the statistics of neutron events on a given flight. The changes to the payload configurations within the box will be developed for research related to cosmicray shower events occurring during the upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse.

Keywords: Cosmic Ray Showers, Regener-Pfotzer Maximum, Neuron detection

How to Cite:

Blair, K., Sternberg, Z., Holte, H., Tapper, A. & Agrimson, E. P., (2022) “Neutron Flux measurements correlated to the Regener-Pfotzer Maximum”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2022(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ahac.15641