A device that can detect particles arriving from space does not necessarily require a multimillion-dollar laboratory.
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that → detect → laboratory
A compact detector developed by physicist Spencer Axani began as a low-cost student project and has since grown into a tool used for particle-physics research, education and high-altitude experiments.
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detector → develop → research
The University of Delaware detailed its latest developments in September, while earlier accounts in Physics Today and Fermilab/SLAC’s Symmetry documented how the project evolved from Axani’s work at MIT into the CosmicWatch programme.
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project → detail → programme
The device, called CosmicWatch, detects muons, short-lived subatomic particles produced when high-energy cosmic rays collide with atoms in Earth’s atmosphere.
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rays → call → atmosphere
Those collisions generate cascades of secondary particles, some of which reach the ground and pass through buildings, rock and even the human body.
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some → generate → buildings
Muons travel extremely close to the speed of light, making them useful messengers of what happens when cosmic radiation interacts with Earth’s atmosphere.
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radiation → travel → atmosphere
Unlike ordinary light, however, they cannot be seen directly.
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they → see → light
A detector such as CosmicWatch converts their passage into measurable electrical signals.
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detector → convert → signals
How a $100 device detects particles from space
CosmicWatch is small enough to be handheld and costs about $100 in components.
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CosmicWatch → detect → components
Its design combines a plastic scintillator with a silicon photomultiplier, electronics that process the tiny flashes of light produced when a muon deposits energy in the detector.
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muon → combine → detector
The latest v3X design can record events to a microSD card or stream measurements through USB, while also logging information such as temperature, pressure and acceleration.
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design → record → temperature
The affordability is significant because traditional particle detectors can involve much larger and more expensive equipment.
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detectors → involve → equipment
The original CosmicWatch research paper described the detector as a self-contained, portable instrument that students could build and use themselves, with a first build taking a novice roughly four hours.
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build → describe → hours
That approach also makes the detector useful outside conventional laboratories.
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detector → make → laboratories
Students can assemble one, collect measurements and then investigate how the number of detected muons changes with altitude, shielding or other environmental conditions.
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number → assemble → altitude
From an MIT project to a research tool
Axani started developing the detector while he was a graduate student at MIT.
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he → start → MIT
The initial motivation was more closely tied to large-scale neutrino research, where detecting atmospheric muons can help researchers distinguish them from the neutrinos they are actually trying to study.
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they → tie → neutrinos
The idea gradually moved in a different direction: instead of building another expensive instrument for a specialised facility, Axani and his collaborators developed a version that could be made cheaply enough for students and small research projects.
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that → move → students
The project became CosmicWatch and has continued to evolve.
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project → become → ?
Its current v3X version adds environmental sensors, improved data collection and coincidence capabilities, allowing multiple detectors to be used together to reduce background events.
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detectors → add → events
Why scientists care about muons
Muons are more than proof that cosmic radiation is passing overhead.
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radiation → care → proof
Because they are energetic and highly penetrating, researchers can use them to investigate both cosmic-ray processes and structures on Earth.
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researchers → penetrate → Earth
Muon measurements can help scientists study the showers produced by cosmic rays and understand the properties of the particles that initiated them.
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that → help → them
The same basic principle has also been used in muography, a technique that creates images by measuring how many muons pass through an object.
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muons → use → object
That has applications ranging from archaeology to geology.
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That → have → geology
The ability of muons to travel through substantial amounts of material makes them particularly useful when conventional imaging methods cannot easily penetrate a structure.
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methods → travel → structure
The detector can go where laboratories cannot
One of CosmicWatch’s most interesting advantages is its portability.
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One → go → advantages
Similar detectors have already been incorporated into high-altitude balloon experiments, where researchers can observe how cosmic-ray activity changes as the payload climbs through the atmosphere.
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payload → incorporate → atmosphere
Independent balloon experiments have previously carried CosmicWatch detectors to altitudes exceeding 60,000 feet.
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experiments → carry → feet
The University of Delaware has also described a more recent balloon experiment in which a modified detector was taken to around 100,000 feet.
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detector → describe → feet
At those altitudes, the changing atmospheric environment provides an opportunity to study how cosmic-ray particle rates vary with elevation.
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rates → change → elevation
The technology is also being used in research settings, including detector experiments studying rare particles and dark matter.
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technology → use → particles
A future version is being explored for measuring primary cosmic rays in rockets and spacecraft.
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version → explore → rockets
A pocket detector with a much bigger ambition
The project has also opened the possibility of creating a distributed network of inexpensive cosmic-ray detectors.
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project → open → detectors
Instead of measurements coming from a handful of specialised facilities, detectors placed in different locations could potentially contribute observations to a shared database.
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detectors → come → database
That would turn what began as an inexpensive teaching instrument into something closer to a citizen-science network, allowing students and researchers in different parts of the world to compare cosmic-ray measurements.
CosmicWatch’s significance, then, is not simply that it makes particle detection cheaper.
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detection → turn → measurements
Its compact design lowers the barrier to experimenting with a part of physics that normally feels inaccessible, giving students a way to detect particles from cosmic-ray interactions with equipment small enough to sit on a desk.
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that → lower → desk
The Aporia
