A Feasibility Study to Track Cosmic Ray Muons with Solid State Detectors Using GEANT4

Abstract

We present the results of feasibility study for tracking cosmic ray muons with silicon detectors using GEANT4 simulation platform. The cosmic ray energy spectrum has revealed new fine structures and consensus about the origin. The composition of the primary particles has not yet been reached. Although enormous amount of data has been obtained both through direct measurements by means of satellite or balloon borne experiments as well as indirect method such as Extended Air Shower (EAS) experiments, there exist still a number of open questions. A fair knowledge of the atmospheric muon energy distributions at Earth is very important for understanding the physics of cosmic rays. A prototype detector setup is realized using GEANT4 package. Uniform magnetic field of varying magnitudes is applied across the detection volume of (0.5 m)$^3$ to produce bending of the incident particle. At each magnetic field value, the lower and upper cut on energy of cosmic muons that can be measured using this detector setup is estimated. The detailed method and preliminary results are presented.