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Return to 2008 Summer Workshop. Return to Smithtown High School's visitor's page. Return to Gillian's CEB558 course blog.

Summary

This page contains instructions on how to analyze some cosmic ray data from scintillation detectors at high schools around Long Island. The objective of this exercise is to try to see a small solar flare that was known to have occurred towards the end of April 2008. The basic procedure is as follows:

Individual activities:

1. Obtain count rate data for the desired time period
2. Obtain weather data for the same desired time period
3. Graph count rate vs. time/date and barometric pressure vs. time/date (on the same graph)
4. Save the data to a text file; upload to the wiki
   

Group activity:

1. Assigned groups either compile data or research relevant topics
   

• Compile data for 4/10/08-4/26/08 and 5/3/08-5/13/08. One file per school. Upload to wiki.
• Research topics:
  • Cosmic rays (what are they?)
  • Solar flares (What are they? Why would solar flares have an effect on cosmic rays? What effect? When was the solar flare at the end of April?)
  • Atmospheric pressure (what is the expected effect on cosmic rays?

Individual activities:

1. Graph two-fold coincidence counts (y axis) vs. pressure (x axis) for 4/10-4/26 and 5/3-5/13 to determine the relationship between count rate and pressure for each school
2. Subtract pressure dependence to determine the residual count rate for 4/27-5/2: days around the solar flare
3. Add residual count rate data from different schools (for better statistics) for 4/27-5/2
4. Graph total residual count rate (y axis) vs. date (x axis)
5. Look at the data. Is there an apparent effect due to the solar flare?

Details

Individual activities:

1. Go to the John Hover/Dima Vavilov program for data analysis: Data Analysis Query to retrieve count rate data. Note: all times are in UTC (universal) time zone, 5 hours ahead of Long Island during Daylight Savings Time.
   1. Go to DataAnalysis/Graphs Page
   2. Use drop-down menus to retrieve your data; use 30-minute averaging interval; retrieved data looks like a bunch of numbers on the screen. In UTC time, use start and end times of 05:00:00 (midnight local time).
   3. Save the data to a file: select all (^a or edit -> select all), then paste into Notepad, then save as a .txt file. Then open Excel; import external data file (the one you just saved) using comma delimited file. Save to cell A1.
   4. Check for missing or spiked (unreasonably high) data. Remove spikes.
2. Repeat step 1, but retrieve weather data. In the count rate Excel file (step 1) save weather data starting at cell N1.
3. In Excel, select data for date, double coincidence count rate data ("c2"), and barometric pressure ("PressIn"). With time/date as x-axis, plot the count rate data as series 1 using primary (left) axis, and pressure as series 2 using secondary (right) axis. Extra credit: invert the secondary axis (axis -> scale -> "values in reverse order").
4. Save the data table to a tab delimited text file. Upload it to the wiki, and put a link to it in the following data table.
   

Count rate and Weather data

Dates	Smithtown	Bayshore	Sachem	Suffolk	Shoreham
4/10/08 - 4/15/08
4/16/08 - 4/21/08	Jess	Andy	Gearns	Joe	Tom T
4/22/08 - 4/26/08	Sam D	Sam B	Dean	Brian	Jaime
4/27/08 - 5/1/08	John	Bob	Akshay	Joe Willie	Harry
5/2/08 - 5/7/08	Rigina	Brad	Nicole	Oma	Adam
5/8/08 - 5/13/08	Adam P	Sungsu	---	JessG	Sungsu
4/10-4/26 + 5/2-5/13	COMBINED	Combined Bayshore	Combined Sachem	Combined	Combined
4.27.08 - 5/1/08	Smithtown flare residuals	Bayshore flare residuals	Sachem flare residuals	Suffolk flare residuals	Shoreham flare residuals

Smithtown Cts vs P for non-flare days	Bayshore Cts vs P for non-flare days	Sachem Cts vs P for non-flare days	Suffolk Cts vs P for non-flare days
Shoreham Cts vs P for non-flare days

Group activity

1. Compile data for 1 school for 4/10/08-4/26/08 and 5/3/08-5/13/08, upload, and post to table above (total: 5 groups)
2. Research topics (above), put findings on wiki pages linked to above (total: 3 groups)
   

The following websites may (or may not) be helpful:

• NASA: http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/
• SLAC : http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/cosmic_rays.html and http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/cosmicrays/
• MARIACHI: http://www.mariachi.stonybrook.edu/wiki/index.php/Cosmic_Rays and http://www.mariachi.stonybrook.edu/wiki/index.php/What_are_Cosmic_Rays%3F
• University of Adelaide: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/astrophysics/muon/cosmic_rays.html
• University of Adelaide: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/astrophysics/muon/teaching.html
• Spaceweather.com: http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?month=04&day=27&year=2008&view=view
• Mendon Muon Research: http://pittsfordschools.org/webpages/bpeachey/index.cfm?subpage=10236
• If you get stuck talk to Joe Willie

Individual Activities
Start with Smithtown High School. Once that is successful, do the other schools too.

1. Graph two-fold coincidence counts (y axis) vs. pressure (x axis) for 4/10-4/26 and 5/3-5/13 to determine the relationship between counts and pressure
   1. Include linear trendline, with the equation on the chart
2. Subtract pressure dependence to determine the residual counts for 4/27-5/2: days around the solar flare
   1. Include a column for the trendline found in the previous step. Write the equation for the trendline; copy down the column.
   2. Add a column for the residual counts (counts - trendline)
   3. Graph residual counts vs. time/date. Values should fluctuate above and below 0. If not, check the previous steps.
   4. Repeat for each school: Bayshore, Sachem, Suffolk, Shoreham
3. On a separate worksheet, add residual counts data from different schools (for better statistics) for 4/27-5/2
4. Graph total residual counts (y axis) vs. date (x axis)
5. Look at the data. Is there an apparent effect due to the solar flare?