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An improved method for measuring muon energy using the truncated mean of dE/dx

  • R. Abbasi
  • , Y. Abdou
  • , M. Ackermann
  • , J. Adams
  • , J. A. Aguilar
  • , M. Ahlers
  • , D. Altmann
  • , K. Andeen
  • , J. Auffenberg
  • , X. Bai
  • , M. Baker
  • , S. W. Barwick
  • , V. Baum
  • , R. Bay
  • , K. Beattie
  • , J. J. Beatty
  • , S. Bechet
  • , J. Becker Tjus
  • , K. H. Becker
  • , M. Bell
  • M. L. Benabderrahmane, S. Benzvi, J. Berdermann, P. Berghaus, D. Berley, E. Bernardini, D. Bertrand, D. Z. Besson, D. Bindig, M. Bissok, E. Blaufuss, J. Blumenthal, D. J. Boersma, C. Bohm, D. Bose, S. Böser, O. Botner, L. Brayeur, A. M. Brown, R. Bruijn, J. Brunner, S. Buitink, M. Carson, J. Casey, M. Casier, D. Chirkin, B. Christy, F. Clevermann, S. Cohen, D. F. Cowen, A. H. Cruz Silva, M. Danninger, J. Daughhetee, J. C. Davis, C. De Clercq, F. Descamps, P. Desiati, G. De Vries-Uiterweerd, T. Deyoung, J. C. Díaz-Vélez, J. Dreyer, J. P. Dumm, M. Dunkman, R. Eagan, J. Eisch, R. W. Ellsworth, O. Engdegård, S. Euler, P. A. Evenson, O. Fadiran, A. R. Fazely, A. Fedynitch, J. Feintzeig, T. Feusels, K. Filimonov, C. Finley, T. Fischer-Wasels, S. Flis, A. Franckowiak, R. Franke, K. Frantzen, T. Fuchs, T. K. Gaisser, J. Gallagher, L. Gerhardt, L. Gladstone, T. Glüsenkamp, A. Goldschmidt, J. A. Goodman, D. Góra, D. Grant, A. Groß, S. Grullon, M. Gurtner, C. Ha, A. Haj Ismail, A. Hallgren, F. Halzen, K. Hanson, D. Heereman, P. Heimann, D. Heinen, K. Helbing, R. Hellauer, S. Hickford, G. C. Hill, K. D. Hoffman, R. Hoffmann, A. Homeier, K. Hoshina, W. Huelsnitz, P. O. Hulth, K. Hultqvist, S. Hussain, A. Ishihara, E. Jacobi, J. Jacobsen, G. S. Japaridze, O. Jlelati, A. Kappes, T. Karg, A. Karle, J. Kiryluk, F. Kislat, J. Kläs, S. R. Klein, J. H. Köhne, G. Kohnen, H. Kolanoski, L. Köpke, C. Kopper, S. Kopper, D. J. Koskinen, M. Kowalski, M. Krasberg, G. Kroll, J. Kunnen, N. Kurahashi, T. Kuwabara, M. Labare, K. Laihem, H. Landsman, M. J. Larson, R. Lauer, M. Lesiak-Bzdak, J. Lünemann, J. Madsen, R. Maruyama, K. Mase, H. S. Matis, F. McNally, K. Meagher, M. Merck, P. Mészáros, T. Meures, S. Miarecki, E. Middell, N. Milke, J. Miller, L. Mohrmann, T. Montaruli, R. Morse, S. M. Movit, R. Nahnhauer, U. Naumann, S. C. Nowicki, D. R. Nygren, A. Obertacke, S. Odrowski, A. Olivas, M. Olivo, A. O'Murchadha, S. Panknin, L. Paul, J. A. Pepper, C. Pérez De Los Heros, D. Pieloth, N. Pirk, J. Posselt, P. B. Price, G. T. Przybylski, L. Rädel, K. Rawlins, P. Redl, E. Resconi, W. Rhode, M. Ribordy, M. Richman, B. Riedel, J. P. Rodrigues, F. Rothmaier, C. Rott, T. Ruhe, B. Ruzybayev, D. Ryckbosch, S. M. Saba, T. Salameh, H. G. Sander, M. Santander, S. Sarkar, K. Schatto, M. Scheel, F. Scheriau, T. Schmidt, M. Schmitz, S. Schoenen, S. Schöneberg, L. Schönherr, A. Schönwald, A. Schukraft, L. Schulte, O. Schulz, D. Seckel, S. H. Seo, Y. Sestayo, S. Seunarine, M. W.E. Smith, M. Soiron, D. Soldin, G. M. Spiczak, C. Spiering, M. Stamatikos, T. Stanev, A. Stasik, T. Stezelberger, R. G. Stokstad, A. Stößl, E. A. Strahler, R. Ström, G. W. Sullivan, H. Taavola, I. Taboada, A. Tamburro, S. Ter-Antonyan, S. Tilav, P. A. Toale, S. Toscano, M. Usner, D. Van Der Drift, N. Van Eijndhoven, A. Van Overloop, J. Van Santen, M. Vehring, M. Voge, C. Walck, T. Waldenmaier, M. Wallraff, M. Walter, R. Wasserman, Ch Weaver, C. Wendt, S. Westerhoff, N. Whitehorn, K. Wiebe, C. H. Wiebusch, D. R. Williams, H. Wissing, M. Wolf, T. R. Wood, K. Woschnagg, C. Xu, D. L. Xu, X. W. Xu, J. P. Yanez, G. Yodh, S. Yoshida, P. Zarzhitsky, J. Ziemann, A. Zilles, M. Zoll
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Ghent University
  • German Electron Synchrotron
  • University of Canterbury
  • University of Geneva
  • Humboldt University of Berlin
  • University of Delaware
  • South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
  • University of California at Irvine
  • Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Ohio State University
  • Université libre de Bruxelles
  • Ruhr University Bochum
  • University of Wuppertal
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • University of Maryland, College Park
  • University of Kansas
  • RWTH Aachen University
  • Oskar Klein Centre
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel
  • University of Bonn
  • Uppsala University
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • TU Dortmund University
  • Southern University and A&M College
  • University of Alberta
  • Technical University of Munich
  • University of Adelaide
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Chiba University
  • Clark Atlanta University
  • Universite de Mons
  • University of Alabama
  • Stony Brook University
  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls
  • National Institute for Nuclear Physics
  • University of Alaska Anchorage
  • University of Oxford
  • The University of the West Indies
  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

The measurement of muon energy is critical for many analyses in large Cherenkov detectors, particularly those that involve separating extraterrestrial neutrinos from the atmospheric neutrino background. Muon energy has traditionally been determined by measuring the specific energy loss (dE/dx) along the muon's path and relating the dE/dx to the muon energy. Because high-energy muons (>1TeV) lose energy randomly, the spread in dE/dx values is quite large, leading to a typical energy resolution of 0.29 in log10() for a muon observed over a 1 km path length in the IceCube detector. In this paper, we present an improved method that uses a truncated mean and other techniques to determine the muon energy. The muon track is divided into separate segments with individual dE/dx values. The elimination of segments with the highest dE/dx results in an overall dE/dx that is more closely correlated to the muon energy. This method results in an energy resolution of 0.22 in log10(), which gives a 26% improvement. This technique is applicable to any large water or ice detector and potentially to large scintillator or liquid argon detectors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)190-198
Number of pages9
JournalNuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A
Volume703
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Cherenkov
  • IceCube detector
  • Muon energy
  • Neutrino energy
  • Truncated mean
  • dE/dx

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