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Title: | A part-per-million measurement of the positive muon lifetime and a determination of the Fermi constant |
Author(s): | Webber, David M. |
Director of Research: | Hertzog, David W. |
Doctoral Committee Chair(s): | Nathan, Alan M. |
Doctoral Committee Member(s): | Hertzog, David W.; El-Khadra, Aida X.; Kwiat, Paul G. |
Department / Program: | Physics |
Discipline: | Physics |
Degree Granting Institution: | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Degree: | Ph.D. |
Genre: | Dissertation |
Subject(s): | positive muon
muon lifetime precision measurement Fermi constant MuLan collaboration |
Abstract: | The mean life of the positive muon has been measured to part-per-million precision using a time-structured beam, a ferromagnetic target, and a fast, multi-segmented and symmetric scintillator detection array. The result, based on data acquired in 2006, is $\tau_{\mu^+} = \unit[2196980.1 \pm 2.6 \pm 1.9]{ps},$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. When combined with the measurement based on our 2007 dataset, the average is $\tau_{\mu^+}^{\rm avg} = \unit[2196980.3 \pm 2.8]{ps}$ and the derived value for the Fermi constant is $G_F = \unit[1.1663818 (8) \times 10^{-5}]{GeV^{-2}}$. This thesis describes the motivation for the measurement, the experimental technique, the data analysis, and the systematic uncertainties for the 2006 dataset. |
Issue Date: | 2010-08-31 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2142/17005 |
Rights Information: | Copyright 2010 David M. Webber |
Date Available in IDEALS: | 2010-08-31 2012-09-07 |
Date Deposited: | 2010-08 |
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois -
Dissertations and Theses - Physics
Dissertations in Physics