Muonic decay in the reactor is an interesting prospect that I would like to read more about. However, I don't think the muons, electrons, or protons are going to escape the reactor in any large number due to the mass/cm^2 they would have to traverse to get out. Muons are no more likely to penetrate the reactor walls than electrons or protons of the same energy. The reason that muons are an issue with the lead in the scintillator shield is that the cosmogenic muons have a typical energy of 2GeV - probably 1000x that of what could be created inside the reactor. The penetration is directly related to the energy of the muon.
Certainly some in-the-cave vs. out-of-the-cave measurements are in order, but can't easily be done while the experiment is running. On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 7:45 AM, Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net> wrote: > Bob, > > > > There is simply too little nickel. If looking for bremsstrahlung, and in > the absence of gamma - a possible source of high speed electrons would be > muon decay. > > > > At least this would be true in a situation like the glow-tube, where dense > hydrogen would be expected to form. > > > > If the counts are higher inside the lead cave, compared to outside (bare), > it is very likely that the source is muonic from the reactor, not cosmic - > and the target is lead. > > > > *From:* Bob Higgins > > > > I don't know if other Vorts thought of this already... but I had a minor > epiphany regarding the radiation that MFMP measured in GS5.2. We > identified this radiation tentatively as bremsstrahlung. This has certain > implications. Bremsstrahlung requires that the high speed electrons impact > on a high atomic mass element so as to be accelerated/decelerated quickly > to produce the radiation. It could be that the stainless steel can that > contained the fuel was an important component in seeing the > bremsstrahlung. Without the can, there would still be the Ni for the > electrons to hit, but the Ni is covered with light atomic mass Li. If the > electrons were to strike alumina (no fuel can present), I don't think there > would be nearly as much bremsstrahlung because alumina is comprised of > light elements. > > > > Thus, the stainless steel can for the fuel may be an important component > for seeing the bremsstrahlung. > > Bob Higgins >
