EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF THE ACOUSTIC SIGNATURE OF PROTON BEAMS TRAVERSING FLUID MEDIA.

This work establishes that a detectable sonic signal is produced by protons while traversing through or stopping in a fluid medium. Experiments exploring the global characteristics of both the acoustic generation mechanism and the radiation pattern performed at three different accelerators. The results are consistent with a simple thermal model for the transformation of the energy of moving charged particles into acoustic energy. This phenomenon could be exploited in several applications: (1) as a charged particle monitor in accelerator beams, (2) as a heavy ion detector sensitive to nuclear charge, e. g. , in measuring the cosmic ray isotope as an inexpensive shower detector in massive neutrino detectors at the next generation of high energy accelerators, e. g, the Fermilab energy doubler and (4) as the shower calorimeter (and perhaps the muon detector) in massive deep underwater detectors of cosmic neutrino and muon interactions.

Duke Scholars

Author Harold U. Baranger Physics