A part-per-million measurement of the positive muon lifetime and a determination of the Fermi constant
Webber, David M.
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/17005
Description
Title
A part-per-million measurement of the positive muon lifetime and a determination of the Fermi constant
Author(s)
Webber, David M.
Issue Date
2010-08-31T20:03:56Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Hertzog, David W.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Nathan, Alan M.
Committee Member(s)
Hertzog, David W.
El-Khadra, Aida X.
Kwiat, Paul G.
Department of Study
Physics
Discipline
Physics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(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.
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