Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University
경북대학교 물리학과

KNU Physics Thesis Presentations

Background studies for the elementary magnetic monopole search experiment(KAEM) using GEANT 4 simulations

by 정현 이 (MS Candidate)

Asia/Seoul
206호 (제1과학관)

206호

제1과학관

Description

KAEM (KoreA Experiment on Magnetic Monopole) is an experiment to search a magnetic monopole with a mass below the electron and a magnetic charge below the electron charge. The strong motivation for this region is that no experiments have been conducted. KAEM will be performed in the broadest possible area without any particular theoretical constraints. So It is essential to configure an experimental environment that can detect magnetic monopoles in various cases that may appear in a vast experimental region. In this paper, a magnetic monopole's physical properties with low mass and low magnetic charge were predicted theoretically. In addition, a magnetic mirror and magnetic field for magnetic acceleration were devised for successful detection. After implementing this KAEM experiment environment in GEANT4, we tried to simulate the background. There are two main types of backgrounds: sodium-22 decay and electron-positron annihilation, and the second cosmic ray muon. The sodium-22 background showed a smaller energy distribution than the energy region expected to leave a magnetic monopole. On the other hand, in the case of the cosmic ray muon, the background overlaps with the energy region of the magnetic monopole. However, various methods were applied to reduce the background, such as accepting only the case where a signal was received simultaneously from each detector as data. The background rate could be reduced to one per 1000 years. As a result of the study on the backgrounds, it can be considered that the experimental environment of KAEM is equipped with the ability to experiment to search a magnetic monopole in low mass, low magnetic charge region.

Thesis Advisor: Prof. Sehwook Lee