The Low-background Laboratory for Nuclear Physics of the Institute of Physics Belgrade has become part of the gLOWCOST collaboration whose goal is to create a worldwide network of cosmic radiation detectors. The only nuclear laboratory at the Institute thus, on the initiative of the team from the Georgia State University, joined the network of institutions that deal with the detection of muons – particles that are created during the interaction of cosmic radiation with the atmosphere. The goal is for this Laboratory to become a hub for such detectors in this part of the world.
The moment when the Low-background Laboratory joined the collaboration is particularly important because solar activity is approaching its eleven-year maximum. Namely, the Earth is constantly showered by particles created as a result of cosmic radiation, and by detecting them, we can learn a lot not only about space, but also about the Earth’s atmosphere itself, through which they pass. It is known that extreme events on the Sun can have consequences for systems on Earth – for example, power distribution networks or air traffic.
Muons were discovered in 1936 by two American physicists, Seth Nedermayer and Carl Anderson. Confused by the unknown particles that arrive from space and behave like electrons, but have a significantly greater mass, they first called them mesons, only to be renamed muons in later studies.
When particles from space collide with particles in the upper layers of the atmosphere, muons are created at a height of about 15 kilometers. At almost the speed of light, they travel towards us and fall up to great depths underground, disintegrating after their fast and short lives into an electron and two neutrinos.
Information obtained from muon detectors allows us to create a picture of solar activity. But not only that. Detecting muons helps us in researching the geomagnetic field or, for example, local atmospheric parameters, since the number of muons is affected by the state of the atmosphere through which they pass, and this is useful for studying climate and global warming models.
Researchers at The Low-background Laboratory for Nuclear Physics study various rare nuclear processes, and hav been involved in muon detection for many years. The laboratory has a long tradition at the Institute, and great importance – it was founded by the former director of the Institute, Dr. Radovan Antanasijević and Professor Dr. Ivan Aničin from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Belgrade. One part of it is underground laboratory, which is located on the campus of the Institute, on the bank of the Danube, buried under 12 meters of loess soil, built with reinforced concrete and covered with aluminum.
The goal of the gLOWCOST (Global Low-Cost network for Space and Terrestrial Weather Observation) project, which this Laboratory has now joined, is quite practical: in order to study these phenomena, their intention is to create a dense worldwide network of small, portable and cheap muon detectors that only require power and an Internet connection.
Once placed in the most diverse locations on the planet, these detectors collect data, independently upload measurements to a central database that then allows the study of both local variations of cosmic radiation and variations over a wider area, even on a global scale.
“The Low-background Laboratory will be the hub of the project for this part of Europe, and potentially for the whole of Europe,” explains Dr. Nikola Veselinović from The Low-background Laboratory for Nuclear Physics. “Our contacts and cooperation with other laboratories that deal with space weather conditions in the world allow easier expansion of this network of detectors. Due to our expertise and decades of experience with measuring cosmic radiation, we will participate in the calibration of detectors using already existing detectors in the laboratory. We are also participating in the analysis of solar activity registered by this network, and we are developing new methods for analyzing the influence of atmospheric parameters on the muon count,” adds Dr. Veselinović.
Thanks to this cooperation, there is a possibility for researchers and other participants from related fields from all over the world to meet at the Institute of Physics in Belgrade in 2025. This cooperation also allows to intruduce Space weather and Cosmic rays studies to larger local community.
