Ground Level Muons in Time Coincidence with the April 15, 2001 Solar Flare.
Abstract
The Ground Level Event (GLE) associated with a solar flare at 13.83 UT on April 15, 2001 is studied by the Project GRAND proportional wire chamber array. The array consists of 64 wire chamber stations covering a 100m by 100m area. These stations are sensitive to secondary muons greater than 0.1 GeV. Monte Carlo studies indicate that >10 GeV proton primaries will produce secondary muons which reach ground level and can be detected by GRAND. These primary energies are higher than the characteristic primary energies detected by neutron monitors. GRAND's data are compared to neutron monitor data from Climax, Newark, and Oulu. GRAND's muon counting rate ( 2400 muons/second) is examined for an increase at the time of the GLE. GRAND detects a time coincident increase in counting rate at a statistical significance of 6 sigma.
- Publication:
-
APS April Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- April 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..APR.T9009D