3 research outputs found
Data acquisition system for the MuLan muon lifetime experiment
We describe the data acquisition system for the MuLan muon lifetime
experiment at Paul Scherrer Institute. The system was designed to record muon
decays at rates up to 1 MHz and acquire data at rates up to 60 MB/sec. The
system employed a parallel network of dual-processor machines and repeating
acquisition cycles of deadtime-free time segments in order to reach the design
goals. The system incorporated a versatile scheme for control and diagnostics
and a custom web interface for monitoring experimental conditions.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods
Improved Measurement of the Positive Muon Lifetime and Determination of the Fermi Constant
The mean life of the positive muon has been measured to a precision of 11 ppm
using a low-energy, pulsed muon beam stopped in a ferromagnetic target, which
was surrounded by a scintillator detector array. The result, tau_mu =
2.197013(24) us, is in excellent agreement with the previous world average. The
new world average tau_mu = 2.197019(21) us determines the Fermi constant G_F =
1.166371(6) x 10^-5 GeV^-2 (5 ppm). Additionally, the precision measurement of
the positive muon lifetime is needed to determine the nucleon pseudoscalar
coupling g_P.Comment: As published version (PRL, July 2007