Honors Theses
Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Degree Name
BS
Department
Physics
Faculty Mentor
Martin J. Frank, Ph.D.
Advisor(s)
Arjun Dahal, Ph.D., Armin Straub, Ph.D.
Abstract
Singular magnetic poles, north or south, have been theorized to exist for hundreds of years. In the modern day, the elusive singular magnetic pole still remains undiscovered. The appearance of this particle would help confirm many Grand Unified Theories, GUTs, and revolutionize our understanding of some of the fundamental forces of the universe. Fermilab's NOvA collaboration is working on ways to screen and detect magnetic monopoles and other slow-moving particles coming from outer space alongside their main mission to study neutrinos. The aim of this work is to determine and improve the Far Detector’s efficiency at identifying slow moving particles. It was determined that using a slicer time window of 25 μs and an energy cut of 100 ADC units is optimal for extending the detectable range of slow-moving Monte Carlo simulated magnetic monopoles from a lower end of β = 3 × 10−4 to β = 2 × 10−4 with an improvement or no sacrifice to efficiency. With some sacrifice and change to these settings, simulated particles as slow as β = 5 × 10−5 can be detected.
Recommended Citation
Clark, John, "The Search for Slow Particles and Magnetic Monopoles with NOvA" (2025). Honors Theses. 92.
https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/honors_college_theses/92
