FIRST POSTED BY PAUL HEARN ON MUONDETECTOR FORUM AUGUST 2026:
‘what’s the point’, but more ‘how does it move beyond the local user’s analysis and, where participants choose to do so, central display of static plot images?’
Such a good question. From the beginning of this project, we understood that there would be interest in users experimenting with the data for personal education and interest. We have seen many schools and universities ordering detectors for student projects and education. But of course, as noted this is just the start, and the real value comes with data reduction on a grand scale and this is only possible with a number of detectors deployed globally. We are now approaching this point. Our problem at UKRAA is that we have limited resources, however we do see that so much more can be done with the data when shared to a common dataset. One advantage we have with the Pico is fixed geometry between the two internal scintillators and a common methodology for coincidence detection thus making data sharing viable. This was part of our design philosophy from the start. There is so much that can be done e.g. Relationship between Space Weather and ground level muon flux opening up atmospheric physics at a local level, muon shower dynamics at ground level, shower propagation between detectors at different locations and much more. The amateur community have the advantage over the professionals in terms of the number of detection stations, we may not have the sensitivity or be able to do muon energy spectroscopy, but we do have numbers. All of this is something we are actively exploring within UKRAA. Watch this space for further updates and if anyone has data reduction/visualization skills and time then do contact us.