Observation in the MINOS far detector of the shadowing of cosmic rays by the sun and moon
arXiv:1008.1719 · doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2010.10.010
Abstract
The shadowing of cosmic ray primaries by the the moon and sun was observed by the MINOS far detector at a depth of \unit[2070]{mwe} using 83.54 million cosmic ray muons accumulated over 1857.91 live-days. The shadow of the moon was detected at the \unit[5.6]{$Ï$} level and the shadow of the sun at the \unit[3.8]{$Ï$} level using a log-likelihood search in celestial coordinates. The moon shadow was used to quantify the absolute astrophysical pointing of the detector to be 0.17\pm 0.12^\circ. Hints of Interplanetary Magnetic Field effects were observed in both the sun and moon shadow.
Submitted to AstroParticle Physics