Cosmic Ray Detection Threshold · AI Generator #GEN-BBB67F67

Physics · modern-physics

Problem

A cosmic ray detector on the International Space Station is designed to detect high-energy muons by measuring their de Broglie wavelength. The detector can only register particles with de Broglie wavelengths smaller than λmax=1.0×10−16  m\lambda_{\text{max}} = 1.0 \times 10^{-16}\;\text{m}. A muon has rest mass mμ=106  MeV/c2m_\mu = 106\;\text{MeV}/c^2. What is the minimum kinetic energy (in MeV) that a muon must have to be detected by this instrument? Assume the muons are relativistic.

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