picocosmo 1.0.0rc0

Analysis of waveforms from cosmic ray detectors

# picoCosmo

python script to analyze data from CosMO detectors and Kamiokanne by Netzwerk Teilchenwelt with picoScope USB device.

The software is tailored to identify short pulses from muon detectors (the scintillator panels of the CosMO-experiment by “Netzwerk Teilchenwelt”, <http://www.teilchenwelt.de>, or the Kamiokanne-Experiment (a water-Cherenkov detector with photomultiplier readout) with a PicoScope USB oscilloscope with two or four channels.

Reading out Geiger Counters or detectors for gamma rays, e. g. the GDK 101 PIN diode counter, is also possible with the this software.

Data is read from the PicoScope device via a Buffer Manager, see project picoDAQ (<https://github.com/GuenterQuast/picoDAQ>), which records waveforms and distributes them to consumer processes. The consumers either provide real-time displays of a sub-set of the data or perform data analysis. PiocoCosmo is a specialised and extended version of the script runDAQ.py from project picoDAQ.

The analysis proceeds in three steps. First, the trigger is validated by cross-correlation with a signal template located around the trigger time. Next, coincidences near a validated triggering pulse are searched for in all connected channels. The optional third step performs a search for additional pulses after the triggering event, indicating the decay of a stopped muon in or near the detector.

The software provides real-time displays of waveforms, detector signals and rates. Optionally, parameters of identified pulses or of double-pulses are written to files in CSV format. In addition, raw waveforms or pictures in .png format of identified double pulses can optionally be stored for off-line analysis or for an instructive analysis “by hand” based on the waveform pictures. From this information, the mean muon lifetime in the muon rest frame (2.2 µs) can be derived.