SIMULATION OF THE ZENITH ANGLE DEPENDENCE OF COSMIC MUON INTENSITY IN SLANIC SALT MINE WITH GEANT4

Abstract

We have investigated the zenith angle distribution of muon intensities at three different depths of Slanic salt mine for the first time, using GEANT4 simulation package. Two of the locations, namely Level 8 of active Cantacuzino mine (188 m below the ground) and the touristic mine Unirea (210 m below the ground), are already accessible for different purposes including cosmic muon flux measurements. The other location (300 m below the ground) is not accessible yet, but an excavation is under consideration to house detector components of the proposed project LAGUNA. The medium that the primary cosmic muons were injected upon was simulated to be made of salt (NaCl) and muon intensities were recorded for each selected location below the ground. The exponent n was extracted for each depth in salt by fitting the zenith angle distributions of muon intensities with the function mcos(n)(theta). The n values were found to be n(U) = 2.86 +/- 0.09, n(C) = 2.53 +/- 0.10 and n(L) = 2.65 +/- 0.16 for Unirea, Cantacuzino and the proposed excavation of LAGUNA, respectively. Results of these simulations can be checked with the results of future experiments to be performed at the site.