The QuarkNet Collaboration Marjorie Bardeen, Kevin McFarland, Joseph Willie

1. The QuarkNet Collaboration Marjorie Bardeen, Kevin McFarland, Joseph Willie NATIONAL PROGRAM Supporting local research & learning communities that include high school teachers and their students and physicists • PROGRAM COMPONENTS • For Teachers • Year 1 - Orientation lead-teacher institute • Year 1 - Summer research appointments • (lead teachers) • Year 2 - Associate Teacher Institutes • Year 3+ - Follow-on week • Academic year follow-on activities • QuarkNet Website:quarknet.fnal.gov • For Mentors • Orientation meeting 52 centers: 223 mentors & 482 teachers Engaging teachers and their students in scientific investigations UNIVERSITY - LOCAL CENTER PARTICLE At the University of Rochester We use the national program as a springboard to provide tools for Rochester-area students and teachers to explore the world of elementary particle physics.  As part of our continuing program, the University of Rochester hosts summer institutes for physical science teachers interested in learning about particle physics and in building cosmic ray telescopes for use by students in their classrooms. • Meeting local needs and interests • Leveraging QuarkNet support with funds from: • The National Science Foundation • The Research Corporation • The Department of Energy, Office of Science • The American Physical Society, New York • State Section Physicists And Rochester Teachers Inventing CLassroom Experiments HIGH SCHOOL - STUDENT PROGRAM A very large and complex region of the sun produced a series of major solar flares between October 23 and November 4, 2003. The X17 magnitude solar flare that occurred on the 28th of October was one of the largest ever recorded and was aimed almost directly at the Earth. This resulted in a dramatic decrease in muon rate on the following day as the ejecta shock wave reached the earth. This reduction was observed at detectors around the world. This decrease is evident at hour 975. Forbush first noted the decrease in the cosmic-ray intensity after a solar flare in 1954. The effect of the solar flare on cosmic ray muon rates is due in large part to the geomagnetic storm which resulted as the ejecta impacted the geomagnetosphere. This is evident in the NOAA plot of Kp index for the three days following the flare. The Kp index is a planetary measure of geomagnetic activity. An index of 5 or higher indicates geomagnetic storm levels. The relatively slow (approximately 2 week) recovery of the muon rate is likely due to the disruption of the interplanetary magnetic field, which is slower to stabilize than the planetary field. THE HALLOWEEN SOLAR FLARE FORBUSH DECREASE Joseph Willie, Jeff Melville & the 2003-4 Pittsford Mendon High School Regents Physics-Honors Classes We operate an on-site detector that monitors cosmic ray muons. Muon rates are recorded and analyzed to establish connections with other measurable variables. For this experiment, the muon detector was run from September 18, 2003 until February 4, 2004. Muon rates were recorded hourly. During this time, nearly fifty million muon hits were recorded, at an average frequency of approximately 4 Hz. The resulting data was analyzed by the three Regents Physics-Honors classes. Mendon data was compared to data from both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and from the University of Adelaide Cosmic Ray Muon Monitor. A dramatic (roughly 10%) decrease in the cosmic ray muon rate at both Mendon and Adelaide was observed on October 29, the day following an X17 magnitude solar flare, one of the largest ever recorded. The muon rate took about two weeks to return to normal following the event.