Negative absorption coefficient in muon absorption?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the unexpected observation of a negative absorption coefficient in muon absorption experiments. The user applied Lambert’s law to calculate the absorption coefficient but encountered illogical results, specifically measuring more muons after they passed through a material. This anomaly is attributed to external factors, such as a snowstorm affecting the measurements. The user seeks guidance on correcting the data to present accurate results.

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  • Understanding of muon physics and absorption processes
  • Familiarity with Lambert’s law in the context of particle absorption
  • Basic experimental design principles for particle detection
  • Knowledge of data analysis techniques in physics experiments
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Physicists, experimental researchers, and students conducting studies on particle absorption, particularly those interested in muon interactions with various materials.

Ahmed Abdalla
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Homework Statement


I am conducting an experiment where I am interested in finding the absorption coefficient of different materials as muons pass through them. My data was all well until I realized more muons were measured AFTER they passed through one of the materials, which makes no sense because how can you measure more of something after it was absorbed through a material. I used Lambert’s law to solve for the coefficient of absorption of the materials and it was not surprising that for this particular measurement I got a negative value, which again is impossible. I can explain that due to a bad snow storm during measurements more muons may have been measured compared to when they were measured without any metrial (my control group which was on an average weather) but when I present my data this just seems crazy. I was wondering if there is a way I can correct it in a sense.
 
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Could you describe and give the details of your experimental setup?
 

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