Measurements of the charge ratio and polarization of cosmic-ray muons with the Super-Kamiokande detector

Abstract

We present the results of the charge ratio ($R$) and polarization ($P_0^{\mu }$) measurements using the decay electron events collected from 2008 September to 2022 June by the Super-Kamiokande detector. Because of its underground location and long operation, we performed high precision measurements by accumulating cosmic-ray muons. We measured the muon charge ratio to be $R=1.32\pm 0.02$ $(stat.+syst.)$ at $E_{\mu }\cos {\theta }_{\mathrm{Zenith}}=0.7_{-0.2}^{+0.3}$ $\mathrm{TeV}$, where $E_{\mu }$ is the muon energy and ${\theta }_{\mathrm{Zenith}}$ is the zenith angle of incoming cosmic-ray muons. This result is consistent with the Honda flux model while this suggests a tension with the $\pi K$ model of $1.9\sigma$. We also measured the muon polarization at the production location to be $P_0^{\mu }=0.52\pm 0.02$ $(stat.+syst.)$ at the muon momentum of $0.9_{-0.1}^{+0.6}$ $\mathrm{TeV}/c$ at the surface of the mountain; this also suggests a tension with the Honda flux model of $1.5\sigma$. This is the most precise measurement ever to experimentally determine the cosmic-ray muon polarization near $1\mathrm{TeV}/c$. These measurement results are useful to improve the atmospheric neutrino simulations.

arXiv comment29 pages, 45 figures

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