An Upward-Going Muon Background Estimation

A technique has been suggested for constructing above‐ground detectors of upward‐going muons produced by neutrinos. We have calculated the background in such a detector from cosmic ray muons which pass undergound, scatter, and emerge from the ground traveling upwards. Except for the region within about 15° of the horizon, this background is smaller than the unavoidable background from underground interactions of atmospheric neutrinos. The single and plural scattering of nuclei, and elastic and inelastic scattering of muons on nucleons. The background from scattered cosmic ray hadrons was also estimated and found to be small compared with that from backscattered muons.