A simple setup to measure muon lifetime and electron energy spectrum of muon decay and its Monte Carlo simulation

We designed a simple setup to measure the muon lifetime and the electron energy spectra of muon decay. A low cost coincidental circuit was designed to select the signals of muon decay events detected by a plastic scintillator detector. It triggered a digital oscilloscope to record the signals of muon decay events for measuring the muon lifetime and electron energy spectrum. A Landau-distribution energy loss method was introduced to conduct the energy calibration of the system. The experimental results were well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation. The software and hardware of the system are completely open to students, thus more helpful for instruction and motivation.