An underground laboratory as a facility for studies of cosmic-ray solar modulation.

The possibility of utilizing a shallow underground laboratory for the study of energy dependent solar modulation process is investigated. The laboratory is equipped with muon detectors at ground level and underground (25mwe), and with an underground asymmetric muon telescope to have a single site detection system sensitive to different median energies of primary cosmic-ray particles. The detector response functions to galactic cosmic rays are determined from Monte Carlo simulation of muon generation and propagation through the atmosphere and soil, based on CORSIKA and GEANT4 simulation packages. The present setup is suitable for studies of energy dependence of Forbush decreases and other transient or quasi-periodic cosmic-ray variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]