Carbon storage could play a major part of uk and global environmental policies to tackle global warming but still allow us to generate clean, affordable energy. Clarifying how muon tomography works, ria novosti explained that as cosmic raygenerated particles find their way into the earths atmosphere 40 km and below, they collide with. Mar 20, 2003 the test object is a tungsten cylinder radius, 5. Our detector for muon tomography is a cylinder with an axial length of. We demonstrate the validity of muon tomographic imaging with data acquired at a depth of about 600 m underground.
Many of these particles are muons, secondgeneration leptons that are produced by cosmic rays and reach earths surface at a rate of 1 per square centimeter per minute. The basic idea of muon tomography is to detect a muon before and after it travels through a volume that is to be imaged. The muon tomography survey summarized in this article was performed at the mcarthur river mine. The cosmic ray muon tomography technique can provide a solution to this problem, by be ing able to discriminate between highz materials and hence to distinguish ssile material from the highz shielding. Muon tomography has already been successfully used to image deep structures such as the interior of volcanoes and pyramids. Recently, cosmic ray muons are investigated for volcano imaging and cargo scanning applications. The cosmic ray muon has a broad angular distribution around zenith with limited. The tech that revealed a hidden chamber inside egypts great. Sep 27, 2012 this is the basic theory behind the working of the cosmic ray muon tomography.
Muons are subatomic particles created in the earths upper atmosphere by cosmic rays colliding with. High resolution muon tomography using a portable prototype. Jun 30, 2015 for instance, muon tomography could be used to quickly scan a large length of pipe for weak points. Detection and imaging of highz materials with a muon tomography station using gem detectors. By measuring the multiple ccargo oulomb scattering of cosmic ray muons traversing some unknown material, we are able to produce tomographic images using a. Subnanosecond cherenkov photon detection for lhcb particle identification in highoccupancy conditions and semiconductor tracking for muon scattering tomography view open files thesis pdf, 36mb. Pdf first images from the cript muon tomography system. Mar 31, 2017 we present an underground cosmic ray muon tomographic experiment imaging 3d density of overburden, part of a joint study with differential gravity. Cosmic rays are a form of highenergy radiation that originate from. Simulation of a small muon tomography station system based on. Muon tomography applied to a dense uranium deposit at the. Muon tomography imaging algorithms for nuclear threat. Congratulations to kuang for successfully passing his defense. It is centered on lisa grossmans interview to marcus hohlmann, a colleague from the florida institute of technology.
Threedimensional computational axial tomography scan of a. Ultimately, the measured hit detection efficiency is more than sufficient for pursuing muon tomography investigations. Muon tomographic visualization techniques try to reconstruct a 3d image as close as possible to the real localization of the objects being probed. Muon tomography offers the chance to develop a much cheaper, continuous and passive monitoring system for deep subsurface storage sites. The fact that both trackers have the same trend is likely a coincidence. Pdf muon tomography is a generic imaging method using the differential absorption of cosmic muons by matter. Muon geotomography imaged a known massive sulfide deposit in a complex geological environment.
Muon tomography muon tomography technique that utilizes muon scattering and muon absorption to generate images of large objects such as buildings, volcanoes, and ancient archaeological structures muon images contain both density and shape information of objects noninvasive way of imaging using a natural source 4 fig 1. Access to society journal content varies across our titles. Muon decay almost always produces at least three particles, which must include an electron of the same charge as the muon and two types of neutrinos. One technique called muon scattering tomography mst uses cosmic ray muons to construct threedimensional models of the densities of obstructed objects or volumes.
Geological exploration and tomography wittcos c ay uos eh. Marcus hohlmann the discovery of the muon can be traced back to the era spanning 1930 to 1950, and in the 1960s, luis alvarez found one of the first ways to apply muons in. A plastic scintillatorbased muon tomography system with an. Muon geotomography is a novel density measurement technique based on the absorption of cosmic ray muons in the ground. Mcs tomography at the infn national laboratory of legnaro padova a demonstrator for the study of muon radiography has been assembled using two spare muon chambers detectors produced for cms and installed in the barrel two drift chambers 2. Pdf document this is the author accepted manuscript aam. Since muons are much more deeply penetrating than xrays, muon tomography can be used to image through much thicker material than xray based tomography such as ct scanning. Subnanosecond cherenkov photon detection for lhcb particle. Cosmic ray muons discovered in 1936 fundamental particles similar to electrons, but much more massive 207 times an electron mass 105. As with other leptons, the muon is not known to have any substructure that is, it is not thought to be composed of any simpler particles.
Muon tomography is a technique that utilizes muon scattering and absorption to create images of large objects of interest such as volcanoes, buildings, or ancient archeological structures. Since muons have much stronger penetrating power than xrays, muon tomography is often used to image through much thicker materials than xray tomography, i. The processes contributing to the muon attenuation in matter are well known 10, so that a measurement of muon attenuation can be used to determine the amount of matter, or range r density times length traversed by the particles along their path. Mst is based on multiple coulomb scattering, a phenomenon in which muons are deflected and slow down when they interact with material with a high atomic number. Chemical and physical sciences practice passage questions. Low flux rate limits the use of advanced data rebinning and processing techniques to improve image quality. A plastic scintillatorbased muon tomography system with. Horizontal cosmic ray muon radiography for imaging nuclear. Designs for muon tomography station prototypes using gem. Number of publications regarding muon radiography or muon tomography in the last years. What is muon tomography and how does it help finding.
Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate threedimensional images of volumes using information contained in the coulomb scattering of the muons. Sykes 1 1 planetary science institute, 2 nasa johnson space center 3 university of houston 20 nasa innovative advanced concepts niac. The muon portal project 1 is a joint initiative between research and industrial partners, aimed at the construction of a real size detector protoype to search for hidden highz fissile materials inside containers by the muon scattering technique. Borehole muon detector for 4d density tomography of. Progress in muon tomography germano bonomi figure 1. Nov 04, 2017 a similar form of muon tomography has additionally been used as a way of imaging magma chambers in volcanos to predict eruptions, and for discovering hidden tunnels inside the bent pyramid, named. Since muons are much more deeply penetrating than xrays, muon tomography can be used to image through much thicker material than xray based tomography such as ct scanni. Muon tomography for detection of shielded nuclear contraband. The final published version version of record is available online. The mcnp simulations used a ptrac output file to track muon state at the inner. The measured cosmic ray rate, in both the horizontal and vertical viewing modes, are plotted in fig. Based on information measured and inferred from these tracks, a 3d image can be produced as well as other types of analysis to estimate what is.
Deep mapping of small solar system bodies with galactic cosmic ray secondary particle showers t. Effectiveness of a muon tomography portal for shielded. Effectiveness of a muon tomography portal for shielded radioactive sources detection in scrap metal heavy duty transportation. Since its development in the 1950s, muon tomography has taken many forms, the most important of which are muon transmission radiography and muon scattering tomography. We developed a simulation code to generate cosmic ray muons with the appropriate distribution of energies and angles. Designs for muon tomography station prototypes using.
Carbon storage monitoring using muon tomography muon tomography attributes passive continuous direct measurement of co 2 density cosmic ray muons charged, very penetrating particles created by cosmic radiation striking the atmosphere loss through ionisation when travelling through matter can be deflected when travelling. If you have access to a journal via a society or association membership, please browse to your society journal, select an article to view, and follow the instructions in this box. Integrating over the upper hemisphere gives a total. Muon scattering tomography is a technique which uses the muons present in natural cosmic radiation as probes to scan objects like nuclear waste drums or cargo containers. Naturally occurring cosmic ray muons emanating from the upper atmosphere lose energy as they penetrate the earth. Muon scattering tomography relies on multiple scattering. The trackers use a form of muon tomography, the technique using cosmic raygenerated muon particles, to radiograph underground objects and geological structures. Hit detection efficiency for the upper and lower trackers. Develop miniaturized muon tracking detectors capable of fitting in standard boreholes to perform 4d density tomography of geological structures.
Then, inspectors could use more invasive but higherresolution imaging methods to. Muon tomography imaging improvement using optimized. Carbon storage monitoring using muon tomography february. Muon imaging for innovative tomography of large volume and. The statistical significance of the uranium deposit signature in the muon data was larger than 5 standard deviations, and the corresponding 3. Muon tomography may sound like a medical or science fiction term, but it is actually a scanning technology available today that threatens the xray. It is the case of an article on muon tomography, titled new muon detector could find hidden nukes. Muon tomography every second of every day, we are bombarded with thousands of particles that pass through our bodies without us noticing.
Advantages of this technique are the muons ability to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose beyond the natural cosmic ray flux. For instance, muon tomography could be used to quickly scan a large length of pipe for weak points. Russian scientists invent device allowing them to see. Muon tracing and image reconstruction algorithms for. In reality, muons ionize solid material as they pass through, losing energy and possibly scattering in the process. Muon tomography for homeland security applications aims at detecting well shielded nuclear contraband in. Ct is a new imaging modality with unique characteristics that could be particularly important for diverse. What is muon tomography and how does it help finding cavity.
Move over xrays, muon tomography is coming decision. Currently, muon tomography can resolve features to the submeter scale. We present an underground cosmic ray muon tomographic experiment imaging 3d density of overburden, part of a joint study with differential gravity. Imaging tissue structures using muon tomography practice. If r j is the range of a muon travelling along a path j, then j l ji. Then, inspectors could use more invasive but higherresolution imaging methods to investigate. The z2 means that the technique is very sensitive for highz materials. A geant4matlab muon generator for montecarlo simulations s. Statistical algorithms under test for the reconstruction of muon tomographic images in the muon portal project are here discussed. Inverted 3d density images of the deposit are similar to a model derived from drill data. The muon tomography technique, based on the multiple coulomb scattering of cosmic ray muons, has been proposed recently as a tool to perform nondestructive assays of largevolume objects without. Every track yields a displacement and an angle we measure an angle and a vertex.
Outline strategyformuontomography ingredientsofgeant4andmontecarlosimulations eventsandtomography trackreconstructionalgorithms. The tungsten cylinder and the iron in the rails are. Designs for muon tomography station prototypes using gem detectors. Image resolution of muon tomography is limited by the range of zenith angles of cosmic ray muons and the flux rate at sea level. By measuring the multiple ccargo oulomb scattering of cosmic ray muons traversing some unknown material, we are able to produce tomographic images using a simple reconstruction based onthe total scattering angle. This movie is part of geoparticles interface project, which is included in the univearths. This is the basic theory behind the working of the cosmic ray muon tomography. Muon tomography is a very different imaging technique, but also exploits the free supply of cosmic ray muons passing through us all the time.
However, since muon radiography is an emerging technique, there are still open questions and scientific challenges to be addressed. Muon imaging for innovative tomography of large volume. Review of possible applications of cosmic muon tomography. Deep mapping of small solar system bodies with galactic. Muon flux simulations initial studies 2010 indicates that by instrumenting m2 and taking data for 1 year then 0. A list of contributions at international conferences would be too long for this post. A major source of uncertainty in muon tomography is the assumption that the muon trajectory is constant, that is, that the direction determined at the detector is a valid estimate of the direction from which the muon ultimately came. This was the explanation given to members of the panamanian association of cargo agents by mr. The technique, muon tomography, is similar to ct scanning in medical imaging, but as muons are more penetrating than xrays much larger and deeper structures can be imaged. Z sr1 cm2 min1, where n is the number of tracks detected. Detection and imaging of highz materials with a muon tomography. The ray signal, the angle of mcs is, the multiple coulomb scattering is stochastic with a. Probing fukushima with cosmic rays should speed cleanup.
Muon tomography applications using monte carlo simulation of. Using muons from cosmic rays to find fraying infrastructure. The curve plotted as a solid line has been fitted to the data and is given by. Tanaka,1 hideaki taira,2 tomihisa uchida,3 manobu tanaka,3 minoru takeo,1 takao ohminato,1 yosuke aoki,1 ryuichi nishitama,1 daigo shoji,1 and hiroshi tsuiji1 received 30 april 2010. In a nutshell, the article explains how muon particles from cosmic rays can be used. Hampton dowling, managing partner of hcb group, llc. Using muons to image the subsurface sandia national laboratories. D density inversion compared well with drill assay data from the deposit. A plastic scintillatorbased muon tomography system with an integrated muon spectrometer author links open overlay panel v.
1381 336 1280 1039 1427 1568 1081 1375 620 1409 1297 1067 857 436 467 1162 945 865 1108 621 498 243 840 79 1473 1313 146 435 1046 979 762 698 1346