Muography is an imaging technique based on the measurement of absorption profiles for muons as they pass through rocks and earth. Muons are produced in the interactions of high-energy cosmic rays in ...the Earth's atmosphere. The technique is conceptually similar to usual X-ray radiography, but with extended capabilities of investigating over much larger thicknesses of matter thanks to the penetrating power of high-energy muons. Over the centuries a complex system of cavities has been excavated in the yellow tuff of Mt. Echia, the site of the earliest settlement of the city of Naples in the 8th century BC. A new generation muon detector designed by us, was installed under a total rock overburden of about 40 metres. A 26 days pilot run provided about 14 millions of muon events. A comparison of the measured and expected muon fluxes improved the knowledge of the average rock density. The observation of known cavities proved the validity of the muographic technique. Hints on the existence of a so far unknown cavity was obtained. The success of the investigation reported here demonstrates the substantial progress of muography in underground imaging and is likely to open new avenues for its widespread utilisation.
Volcanoes in Italy and the role of muon radiography D'Alessandro, Raffaello; Ambrosino, F; Baccani, G ...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences,
12/2018, Letnik:
377, Številka:
2137
Journal Article
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Cosmic-ray muon radiography (muography), an imaging technique that can provide measurements of rock densities within the top few 100 m of a volcanic cone, has now achieved a spatial resolution of the ...order of 10 m in optimal detection conditions. Muography provides images of the top region of a volcano edifice with a resolution that is considerably better than that typically achieved with other conventional methods (i.e. gravimetric). We expect such precise measurements, to provide us with information on anomalies in the rock density distribution, which can be affected by dense lava conduits, low-density magma supply paths or the compression with the depth of the overlying soil. The MUon RAdiography of VESuvius (MURAVES) project is now in its final phase of construction and deployment. Up to four muon hodoscopes, each with a surface of roughly 1 m
, will be installed on the slope of Vesuvius and take data for at least 12 months. We will use the muographic profiles, combined with data from gravimetric and seismic measurement campaigns, to determine the stratigraphy of the lava plug at the bottom of the Vesuvius crater, in order to infer potential eruption pathways. While the MURAVES project unfolds, others are using emulsion detectors on Stromboli to study the lava conduits at the top of the volcano. These measurements are ongoing: they have completed two measurement campaigns and are now performing the first data analysis.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Cosmic-ray muography'.
Muon radiography, also known as muography, is an imaging technique that provides information on the mass density distribution inside large objects. Muons are naturally produced in the interactions of ...cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere. The physical process exploited by muography is the attenuation of the muon flux, that depends on the thickness and density of matter that muons cross in the course of their trajectory. A particle detector with tracking capability allows the measurement of the muons flux as a function of the muon direction. The comparison of the measured muon flux with the expected one gives information on the distribution of the density of matter, in particular, on the presence of cavities. In this article, the measurement performed at Mt. Echia in Naples (Saracino 2017
, 1181. (doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01277-3)), will be discussed as a practical example of the possible application of muography in archaeology and civil engineering.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Cosmic-ray muography'.
The Muon Imaging for Mining and Archaeology (MIMA) project aims at the development of a non-invasive technique for imaging dense structures or cavities, hidden in the underground or anyway surrounded ...by huge volumes of matter, based on Muon Absorption Radiography. Given its natural multidisciplinary, the final purpose is the validation of this methodology for applications in different fields, like Archaeology, Geology, mining, Civil Engineering and Civil Protection, in close cooperation with team in these fields. In this paper we report on the design, construction and performance of a compact and lightweight muon telescope designed mainly for archaeological investigation and geophysical prospections in general. The MIMA detector is also used currently as a test instrument to study different hardware solutions to optimize the global performance in these types of applications.
Muon radiography is a technique based on the measurement of absorption profiles of muons as they pass through matter. This measurement allows to obtain an image of the inner structure of large volume ...objects and is suitable to be applied in several fields, such as volcanology, archaeology and civil engeneering. One of the main applications concerns the study of volcanic structures; indeed it is possible to use this technique to measure the mass distribution inside the edifice of a volcano providing useful information to better understand the possible eruption mechanisms. The MURAVES (MUon RAdiography of VESuvius) project aims to the study of the summital cone of Mt. Vesuvius near Naples in Italy, one of the most dangerous active volcanoes in the world. The MURAVES apparatus is a modular, robust muon hodoscope system with a low power consumption, optimized to be used in inhospitable environments like the surroundings of volcanoes. The complete detection system is an array of identical tracking modules, each with an area of 1 m2, based on the use of plasic scintillators. The technologies, the status and the data analysis strategy of the experiment will be presented in this paper.
A novel algorithm developed within muon radiography to localize objects or cavities hidden inside large material volumes was recently proposed by some of the authors (Bonechi
2015
, P02003 ...(doi:10.1088/1748-0221/10/02/P02003)). The algorithm, based on muon back projection, helps to estimate the three-dimensional position and the transverse extension of detected objects without the need for measurements from different points of view, which would be required to make a triangulation. This algorithm can now be tested owing to the availability of real data collected both in laboratory tests and from real-world measurements. The methodology and some test results are presented in this paper.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Cosmic-ray muography'.
We report about a study of the light response of a solid polystyrene-based scintillator with an arch shaped geometry, directly coupled to Silicon Photo Multiplier sensors for the light readout. This ...geometry is relevant for the design of a novel borehole detector for “muography” applications in Civil Engineering, Geology or Archaeology. The scintillator response has been investigated using a dedicated experimental set-up based on the detection of cosmic ray muons. Configurations that use reflecting and diffusive materials have been tested, as well as configurations with a cover specifically designed to enclose and protect the scintillator. The results found a good compromise between the light response and an easy solution for the detector assembly.
The muographic imaging of volcanoes relies on the measured transmittance of the atmospheric muon flux through the target. An important bias affecting the result comes from background contamination ...mimicking a higher transmittance. The MU‐RAY and TOMUVOL collaborations measured independently in 2013 the atmospheric muon flux transmitted through the Puy de Dôme volcano using their early prototype detectors, based on plastic scintillators and on Glass Resistive Plate Chambers, respectively. These detectors had three (MU‐RAY) or four (TOMUVOL) detection layers of 1 m2 each, tens (MU‐RAY) or hundreds (TOMUVOL) of nanosecond time resolution, a few millimeter position resolution, an energy threshold of few hundreds MeV, and no particle identification capabilities. The prototypes were deployed about 1.3 km away from the summit, where they measured, behind rock depths larger than 1000 m, remnant fluxes of 1.83±0.50(syst)±0.07(stat) m−2 d−1 deg−2 (MU‐RAY) and 1.95±0.16(syst)±0.05(stat) m−2 d−1 deg−2 (TOMUVOL), that roughly correspond to the expected flux of high‐energy atmospheric muons crossing 600 meters water equivalent (mwe) at 18° elevation. This implies that imaging depths larger than 500 mwe from 1 km away using such prototype detectors suffer from an overwhelming background. These measurements confirm that a new generation of detectors with higher momentum threshold, time‐of‐flight measurement, and/or particle identification is needed. The MU‐RAY and TOMUVOL collaborations expect shortly to operate improved detectors, suitable for a robust muographic imaging of kilometer‐scale volcanoes.
Key Point
The feasibility of muon imaging of km thick volcanoes was checked using two different detectors
The MU-RAY project: Volcano radiography with cosmic-ray muons Ambrosi, G.; Ambrosino, F.; Battiston, R. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
02/2011, Letnik:
628, Številka:
1
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Cosmic-ray muon radiography is a technique for imaging the variation of density inside the top few 100
m of a volcanic cone. With resolutions up to 10s of meters in optimal detection conditions, muon ...radiography can provide images of the top region of a volcano edifice with a resolution that is considerably better than that typically achieved with conventional methods. Such precise measurements are expected to provide us with information on anomalies in the rock density distribution, like those expected from dense lava conduits, low density magma supply paths or the compression with depth of the overlying soil. The MU-RAY project aims at the construction of muon telescopes and the development of new analysis tools for muon radiography. The telescopes are required to be able to work in harsh environment and to have low power consumption, good angular and time resolutions, large active area and modularity. The telescope consists of two
X–
Y planes of 2×2 square meters area made by plastic scintillator strips of triangular shape. Each strip is read by a fast WLS fiber coupled to a silicon photomultiplier. The readout electronics is based on the SPIROC chip.
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