Novel Muon Tomography Detector for the Pyramids

Abstract

Cosmic-ray muons which impinge upon the Earth's surface can be used to image the density of geological and man-made materials located above a muon detector. The detectors used for these measurements must be capable of determining the muon rate as a function of the angle of incidence. Applications of this capability include geological carbon storage, natural gas storage, enhanced oil recovery, compressed air storage, oil and gas production, tunnel detection, and detection of hidden rooms in man-made structures such as the pyramids. For these applications, the detector must be small and rugged and have operational characteristics which enable its use in remote locations, such as low power requirements. A new muon detector design is now being constructed to make measurements on the Khafre pyramid, in Egypt, to look for unknown voids that might exist in the structure. The new detector design uses monolithic plates of scintillator with wavelength-shifting fiber optic readout to obtain location information. This design will meet the operational requirements, while also providing a geometry that can be modified for different measurement conditions.

Simulation Studies of a Novel Muography Detector for the Great Pyramids

“…The new pyramid muon detector, described in more detail in [5], is made of two solid plates of EJ-200 scintillator [12], each of which have orthogonal grooves on either side of the plate containing BCF-92 wavelength shifting fibers (WLS) [13]. The simulation of each plate used two plates of half the total thickness.…”

A Development of Compact Muon Spectrometer Using Multiple Pressurized Gas Cherenkov Radiators

“…𝜇𝑁 𝐴𝑙 → 𝑒𝑁 𝐴𝑙 (20) Eq. ( 19) represents a radiative decay of μwith a mean lifetime of τμ ≅ 2.2 μsec.…”

“…Muons are one of the most versatile particles in both particle physics and nuclear engineering. Not only are muons the key particles in accelerator and neutrino studies, e.g., CMS and miniBooNE [1,2], but also a promising non-conventional radiographic probe in muon applications, e.g., nuclear reactor and waste imaging [3][4][5][6][7], homeland security [8][9][10][11][12][13][14], geotomography [15][16][17][18][19], and archeology [20,21]. In particle physics, two important quantities, muon trajectory and momentum, need to be measured.…”

Mountain Muon Tomography Using a Liquid Scintillator Detector

“…Extensive research has shown that MT has a wide range of applications, including the imaging of volcanoes [1,2], pyramids [3,4], hidden underground structures [5,6], nuclear reactors [7,8], high-Z materials [9], high-Z and medium-Z materials [10], and bedrock sculpting beneath an alpine glacier [11]. The imaging techniques used in MT are often based on plastic scintillators [12,13], emulsion [14], and gas [15] detectors.…”