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Muons: The Little-Known Particles

Monday May 28th, 2018 TechBB news Comments Off on Muons: The Little-Known Particles

Muons: The Little-Known Particles Helping to Probe the Impenetrable

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Using complicated mathematics and modelling software, physicists can then calculate — and thus visualise — what those muons have passed through. In other words, muons can be used to make images. It is called muography: one part comic-book superpower, one part cosmic photography.

A visualization technique called muography, which allows the magma migration beneath the surface of volcanoes to be visualized, was recently used by Hungarian and Japanese researchers

Dank der Myographie (muography) wird man die Funktionsweise von komplexen Vulkanen wie dem Ätna in Italien und dem aktivsten Vulkan Japans, dem Sakurujima, besser verstehen können, so das Forschungszentrum in einer Erklärung.

The country’s archeologists and its military are trying to take advantage of muography to map underground areas.

Muography has been applied in predicting volcanic eruptions and tracing illicit nuclear materials, and proposed in probing the tomb of China’s first emperor.

Egyptian antiquities officials have confirmed the existence of a hidden corridor above the main entrance of the Great Pyramid of Giza that dates back some 4,500 years. The corridor, located on the northern side of the Pyramid of Khufu, was first detected in 2016 using an imaging technique called muography.

Egyptian antiquities officials say they have confirmed the existence of a hidden internal corridor above the main entrance of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The officials say it could have been created to redistribute the pyramid’s weight around the entrance or another as yet undiscovered chamber. It was first detected in 2016 using an imaging technique called muography.

De techniek kreeg daarom de naam ‘kosmische tijdsynchronisatie’ (“cosmic time synchronization”, CTS).

El enfoque se denomina “sincronización del tiempo cósmico” (CTS, según las siglas en inglés).

so they agree upon the time, that makes use of cosmic rays from deep space. Appropriately, it’s called “cosmic time synchronization” (CTS).

The muography array under Tokyo Bay is very cheap, accurate, and stabler than any other technique.

The firm’s Muometric Positioning System (muPS) uses muons made by cosmic rays instead of the radio signals from satellites

Muons from cosmic rays might lead to a new tool for understanding the weather

Muography, a technique used to peer inside nuclear reactors and Egyptian pyramids, could help map the innards of the world’s most hazardous volcanoes.

Muonen geven een pixelig beeld van binnenkant van een orkaan

Physicists have typically studied cosmic rays to better understand the universe from whence they came. But muography turns this tradition on its head, using these cosmic particles to learn more about previously unknowable parts of our world.

If you see one paper in a journal you say, ‘Huh, there’s something cool happening in muography. Then you see another one and think, maybe this is the right time to write about it.

Seeking a way to carefully inspect the site, the researchers turned to a technique that has grown in appeal across numerous scientific fields: muography

This project utilises the passive non-destructive testing field of muography, which uses natural radiation to monitor integrity of complex structural challenges.

Cosmic-ray muography can reduce costs and energy usage during the exploration stage

These techniques have been known as muon tomography for three-dimensional imaging and muon radiography for two-dimensional imaging, but the term muography is more widely used for both techniques these days.

A japán–magyar együttműködéssel létrejött Sakurajima Muography Observatory teljes egészében a Wigner Fizikai Kutatóközpontban fejlesztett detektortechnológiát használja.

Muography as a new complementary tool for monitoring volcanic hazards: implications for early warning systems

Researchers have used muography to glimpse inside Japan’s Sakurajima and Mount Asama volcanoes, as well as three volcanoes in Italy — including Vesuvius — and a Caribbean volcano in Guadeloupe.

Muography, a technique used to peer inside nuclear reactors and Egyptian pyramids, could help map the innards of the world’s most hazardous volcanoes.

Seeking a way to carefully inspect the site, the researchers turned to a technique that has grown in appeal across numerous scientific fields: muography.

Prior research has shown that muographical tools can illuminate the makeup of a volcano, which could perhaps lead to eruption forecasts.

The technique, known as muography, may one day be the “ultimate detection system for magma

An undersea muography sensor array was installed for the first time in the world.

Since X-ray radiography and muography are conceptually similar, the scientists adapted a deep learning algorithm to analyze the volcano images. Although the specific type of deep learning they used—convolutional neural networks—has been previously used in the geosciences, it hadn’t been applied to muographic images

In order to make the general public get interested in and understand the idea of muography through art. Muography is a new visualization technique realized by the application of modern physics. Like X-rays, we can see the inside of gigantic volcanoes, pyramids, kofun and so on.

To ascertain how much matter the muons must cross, it is essential to know exactly the depth at which the site is located and the composition of the terrain above the measuring point, information available thanks to the mining studies achieved during the construction of the mine itself. It is exactly the inverse process of a muography: we know the layer and its composition, we know the flux at the surface, and we determine the attenuation.

Combining 2D muography images from several viewpoints would enable 3D muography. And lower-cost instrumentation and more user-friendly software “might lead to a real technology transfer towards industry.”

The leader of the muography part of this exhibition is Cristina Carloganu from the IN2P3-Laboratoire de Physique LPC in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Carloganu did her PhD at the ANTARES neutrino detector (which studies muons caused by neutrinos), has worked on the LHCb experiment at CERN and helped develop the different calorimeter types for CALICE under AIDA. When she heard about muographic studies of volcanoes in Japan and the technology used for them, she thought that the RPCs she had been working on could probably improve the resolution of future studies of this kind.

Muography is an emerging technique that can visualize the internal structure of gigantic objects such as volcanoes, cultural heritage (pyramids, ruins and other ancient architecture), underground ore bodies, caves and industrial plants including nuclear reactors.

Quant aux chambres secrètes des pyramides de Gizeh ou de la tombe de Toutankhamon auscultées par gravimétrie, scanner ou muographie (muography), elles ont fait grand bruit, mais n’ont, en réalité, jamais existé. La communication ne doit pas prendre le pas sur la science égyptologique.

Drones, IA, robots, muographie (muography)… La technologie nous permettra-t-elle un jour de comprendre comment ces monuments ont été construits ?

O Instituto de Pesquisa em Terramotos da Universidade de Tóquio, o Centro Wigner de Pesquisa em Física da Academia de Ciências da Hungria e a NEC Corporation anunciaram o início do desenvolvimento conjunto de um sistema de medição de muografia (muography).

This “superpower” of muons makes them the perfect partners for seeing through thick walls or other visually challenging subjects. Volcanic eruptions, enigmatic ancient pyramids, underground caves and tunnels: these can all be scanned and explored from the inside using muography, an imaging method using naturally occurring background radiation in the form of cosmic-ray muons.

For the first time it was made a muografia (muography) of Stromboli, a collaboration volcano of a group of researchers of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in collaboration with Japanese research institutes.

Top 100 in Earth Science Explore our most highly accessed* Earth science articles in 2018. Featuring authors from around the World, these papers highlight valuable research within Earth science from an international community. High-definition and low-noise muography of the Sakurajima volcano with gaseous tracking detectors

“Those secrets may be revealed by muography, a technique that makes use of particles called muons, the heavier cousins of electrons. Muons are created when cosmic rays flying through space collide with air molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. Every square centimetre of our planet is showered with muons at all times. But as they move at near the speed of light and interact weakly with matter, we do not notice them. Compared with imaging techniques such as X-rays, muons are freely available and can be found just about anywhere.”

Ishigami’s team are presently equipping robots with observational muography devices for surveying cavities inside volcanoes.

Japanese physicists have adapted sensitive muon detectors designed for particle physics experiments to monitor the innards of active volcanoes in a technique known as muon transmission imaging or muography. Detectors are positioned around the volcano and the flux of muons from different directions is measured. The muographers have taken up the challenge of revealing secret rooms hidden within the Great Pyramid.

“Making Way For Muography.” Scientists in Japan and Hungary have announced the opening of the NEWCUT laboratory, the world’s first facility dedicated to the study of muography. A new research center for investigating muography—the NEWCUT laboratory—has been officially opened in Tokyo, Japan. The opening took place during the MUOGRAPHERS 2018 conference.

Il progetto MEV, acronimo da Muography of Etna Volcano, nasce nel 2016 con due obiettivi: il primo è realizzare la prima radiografia con muoni ad alta risoluzione dell’Etna, il più grande e il più alto vulcano attivo d’Europa; il secondo, più ambizioso e di largo respiro, è l’istituzione di una rete di monitoraggio del vulcano tramite muografia.

A new research center will investigate the emerging field of muography – a way to see inside large dense structures like volcanoes with highly energetic short-lived cosmic particles called muons. The NEWCUT laboratory officially opened on November 29, 2018, with a ribbon cutting and the first public view of the largest vertically rotatable directional muon spectrometer.

Hiroyuki Tanaka is interviewed about Hungary/Japan 3rd generation muography detector on Hungarian TV show.

László Oláh and Dezső Varga were interviewed for a Hungarian TV show (from about 18:00 min) about the installation (19:00 min) of the new Hungarian/Japanese muography detector to survey Sakurajima volcano, Japan.

The “Muografia” exhibit, a scientific muography exhibit that was held in the Intermediateque Museum, Tokyo is featured in an “Abitare” (a Milan design magazine) article.

Funded until 2022, INTENSE will span three complementary directions: multidisciplinary collaboration through“muography”, which uses cosmic-ray muons to image the interior of large targets, including volcanoes, glaciers and archaeological sites.

From predicting the magnitude of volcanic eruptions to identifying defects within bridges and providing unique insight into nuclear waste, “muography” is playing an exciting and important role across the globe.

SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards– Finalist Showcase. Scifi No Longer Honoring the coolest scientific achievement or discovery that before 2017 was only possible in science fiction. Simulate the invisible: a real-time muography simulator developed for ScanPyramids mission by Benoit Marini, Paris/Bordeaux, France.

Dr. Craig Shearer of the National Nuclear Laboratory featured on BBC Radio 5live’s Science Hour, where he discussed the role that muographyand the LynkeosMuon Imaging system can play in the UK nuclear decommissioning effort.

Muography makes its mark – Little-known particles called muonsare helping to map the inside of pyramids, and to spot missing nuclear waste. The muon is going main stream (Nature Vol 557).

MUOGRAPHY FOR MONEY – A spate of commercial applications for muography probe smaller samples, such as drums of nuclear waste.

Podcast: Climate costs, cleverer cab journeys, and ‘muography’ – Listen to the latest science news, brought to you by Benjamin Thompson and Adam Levy.

Muography is the science of using elementary particles to create projection images of giant structures such as volcanoes, buildings, and pyramids. Experience Japanese and Western perspectives on this dynamic science in which the earth, universe, and human knowledge intersect.

Researchers can use these tiny particles to measure the density of structures, just like X-rays pass through our bodies to visualise our skeleton. Pictured is the results of one of the team’s muography scans on the pyramid, which helped to reveal the new structure .

Muography Helps Scientists See Inside the Great Pyramid – Scientists used an unprecedented imaging technique called muography to create an internal scan of the Great Pyramid of Giza. See how it works.

University of Tokyo, French Geological Survey Sign Agreement for Disaster Risk Reduction Through Muography

Leading the world in muography: a novel way of imaging volcanoes

They have been using a technique called muography, which can sense density changes inside large rock structures. The Great Pyramid, or Khufu’s Pyramid, is thought to have been constructed during the reign of Pharaoh ..

Muography was used to find hidden tunnels inside the Bent Pyramid, which was given its name due to the wonky shape of its structure. “All the devices we put in place are designed to find where the cavity is located.

However, the ScanPyramids team realised the same non-destructive technology used to peer inside volcanoes, called muography, might be used to probe structures like Khufu’s pyramid.

Muography records elementary particles called muons that are produced when cosmic rays collide with the earth’s atmosphere. They are highly penetrative; millions pass through our bodies daily. Muography, like an X-ray, enables scientists to “see” through things, but it is capable of seeing through much larger objects, such as giant pyramids.

…and we think that muography will have other applications in other fields…”

Using a technique called muography, which senses density changes inside large rock structures, the scientists found a “big void” in The Great Pyramid. The 30-metre space located deep within the pyramid, is situated above ..

Muography and the benefits it will bring to society-In May 2017, the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, the Wigner Research Centre for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and NEC Corporation started the joint development of a system for visualizing the internal components of massive structures using muography, a visualization technique based on cosmic rays.

Japan and Hungary Jointly Developing Device to ‘X-Ray’ Volcanoes-The device, jointly developed by the University of Tokyo and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, is much smaller, lighter and cheaper than others currently available.

Machines that can ‘X-ray’ a volcano to get more affordable- The researchers will continue working together to create a commercially viable muography instrument that is small enough to be carried in a bag,

Describing the muography technique to Discovery News earlier this year, researcher Mehdi Tayoubi said: “Just like X-rays pass through our bodies allowing us to visualise our skeleton, these elementary particles, weighing …

Researchers are now analysing further data gathered through techniques including infrared thermography, 3D reconstruction and muography – which produces images by recording particles known as muons – and hope they …

Just like an X-ray plate captures radiation passing through the body, a special nuclear emulsion plate is used to capture muons passing through a volcano. Scientists then count the number of particles that reached the plate to …

Amid rising concern over volcanic eruptions, institutions from Italy and Japan signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to strengthen their cooperative framework to promote research and technological innovation in the field of earth science using elementary particles.

Hiroyuki Tanaka of the University of Tokyo reasoned that the throat could be “x-rayed” with energetic muons produced in cosmic-ray showers. The number of muons passing through the volcano would depend on the density of intervening rock, so measuring the number of muons passing through various parts of the volcano could yield a crude, 3-D view of the interior.

A team led by Hiroyuki Tanaka of the University of Tokyo, Japan, had already shown that muons can reveal the mass of material inside a volcano. Now the team reports observations of Japan’s mount Asama during an …

In conjunction with the bilateral cooperation agreements made between Italy and Japan, both countries where numerous volcanoes exist, the International Virtual Muography Institute-VMI has been launched in November 8, 2016, which will enable global education, developments, and applications of muography to flourish.

Muography – is the large-scale equivalent of using x-rays to generate images. Except, instead of using x-rays to take a closer look at your broken arm, we can use showers of muons to take a look inside large geological structures – we’re talking several kilometres in size here!

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