Joint measurement of the atmospheric muon flux through the Puy de Dome volcano with plastic scintillators and Resistive Plate Chambers detectors
Journal Article
·
· Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth
more »
- Univ. Degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, INFN, Napoli (Italy)
- INFN, Napoli (Italy)
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Clermont Univ., Univ. Blaise Pascal, CNRS/IN2P3, Clermont-Ferrand (France)
- Univ. Blaise Pascal - CNRS-IRD, OPGC, Clermont-Ferrand (France)
- Univ. degli Studi di Firenze, Florence (Italy)
- INFN, Florence (Italy)
- Univ. degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples (Italy); INFN, Napoli (Italy)
- Univ. de Lyon, CNRS/IN2P3, Villeurbanne (France)
- Univ. degli Studi di Firenze, Florence (Italy); INFN, Florence (Italy)
- Ecole Superieure des Geometres et Topographes du Mans, Le Mans (France)
- Univ. Blaise Pascal-CNRS-IRD, OPGC, Clermont-Ferrand (France)
- Univ. de Lyon, CNRS/IN2P3, IPNL, Villeurbanne (France)
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. As a result, the MU-RAY and TOMUVOL collaborations expect shortly to operate improved detectors, suitable for a robust muographic imaging of kilometer-scale volcanoes.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 1329069
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-PUB--15-653-APC-PPD; 1423503
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 120; ISSN 2169-9313
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Muography of the Puy de Dôme
Measurement of the underground atmospheric muon charge ratio using the MINOS Near Detector
The atmospheric neutrino flavor ratio in Soudan 2
Journal Article
·
Sat Dec 31 19:00:00 EST 2016
· Annals of Geophysics
·
OSTI ID:1398963
Measurement of the underground atmospheric muon charge ratio using the MINOS Near Detector
Journal Article
·
Mon Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 2011
· Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
·
OSTI ID:21504854
The atmospheric neutrino flavor ratio in Soudan 2
Journal Article
·
Tue May 20 00:00:00 EDT 1997
· AIP Conference Proceedings
·
OSTI ID:21175510