A generalized muon trajectory estimation algorithm with energy loss for application to muon tomography
[1];
[1]
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Department of Nuclear Engineering
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Department of Nuclear Engineering
This work presents a generalized muon trajectory estimation algorithm to estimate the path of a muon in either uniform or nonuniform media. The use of cosmic ray muons in nuclear nonproliferation and safeguard verification applications has recently gained attention due to the non-intrusive and passive nature of the inspection, penetrating capabilities, as well as recent advances in detectors that measure position and direction of the individual muons before and after traversing the imaged object. However, muon image reconstruction techniques are limited in resolution due to low muon flux and the effects of multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS). Current reconstruction algorithms, e.g., point of closest approach (PoCA) or straight-line path (SLP), rely on overly simple assumptions for muon path estimation through the imaged object. For robust muon tomography, efficient and flexible physics-based algorithms are needed to model the MCS process and accurately estimate the most probable trajectory of a muon as it traverses an object. In the present work, the use of a Bayesian framework and a Gaussian approximation of MCS is explored for estimation of the most likely path of a cosmic ray muon traversing uniform or nonuniform media and undergoing MCS. The algorithm's precision is compared to Monte Carlo simulated muon trajectories. It was found that the algorithm is expected to be able to predict muon tracks to less than 1.5mm root mean square (RMS) for 0.5GeV muons and 0.25mm RMS for 3GeV muons, a 50% improvement compared to SLP and 15% improvement when compared to PoCA. Further, a 30% increase in useful muon flux was observed relative to PoCA. Muon track prediction improved for higher muon energies or smaller penetration depth where energy loss is not significant. The effect of energy loss due to ionization is investigated, and a linear energy loss relation that is easy to use is proposed.
- Research Organization:
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- NE0008292; 8536; AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1430407
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1430158; OSTI ID: 1454406
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 123, Issue 12; ISSN 0021-8979
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Effective Solid Angle Model and Monte Carlo Method: Improved Estimations to Measure Cosmic Muon Intensity at Sea Level in All Zenith Angles
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conference | August 2021 |
| Principle Study of Image Reconstruction Algorithms in Muon Tomography | preprint | January 2019 |
| Numerical Evaluation of a muon tomography system for imaging defects in concrete structures | preprint | January 2021 |
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