Tomographic Muon Imaging of the Great Pyramid of Giza

Journal Article · 31 December 2021 · Journal of Advanced Instrumentation in Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31526/jais.2022.280 · OSTI ID:1844785

Bross, Alan David  ^[1]; Dukes, E. C.  ^[2]; Ehrlich, Ralf  ^[2]; Fernandez, Eric  ^[2]; Dukes, Sophie ^[3]; Gobashy, Mohamed ^[4]; Jamieson, Ishbel ^[5]; La Riviere, Patrick J. ^[6]; Liu, Mira  ^[6]; Marouard, Gregory ^[7]; Moeller, Nadine ^[7]; Pla-Dalmau, Anna  ^[1]; Rubinov, Paul ^[1]; Shohoud, Omar ^[6]; Vargas, Phillip  ^[6]; Welch, Tabitha ^[6]

---

1. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
2. Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)
3. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
4. Cairo Univ. (Egypt)
5. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
6. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
7. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

The pyramids of the Giza plateau have fascinated visitors since ancient times and are the last of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world still standing. It has been half a century since Luiz Alvarez and his team used cosmic-ray muon imaging to look for hidden chambers in Khafre’s Pyramid. Advances in instrumentation for High-Energy Physics (HEP) allowed a new survey, ScanPyramids, to make important new discoveries at the Great Pyramid (Khufu) utilizing the same basic technique that the Alvarez team used, but now with modern instrumentation. Exploring the Great Pyramid Mission plans to field a very large muon telescope system that will be transformational with respect to the field of cosmic-ray muon imaging. We plan to field a telescope system that has upwards of 100 times the sensitivity of the equipment that has recently been used at the Great Pyramid, will image muons from nearly all angles, and will, for the first time, produce a true tomographic image of such a large structure.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1844785
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-22-055-ND; arXiv:2202.08184; oai:inspirehep.net:2030588
• Journal Information: Journal of Advanced Instrumentation in Science, Journal Name: Journal of Advanced Instrumentation in Science Vol. 2022; ISSN 2753-3352
• Publisher: Andromeda Publishing and Academic Services Ltd.Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English