Cimmino Luigi
Department of Physics, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Napoli, Italy.
Division of Naples, Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, 80126 Roma, Italy.
J Imaging. 2021 Nov 26;7(12):253. doi: 10.3390/jimaging7120253.
Radiographic imaging with muons, also called Muography, is based on the measurement of the absorption of muons, generated by the interaction of cosmic rays with the earth's atmosphere, in matter. Muons are elementary particles with high penetrating power, a characteristic that makes them capable of crossing bodies of dimensions of the order of hundreds of meters. The interior of bodies the size of a pyramid or a volcano can be seen directly with the use of this technique, which can rely on highly segmented muon trackers. Since the muon flux is distributed in energy over a wide spectrum that depends on the direction of incidence, the main difference with radiography made with X-rays is in the source. The source of muons is not tunable, neither in energy nor in direction; to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, muography requires large instrumentation, long time data acquisition and high background rejection capacity. Here, we present the principles of the Muography, illustrating how radiographic images can be obtained, starting from the measurement of the attenuation of the muon flux through an object. It will then be discussed how recent technologies regarding artificial intelligence can give an impulse to this methodology in order to improve its results.
用μ子进行的射线成像，也称为μ子成像，是基于对μ子吸收的测量，μ子由宇宙射线与地球大气相互作用产生，在物质中被吸收。μ子是具有高穿透力的基本粒子，这一特性使它们能够穿过尺寸达数百米量级的物体。利用这种技术，并借助高度分段的μ子追踪器，可以直接看到金字塔或火山大小物体的内部。由于μ子通量在能量上分布于一个取决于入射方向的宽谱中，与用X射线进行的射线照相的主要区别在于源。μ子源在能量和方向上都不可调；为了提高信噪比，μ子成像需要大型仪器、长时间的数据采集和高背景抑制能力。在此，我们介绍μ子成像的原理，说明如何从测量μ子通量通过物体的衰减开始获得射线图像。然后将讨论关于人工智能的最新技术如何推动这种方法以改善其结果。
