A new method for imaging nuclear threats using cosmic ray muons

TL;DR

This paper introduces an improved muon tomography method that enhances position resolution and statistical accuracy for imaging nuclear threats, leveraging cosmic ray muons' natural penetration without additional radiation.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel technique that improves imaging quality in muon tomography, specifically for spherical objects, with better resolution and precision.

Findings

Enhanced position resolution achieved

Improved statistical precision demonstrated

Effective for spherical symmetry objects

Abstract

Muon tomography is a technique that uses cosmic ray muons to generate three dimensional images of volumes using information contained in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Advantages of this technique are the ability of cosmic rays to penetrate significant overburden and the absence of any additional dose delivered to subjects under study above the natural cosmic ray flux. Disadvantages include the relatively long exposure times and poor position resolution and complex algorithms needed for reconstruction. Here we demonstrate a new method for obtaining improved position resolution and statistical precision for objects with spherical symmetry.