Fieldable Muon Momentum Measurement using Coupled Pressurized Gaseous Cherenkov Detectors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a portable, field-deployable muon momentum measurement system using coupled pressurized gaseous Cherenkov detectors, offering a practical alternative to large, expensive traditional methods for applications like tomography and radiation monitoring.

Contribution

It presents a novel concept of using pressure-optimized Cherenkov radiators for muon momentum measurement, enabling portable and fieldable detection capabilities.

Findings

Concept successfully estimates muon momentum based on Cherenkov signals.

System can be optimized for different momentum thresholds by adjusting gas pressure.

Potential for integration with existing tomography systems for enhanced field measurements.

Abstract

Cosmic ray muons present a large part of the radiation background and depending on the application of interest muons can be seen as background noise, e.g., radiation mapping, radiation protection, dosimetry, or as a useful interrogation probe such as cosmic ray muon tomography. It is worth noting recent developments on muon scattering tomography which has emerged as a prospective noninvasive monitoring method for many applications including spent nuclear fuel cask monitoring and geotomography. However, it is still very challenging to measure muon momentum in the field, despite the apparent benefits, without resorting to large and expensive calorimeters, ring imagers, or time of flight detectors. Recent efforts at CNL and INFN have developed large prototypes based on multiple Coulomb scattering coupled with the muon momentum reconstruction algorithms. While these efforts show promise, no portable detectors exist that can measure muon momentum in the field. In this work, we present a new concept for measuring muon momentum using coupled pressurized gaseous Cherenkov radiators. By carefully selecting the gas pressure at each radiator we can optimize the muon momentum threshold for which a muon signal will be detected. This way, a muon passing through the radiators will only trigger those radiators with momentum threshold less than the actual muon momentum. By measuring the presence of Cherenkov signals in each radiator, our system can then estimate the muon momentum. The primary benefit of such a concept is that it can be compact and portable enough so that it can be deployed in the field separately or in combination with existing tomography systems.