Trends in publishing muography related research:the situation at the end of 2020

Abstract Cosmic-ray muography is a novel method for density characterization of gaseous, solid, and liquid materials in various dimensions and with numerous distinct technologies. The number of applications of muography is on a constant rise, as is also the number of authors, affiliations, journals, publishers, funding agencies, and countries that can be related to muography literature. We have applied the Web of Science global citation database to collect statistics of muography-related publications to draw a snapshot of where muography was at the end of 2020, how it got there, and where the current trends may get it in the future

Trends in publishing muography related research results:the situation at the end of 2020

Abstract Cosmic-ray muography is a novel method for density characterization of gaseous, solid, and liquid materials in various dimensions and with numerous distinct technologies. The number of applications of muography is on a constant rise, as is also the number of authors, affiliations, journals, publishers, funding agencies, and countries that can be related to muography literature. We have applied the Web of Science global citation database to collect statistics of muography-related publications to draw a snapshot of where muography was at the end of 2020, how it got there, and where the current trends may get it in the future

Muography, outreaching, and transdisciplinarity:toward the golden age of muography

Abstract We demonstrate that cosmic-ray muography is a fundamentally multidisciplinary research field requiring an outreaching and transdisciplinary approach to support and speed up its current positive growth stage. The transit from expert-driven multidisciplinary research to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research requires publishing and promoting muography on multiple fronts and languages. Still, as the rewards for the muography community are likely great indeed, we call for collaborative actions and a change in the research strategy paradigm. Due to this end, we suggest a list of task points for the presentday muography community to get muography better acknowledged and as appealing as possible for the newcomers interested in developing muography or applying it in their respective applications

Muography and geology:does it matter which continent you stand on?

Abstract The present work has one aim and one aim only: to increase the geological credibility of simulations of muon propagation in real-world rocks. We accomplish this by introducing five different sets of real-world geological systems. Our approach contrasts with the so-called “standard rock” approach, which uses a simplified rock composition as a proxy for geological materials. However, while the conventional approach relies on an assumed average geological composition, it fails to appreciate the complexity of real-world rocks, which indeed are extremely varied in both density and chemical composition. In contrast, each of the five geological systems we have used in our simulations is statistical in nature and represent an average composition of a massive number of similar type of rocks from around the world. The studied real-world geological systems were (1) upper continental crust, (2) bulk continental crust, (3) lower continental crust, (4) oceanic crust, and (5) oceanic upper mantle. Furthermore, water and standard rock were used as references as those are more familiar materials among astroparticle physicists. The simulations were conducted using the standard tools of Geant4 (muon attenuation in materials) and CORSIKA (muon energy in intensity distributions on the ground level), while the parametrized estimates were based on the works of Guan et al. (modified from the Gaisser formula) and Chirkin and Rhode (MMC code). The muon rates were compared to the experimental data of Enqvist et al. extracted in the Pyhasalmi mine, Finland

Muography and geology:does it matter which continent you stand on?

Abstract The present work has one aim and one aim only: to increase the geological credibility of simulations of muon propagation in real-world rocks. We accomplish this by introducing five different sets of real-world geological systems. Our approach contrasts with the so-called “standard rock” approach, which uses a simplified rock composition as a proxy for geological materials. However, while the conventional approach relies on an assumed average geological composition, it fails to appreciate the complexity of real-world rocks, which indeed are extremely varied in both density and chemical composition. In contrast, each of the five geological systems we have used in our simulations is statistical in nature and represent an average composition of a massive number of similar type of rocks from around the world. The studied real-world geological systems were (1) upper continental crust, (2) bulk continental crust, (3) lower continental crust, (4) oceanic crust, and (5) oceanic upper mantle. Furthermore, water and standard rock were used as references as those are more familiar materials among astroparticle physicists. The simulations were conducted using the standard tools of Geant4 (muon attenuation in materials) and CORSIKA (muon energy in intensity distributions on the ground level), while the parametrized estimates were based on the works of Guan et al. (modified from the Gaisser formula) and Chirkin and Rhode (MMC code). The muon rates were compared to the experimental data of Enqvist et al. extracted in the Pyhasalmi mine, Finland

Muography and its potential applications to mining and rock engineering

Abstract Muography is a novel imaging method using natural cosmic-ray radiation for characterising and monitoring variation in average material density in a diverse range of objects that cannot be imaged by conventional imaging techniques. Muography includes muon radiography and muon tomography. Cosmic-ray-induced muons were discovered in the 1930’s, but rapid development of both muographic techniques has only occurred in the last two decades. With this rapid development, muography has been applied or tested in many fields such as volcano imaging, archaeology, underground structure and tunnel detection, rock mass density measurements, cargo scanning, imaging of nuclear waste and reactors, and monitoring of historical buildings and the inside of blast furnaces. Although applications of muography have already touched mining and rock engineering, such applications are still rare and they are just beginning to enter the market. Based on this background, this paper aims to introduce muography into the fields of mining and rock engineering. First, the basic properties of muons are summarized briefly. Second, potential applications of muography to mining and rock engineering are described. These applications include (1) monitoring temporal changes in the average material density of fracturing and deforming rock mass; (2) detecting geological structures and isolated ore bodies or weak zones in mines; (3) detecting a reservoir or boulders during tunnelling or drifting; (4) monitoring caving bodies to search remaining ore; (5) evaluating and classifying rock masses; (6) exploring new mineral deposits in operating underground mines and their surrounding brownfields. Finally, some issues such as maximum depth muons can reach are discussed