Muon (Geo)Tomography: Developments and Applications

Synopsis

Muon attenuation radiography and tomography exploits the cosmic ray muon flux and attenuation of muons in matter to measure and monitor density distributions within large (few, up to hundreds of meters) structures. Muon geotomography is the application of these methods for imaging geological structures. With recent advances in particle detection and computing that facilitate long-term remote (especially low power) and stable operation of cosmic ray muon sensors, muon geotomography is a burgeoning field with applications in resource exploration, estimation and extraction, as well as in safety applications such as identifying underground voids, or structural integrity monitoring such as for large hydroelectric dams. In this presentation I will present the scientific basis of muon geotomography and highlight some of the recent work performed in this field.