A muographic study of a scoria cone from 11 directions using nuclear emulsion cloud chambers

One of the key challenges for muographic studies is to reveal the detailed 3D density structure of a volcano by increasing the number of observation directions. 3D density imaging by multi-directional muography requires that the individual differences in the performance of the installed muon detectors are small and that the results from each detector can be derived without any bias in the data analysis. Here we describe a pilot muographic study of the Izu–Omuroyama scoria cone in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, from 11 directions, using a new nuclear emulsion detector design optimized for quick installation in the field. We describe the details of the data analysis and present a validation of the results. The Izu–Omuroyama scoria cone is an ideal target for the first multi-directional muographic study, given its expected internal density structure and the topography around the cone. We optimized the design of the nuclear emulsion detector for rapid installation at multiple observation sites in the field, and installed these at 11 sites around the volcano. The images in the developed emulsion films were digitized into segmented tracks with a high-speed automated readout system. The muon tracks in each emulsion detector were then reconstructed. After the track selection, including straightness filtering, the detection efficiency of the muons was estimated. Finally, the density distributions in 2D angular space were derived for each observation site by using a muon flux and attenuation models. The observed muon flux was compared with the expected value in the free sky, and is 88 % ± 4 % in the forward direction and 92 % ± 2 % in the backward direction. The density values were validated by comparison with the values obtained from gravity measurements, and are broadly consistent, except for one site. The excess density at this one site may indicate that the density inside the cone is non-axisymmetric, which is consistent with a previous geological study.

Analysis of Various Projectile Interactions with Nuclear Emulsion Detector Nuclei at ~1 GeV per Nucleon Using Coulomb Modified Glauber Model

The total nuclear reaction cross section is calculated considering the cases with and without medium effect by employing Coulomb modified Glauber model (CMGM) for interactions of projectiles 56Fe26, 84Kr36, 132Xe54, 197Au79, and 238U92 with nuclear emulsion detector (NED) nuclei at around 1 GeV per nucleon incident kinetic energy. These calculated nuclear reaction cross sections are correlated with the different target groups of the NED nuclei. The average value of various parameters is also calculated and compared with the corresponding experimental results. The number of shower particles emitted in an interaction is also calculated and showed good agreement with the experimental result. We observed that the total nuclear reaction cross section increases with increasing the target mass number in case of all the considered projectiles. In addition, it is shown that the average value of reaction cross section with nuclear medium effect is in good agreement with the experimental results for projectiles 56Fe, 84Kr, and 132Xe, although results of projectiles 197Au and 238U are not in agreement with the experimental observations. This study sheds some light on the energy dependence of the nuclear reaction cross section.