Applied muography : from volcanology to archaelogy with a mobile muon detector (DIAPHANE / ARCHé)
Résumé
Since a decade the DIAPHANE collaboration has developed many detection methods in the context of volcanology to end up with the most complete existing muon detection complex on the dome of La Soufrière of Guadeloupe. Up-to-now 6 detectors are operating around this dome allowing both structural 3D imaging and functional continuous monitoring of the hydrothermal system. Although the volcanic dome has ideal proportions for muography studies in terms of opacity and timescales, it has recently emerged that applications in different fields may be worth a dedicated measurement campaign.
Non invasive and non destructive measurements are a natural applications of muography in the industrial context as long as the relative opacity is large enough to be detected in a reasonable timescale. We present here the details of an upgraded mobile muon detector aimed at performing measurements on different points around the Apollonia tumulus near Thessaloniki in the North of Greece (ARCHé project). The detector has been installed for a 3 months data taking campaign in July 2018. The aim is to perform a 3D map of the tumulus and to correlate it with the results obtained previously in electrical tomography.
We also show the results of a full Monte-Carlo study of the experiment, including the evaluation of the low-energy muons scattering on the target, just upstream the detector, mimicing a through-going particles. This irreducible background noise may bias the muography analysis and requires a prior characterization to conveniently correct the obtained results.