This paper reports the latest developmental efforts for a position-sensitive glass-based Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) and a multi-channel Data AcQuisition (DAQ) system tailored for muon tracking in muography applications. The designed setup prioritizes portability, aiming for field applications where both the detector and the DAQ operate effectively in external environmental conditions. Comprehensive discussions on hardware development activities and signal processing techniques are included, incorporating noise filtering to enhance the accurate detection of real muons. A muon absorption measurement has also been carried out to understand the behavior of these detectors from an application perspective.

The nuclear dependence of the inclusive inelastic electron scattering cross section (the EMC effect) has been measured for the first time in B10 and B11. Previous measurements of the EMC effect in A≤12 nuclei showed an unexpected nuclear dependence; B10 and B11 were measured to explore the EMC effect in this region in more detail. Results are presented for Be9, B10, B11, and C12 at an incident beam energy of 10.6 GeV. The EMC effect in the boron isotopes was found to be similar to that for Be9 and C12, yielding almost no nuclear dependence in the EMC effect in the range A=4–12. This represents important new data supporting the hypothesis that the EMC effect depends primarily on the local nuclear environment due to the cluster structure of these nuclei.Received 8 July 2022Revised 21 April 2023Accepted 17 July 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.108.035201©2023 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasLepton induced nuclear reactionsQCD in nuclear reactionsProperties6 ≤ A ≤ 19TechniquesParticle sources & targetsSpectrometers & spectroscopic techniquesNuclear Physics

Quasi-elastic scattering on $^{12}$C$(e,e'p)$ was measured in Hall C at Jefferson Lab for space-like 4-momentum transfer squared $Q^2$ in the range of 8--14.2\,(GeV/$c$)$^2$ with proton momenta up to 8.3\,GeV/$c$. The experiment was carried out in the upgraded Hall C at Jefferson Lab. It used the existing high momentum spectrometer and the new super high momentum spectrometer to detect the scattered electrons and protons in coincidence. The nuclear transparency was extracted as the ratio of the measured yield to the yield calculated in the plane wave impulse approximation. Additionally, the transparency of the $1s_{1/2}$ and $1p_{3/2}$ shell protons in $^{12}$C was extracted, and the asymmetry of the missing momentum distribution was examined for hints of the quantum chromodynamics prediction of Color Transparency. All of these results were found to be consistent with traditional nuclear physics and inconsistent with the onset of Color Transparency.

Quasielastic scattering on 12C(e, e'p) was measured in Hall C at Jefferson Lab for spacelike four-momentum transfer squared Q2 in the range of 8-14.2 (GeV/c)2 with proton momenta up to 8.3 GeV/c. The experiment was carried out in the upgraded Hall C at Jefferson Lab. It used the existing high-momentum spectrometer and the new super-high-momentum spectrometer to detect the scattered electrons and protons in coincidence. The nuclear transparency was extracted as the ratio of the measured yield to the yield calculated in the plane wave impulse approximation. Additionally, the transparency of the 1s1/2 and 1p3/2 shell protons in 12C was extracted, and the asymmetry of the missing momentum distribution was examined for hints of the quantum chromodynamics prediction of color transparency. All of these results were found to be consistent with traditional nuclear physics and inconsistent with the onset of color transparency.

The nuclear dependence of the inclusive inelastic electron scattering cross section (the EMC effect) has been measured for the first time in 10B and 11B. Previous measurements of the EMC effect in A 12 nuclei showed an unexpected nuclear dependence; 10B and 11B were measured to explore the EMC effect in this region in more detail. Results are presented for 9Be, 10B, 11B, and 12C at an incident beam energy of 10.6 GeV. The EMC effect in the boron isotopes was found to be similar to that for 9Be and 12C, yielding almost no nuclear dependence in the EMC effect in the range A = 4-12. This represents important new data supporting the hypothesis that the EMC effect depends primarily on the local nuclear environment due to the cluster structure of these nuclei.

The MURAVES experiment aims at the muographic imaging of the internal structure of the summit of Mt. Vesuvius, exploiting muons produced by cosmic rays. Though presently quiescent, the volcano carries a dramatic hazard in its highly populated surroundings. The challenging measurement of the rock density distribution in its summit by muography, in conjunction with data from other geophysical techniques, can help the modeling of possible eruptive dynamics. The MURAVES apparatus consists of an array of three independent and identical muon trackers, with a total sensitive area of 3 square meters. In each tracker, a sequence of 4 XY tracking planes made of plastic scintillators is complemented by a 60 cm thick lead wall inserted between the two downstream planes to improve rejection of background from low energy muons. The apparatus is currently acquiring data. Preliminary results from the analysis of a first data sample are presented.

Muon tomography or “muography” is an emerging imaging technique that uses cosmogenic muons as the radiation source. Due to its diverse range of applications and the use of natural radiation, muography is being applied across many fields such as geology, archaeology, civil engineering, nuclear reactor monitoring, nuclear waste characterization, underground surveys, etc. Muons can be detected using various detector technologies, among which, resistive plate chambers (RPC) are a very cost effective choice. RPCs are planar detectors which use ionization in a thin gas gap to detect cosmic muons, already used since years in major particle accelerator experiments. We have developed a muon telescope (or “muoscope”) composed of small scale RPCs. The design goal for our muoscope is to be portable and autonomous, in order to take data in places that are not easily accessible. The whole setup is light and compact, such to be easily packed in a car trunk. Individual RPCs are hosted in gas-tight aluminium cases. There is no need for gas bottles, once the chambers are filled. The muoscope can be controlled from a reasonable distance using wireless connection. In this paper we summarize the guiding principles of our project and present some recent developments and future prospects, including a long-term stability study of the resistivity of the semiconductive coating obtained with serigraphy.

The MUon RAdiography of VESuvius (MURAVES) project aims at the study of the summital cone of Mt. Vesuvius, an active and hazardous volcano near Naples, Italy. A detailed Monte Carlo simulation framework is necessary in order to investigate the effects of the experimental constraints and to perform comparisons with the actual observations. Our Monte Carlo setup combines a variety of Monte Carlo programs that address different aspects of cosmic muon simulation, from muon generation in the Earth's upper atmosphere to the response of the detector, including the interactions with the material of the volcano. We will elaborate on the rationale for our technical choices, including trade-off between speed and accuracy, and on the lessons learned, which are of general interest for similar use cases in muon radiography.

The MUon RAdiography of VESuvius (MURAVES) project aims at the study of the summital cone of Mt. Vesuvius, an active volcano near Naples (Italy), by measuring its density profile through muon flux attenuation. Its data, combined with those from gravimetric and seismic measurement campaigns, will be used for better defining the volcanic plug at the bottom of the crater. We report on the development of an end-to-end simulation framework, in order to perform accurate investigations of the effects of the experimental constraints and to compare simulations, under various model hypotheses, with the actual observations. The detector simulation setup is developed using GEANT4 and a study of cosmic particle generators has been conducted to identify the most suitable one for our simulation framework. To mimic the real data, GEANT4 raw hits are converted to clusters through a simulated digitization: energy deposits are first summed per scintillator bar, and then converted to number of photoelectrons with a data-driven procedure. This is followed by the same clustering algorithm and same tracking code as in real data. We also report on the study of muon transport through rock using PUMAS and GEANT4. In this paper we elaborate on the rationale for our technical choices, including trade-off between speed and accuracy. The developments reported here are of general interest in muon radiography and can be applied in similar cases.

The use of conventional imaging techniques becomes problematic when faced with challenging logistics and confined environments. In particular, such scenarios are not unusual in the field of archaeological and mining explorations as well as for nuclear waste characterization. For these applications, even the use of muography is complicated since the detectors have to be deployed in difficult areas with limited room for instrumentation, e.g., narrow tunnels. To address this limitation, we have developed a portable muon detector (muoscope) based on glass Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) with an active area of 16 × 16 cm^2. The specific design goals taken into consideration while developing our first prototype are portability, robustness, autonomy, versatility, safety and low cost. To help further improve our design goals, we are currently studying the possibility to switch the sensitive units from strips in the old prototype to pixels for the new one However, for performing high resolution muography, the number of readout units per layer will also need to increase significantly, leading to increase in the overall cost and power consumption of the muoscope. To mitigate these issues, we are developing a novel 2D multiplexing algorithm for reading out several pixels with a single electronic channel. In this article, we give an overview of the detector development, focusing mainly on the design goals and the choice of detector technology. Furthermore, we present the details of the expected changes in the new prototype as well as a simulated 2D multiplexing study based on general principles.

Quasielastic ^{12}C(e,e^{'}p) scattering was measured at spacelike 4-momentum transfer squared Q^{2}=8, 9.4, 11.4, and 14.2  (GeV/c)^{2}, the highest ever achieved to date. Nuclear transparency for this reaction was extracted by comparing the measured yield to that expected from a plane-wave impulse approximation calculation without any final state interactions. The measured transparency was consistent with no Q^{2} dependence, up to proton momenta of 8.5  GeV/c, ruling out the quantum chromodynamics effect of color transparency at the measured Q^{2} scales in exclusive (e,e^{'}p) reactions. These results impose strict constraints on models of color transparency for protons.

Imaging techniques that use atmospheric muons, collectively named under the neologism "muography", have seen a tremendous growth in recent times, mainly due to their diverse range of applications. The most well-known ones include but are not limited to: volcanology, archaeology, civil engineering, nuclear reactor monitoring, nuclear waste characterization, underground mapping, etc. These methods are based on the attenuation or deviation of muons to image large and/or dense objects where conventional techniques cannot work or their use becomes challenging. In this context, we have constructed a muography telescope based on "mini glass-RPC" planes following a design similar to the glass-RPC detectors developed by the CALICE Collaboration and used by the TOMUVOL experiment in the context of volcano radiography, but with smaller active area (16× 16 cm2). The compact size makes it an attractive choice with respect to other detectors previously employed for imaging on similar scales. An important innovation in this design is that the detectors are sealed. This makes the detector more portable and solves the usual safety and logistic issues for gas detectors operated underground and/or inside small rooms. This paper provides an overview on our guiding principles, the detector development and our operational experiences. Drawing on the lessons learnt from the first prototype, we also discuss our future direction for an improved second prototype, focusing primarily on a recently adopted serigraphy technique for the resistive coating of the glass plates.

We measure ^{2}H(e,e^{'}p)n cross sections at 4-momentum transfers of Q^{2}=4.5±0.5  (GeV/c)^{2} over a range of neutron recoil momenta p_{r}, reaching up to ∼1.0  GeV/c. We obtain data at fixed neutron recoil angles θ_{nq}=35°, 45°, and 75° with respect to the 3-momentum transfer q[over →]. The new data agree well with previous data, which reached p_{r}∼500  MeV/c. At θ_{nq}=35° and 45°, final state interactions, meson exchange currents, and isobar currents are suppressed and the plane wave impulse approximation provides the dominant cross section contribution. We compare the new data to recent theoretical calculations, where we observe a significant discrepancy for recoil momenta p_{r}>700  MeV/c.

Background: Measurements of exclusive meson production are a useful tool in the study of hadronic structure. In particular, one can discern the relevant degrees of freedom at different distance scales through these studies. Purpose: To study the transition between nonperturbative and perturbative quantum chromodynamics as the square of four-momentum transfer to the struck proton, -t, is increased. Method: Cross sections for the H-1(e, e'pi(+))n reaction were measured over the -t range of 0.272 to 2.127 GeV2 with limited azimuthal coverage at fixed beam energy of 4.709 GeV, Q(2) of 2.4 GeV2, and W of 2.0 GeV at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) Hall C. Results: The -t dependence of the measured pi(+) electroproduction cross section generally agrees with prior data from JLab Halls B and C. The data are consistent with a Regge amplitude-based theoretical model but show poor agreement with a generalized parton distribution-based model. Conclusion: The agreement of cross sections with prior data implies small contribution from the interference terms, and the confirmation of the change in t slopes between the low- and high- -t regions previously observed in photoproduction indicates the changing nature of the electroproduction reaction in our kinematic regime.