The Great Pyramid of Giza might be the most iconic structure human beings ever constructed. Ancient civilizations built archaeological icons that are a testimony to their achievement and determination. But in some aspects, the Great Pyramid stands alone. Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, just the Great Pyramid stands fairly undamaged.
A team of scientists will utilize advances in High Energy Physics (HIP) to scan the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza with cosmic-ray muons. They desire to see deeper into the Great Pyramid than ever previously and map its internal structure. The effort is called the Explore the Great Pyramid (EGP) objective.
The Great Pyramid of Giza has stood since the 26th century BC. For over 3,800 years, it was the highest human-made structure in the world. We see now only the underlying core structure of the Great Pyramid.
The Great Pyramid is well-studied, and over the years, archaeologists have actually mapped out the interior structure. The pyramid and the ground under it include various chambers and passages. Khufus (Cheops) chamber sits approximately in the pyramids center.
This figure is an elevation diagram of the interior structures of the Great Pyramid. The outer and inner lines show the pyramids present and initial profiles. 1. Initial entryway 2. Robbers Tunnel (traveler entrance) 3, 4. Coming down Passage 5. Below ground Chamber 6. Ascending Passage 7. Queens Chamber & & its “air-shafts” 8. Horizontal Passage 9. Grand Gallery 10. Kings Chamber & & its “air-shafts” 11. Grotto & & Well Shaft. Credit: By Flanker, CC BY-SA 3.0
In recent times, archaeological groups have used some high-tech methods to probe the within the pyramids more carefully. In the late 1960s, American Physicist Luis Alvarez and his group utilized muon tomography to scan the pyramids interior. In 1969, Alvarez reported that they took a look at 19% of the pyramid and discovered no new chambers.
In 2016-17, the ScanPyramids group used non-invasive techniques to study the Great Pyramid. Like Alvarez before them, they utilized muon tomography, in addition to infrared thermography and other tools. Their most considerable discovery is the “Big Void,” an enormous space above the Grand Gallery. The discovery was released in the journal Nature and is thought about one of the most substantial clinical discoveries that year.
Muons are primary particles similar to electrons however more huge. Since they penetrate deeply into structures, theyre used in tomography. More deeply than even X-rays can.
Cosmic ray muons are developed when high-energy particles known as cosmic rays slam into Earths atmosphere. Cosmic rays are pieces of atoms– high-energy protons and atomic nuclei– that continuously stream into Earth from the Sun, outside the Solar System, and outside the galaxy. When these particles hit Earths atmosphere, the accident produces showers of secondary particles. A few of those particles are muons.
This diagram shows what takes place when a primary cosmic particle hits a particle of atmosphere, developing an air shower. An air shower is a cascade of secondary decay particles, consisting of muons, indicated with the sign?. Credit: By SyntaxError55 at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Theres an unending source of muons from the cosmic rays that continuously bombard Earth. The task in muon tomography is to measure the muons efficiently.
Muon tomography is used in different applications, like examining shipping containers for contraband. Current technological developments in muon tomography increase its power and lead to new applications. For example, scientists in Italy will use muon tomography to image the within of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius, hoping to comprehend when it might appear once again.
The Explore the Great Pyramid (EGP) objective uses muon tomography to take the next action in imaging the Great Pyramid. “We prepare to field a telescope system that has upwards of 100 times the sensitivity of the devices that has just recently been used at the Great Pyramid, will image muons from nearly all angles and will, for the very first time, produce a real tomographic image of such a big structure,” they write in the paper discussing the objective.
EGP will use large telescope sensing units moved around to various positions outside the Great Pyramid. The detectors will be put together in temperature-controlled shipping containers for ease of transportation. Each system will be 12 m long, 2.4 m wide, and 2.9 m high (40 ft long, 8 feet broad, and 9.5 ft tall.) Their simulations used 2 muon telescopes, and each telescope consists of 4 containers.
Left wing is an illustration of the containers that make up the telescope. On the right is an illustration of how the telescope will be established on-site. Credit: Explore Great Pyramid mission/Bross et al. 2022.
There are 5 crucial points in the EGP objective:
A team of scientists will utilize advances in High Energy Physics (HIP) to scan the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza with cosmic-ray muons. The Explore the Great Pyramid (EGP) mission utilizes muon tomography to take the next action in imaging the Great Pyramid. “We prepare to field a telescope system that has upwards of 100 times the sensitivity of the equipment that has recently been used at the Great Pyramid, will image muons from nearly all angles and will, for the very first time, produce a real tomographic image of such a big structure,” they write in the paper explaining the objective.
” The Exploring the Great Pyramid Mission takes a different technique to imaging big structures with cosmic-ray muons. The use of extremely large muon telescopes placed outside the structure, in our case, the Great Pyramid of Khufu on the Giza plateau, can produce much greater resolution images due to the big number of discovered muons.
EGP is still constructing telescope models and figuring out which data-handling strategies they will use. Along the method, theyre doing simulations and other work to get ready for the objective. One important piece is how theyll corral all those muons into a tomographic image.
The team is positive in the work theyve done so far and satisfied with their brand-new technique. EGP states their effort will create a real tomographic image of the Great Pyramid for the first time, instead of a 2d image.
” The Exploring the Great Pyramid Mission takes a different method to imaging large structures with cosmic-ray muons. The usage of huge muon telescopes put outside the structure, in our case, the Great Pyramid of Khufu on the Giza plateau, can produce much higher resolution images due to the a great deal of identified muons. In addition, by moving the telescopes around the base of the pyramid, real tomographic image reconstruction can be performed for the first time.”
Many of EGPs work so far has actually been information simulations. But they will not be beginning from scratch when they build the telescope. “The detector technology utilized in the telescopes is well developed, and prototyping of particular elements has currently started,” they compose.
When ScanPyramids discovered the Big Void in 2017, it was big news. He informed the New York Times that “They found absolutely nothing … This paper offers absolutely nothing to Egyptology.
Most other Egyptologists welcomed the discovery and its clinical nature. Physicists were helpful of the discovery, too. Particle physicist Lee Thompson told Science that: “The researchers have “seen” the space using three various muon detectors in 3 independent experiments, that makes their finding very robust.”
Theres bound to be some drama when researchers use modern-day high-energy physics to penetrate one of mankinds most ancient archaeological treasures. Some Egyptologists appear possessive and might view physicists as trespassers in their field. They might not like physicists using mystical particles from deep space to open the veil on our ancient past.
It appears like theyll need to get used to it.
Initially published on Universe Today.
Referral: “Tomographic Muon Imaging of the Great Pyramid of Giza” by Alan D. Bross, E.C. Dukes, Ralf Ehrlich, Eric Fernandez, Sophie Dukes, Mohamed Gobashy, Ishbel Jamieson, Patrick J. La Riviere, Mira Liu, Gregory Marouard, Nadine Moeller, Anna Pla-Dalmau, Paul Rubinov, Omar Shohoud, Phillip Vargas and Tabitha Welch, 16 February 2022, Physics > > Instrumentation and Detectors.arXiv:2202.08184.
Produce a detailed analysis of the whole internal structure which does not just separate in between stone and air, but can determine variations in density.
Answer concerns regarding building methods by being able to see fairly small structural discontinuities.
The large size of the telescope system yields not just the increased resolution, however allows fast collection of the data, which minimizes the required watching time at the site. The EGP team anticipates a two-year watching time.
The telescope is really modular in nature. This makes it extremely simple to reconfigure and deploy at another website for future research studies.
From a technical point of view, the system being proposed usages technology that has been mostly crafted and evaluated and presents a low threat technique.