Investigation of muonic cascades in organic molecules and the possible application to explosives detection

Year
2009
Author(s)
E.-I. Esch - Los Alamos National Laboratory
A. Adelmann - Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland
A. Jason - Los Alamos National Laboratory
L. Mitchell - U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
H. Miyadera - U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
N. Hotelin - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Abstract
Initial results from an experiment aimed at studying the muonic x rays from several chemical species are reported. An analysis of spectra obtained from methanol, ethanol, benzene, toluene, and melamine is compared with rudimentary predictions from the Z Law, from which a unique signature is sought based on molecular structure effects. To assess the possible application to explosives detection, the surrogate compound melamine, which has similar molecular structure to common explosives compounds, is compared to other chemicals. The deviation from Z Law predictions is clearly different for this compound, giving evidence for a unique chemical effect.