Mountain muography for the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

The China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), located $\sim 2,400$~m beneath Jinping Mountain, is one of the world's deepest and largest ($\sim 300{,}000~\mathrm{m}^3$) underground facilities, hosting dark matter, nuclear astrophysics, and neutrino experiments. We report the first muon radiography (muography) conducted at this extraordinary depth. Cosmic muons detected by a one-ton prototype developed for the Jinping Neutrino Experiment were used to perform non-invasive subsurface density mapping over a 3~km lateral range. The 1.3~m diameter detector provides nearly isotropic acceptance and an angular resolution of $\sim 4.5^\circ$. By correlating the predicted surface muon flux distributions with the underground measurements, we reconstruct a directional opacity map that constrains the density structure of the overburden and shows excellent agreement with satellite-derived terrain models. This work demonstrates the feasibility of muography at extreme depths with kilometer-scale overburden and establishes a robust methodology for future geophysical applications and large-scale facilities, such as the full Jinping Neutrino Experiment. Based on this validated overburden model, we further predict the total muon fluxes for the eight experimental halls in CJPL-II, providing essential input for their physics programs.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Published
2026-10-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/4653-p76n
Primary Topic
Neutrino Physics Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Mountain muography for the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

Xiangpan Ji, Jinjing Li, Xinshun Zhang, Changxu Wei et al.
1 links
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Neutrino Physics Research
article

Mountain muography for the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

Xiangpan Ji, Jinjing Li, Xinshun Zhang, Changxu Wei, Jun Weng, Wenhui Shao, Tong Xu, Haoyang Fu, Yiyang Wu, Yuzi Yang, T. Xue, Bo Liang, Shaomin Chen, Ye Liang, Haozhe Sun, Jian Tang, Lei Guo (36221), Zhicai Zhang, Chuang Xu, Wentai Luo, Ziyi Guo, Ming Qi, Yangheng Zheng, Zhe Wang (41178), Yang Zhang, Haoyan Yang, Aiqiang Zhang, Benda Xu, Jianmin Li (505211), Yuyi Wang, Wei Dou, Qian Liu, Bin Zhang, Lin Zhao
article en

Abstract

The China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), located $\sim 2,400$~m beneath Jinping Mountain, is one of the world's deepest and largest ($\sim 300{,}000~\mathrm{m}^3$) underground facilities, hosting dark matter, nuclear astrophysics, and neutrino experiments. We report the first muon radiography (muography) conducted at this extraordinary depth. Cosmic muons detected by a one-ton prototype developed for the Jinping Neutrino Experiment were used to perform non-invasive subsurface density mapping over a 3~km lateral range. The 1.3~m diameter detector provides nearly isotropic acceptance and an angular resolution of $\sim 4.5^\circ$. By correlating the predicted surface muon flux distributions with the underground measurements, we reconstruct a directional opacity map that constrains the density structure of the overburden and shows excellent agreement with satellite-derived terrain models. This work demonstrates the feasibility of muography at extreme depths with kilometer-scale overburden and establishes a robust methodology for future geophysical applications and large-scale facilities, such as the full Jinping Neutrino Experiment. Based on this validated overburden model, we further predict the total muon fluxes for the eight experimental halls in CJPL-II, providing essential input for their physics programs.

Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Tsinghua University
Openalex Percentile: Top 57%
Neutrino Physics Research
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