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
- Xiangpan Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0579-8467)
- Jinjing Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8868-9196)
- Xinshun Zhang
- Changxu Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0249-4895)
- Jun Weng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5652-9357)
- Wenhui Shao
- Tong Xu
- Haoyang Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2280-5822)
- Yiyang Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3982-0407)
- Yuzi Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9712-2896)
- T. Xue
- Bo Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8046-0460)
- Shaomin Chen
- Ye Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0827-6277)
- Haozhe Sun
- Jian Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2926-2560)
- Lei Guo (36221) (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9125-5210)
- Zhicai Zhang
- Chuang Xu
- Wentai Luo
- Ziyi Guo
- Ming Qi
- Yangheng Zheng
- Zhe Wang (41178)
- Yang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6777-3487)
- Haoyan Yang
- Aiqiang Zhang
- Benda Xu
- Jianmin Li (505211)
- Yuyi Wang
- Wei Dou
- Qian Liu
- Bin Zhang
- Lin Zhao
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
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Tsinghua University