Simulation and reconstruction algorithms for a commercial muon tomography system

Résumé

Muon tomography has become a great imaging technique and nowadays is applied in several research fields. It is used to produce images of nuclear reactors, to determine the volcanic activity or even to search secret chambers inside Egypt's pyramids. The improvement in security on the borders against illegal traffic of radioactive materials has become a homeland security priority. This has motivated that many countries are interested on the development of new technologies that allow, with a high level of confidence, the detection of that kind of substances. The goal of this thesis is to develop the simulation software, the mathematical algorithms, and the analysis tools needed to construct a scanner based on the RPC detector technology. This system is based on the cosmic muon tomography to produce images of heavy materials inside containers.