What's that made of? Modelling muonic X-ray radiation for quantitative elemental analysis

缪子X射线元素分析是一种非破坏性技术，可用于研究整个样品的元素组成：从微米到表面以下几厘米。这项技术目前的一些应用是确定不能承受任何类型物理破坏的古代考古样品的成分，以及研究陨石、生物样品和功能材料。这个项目的目的是开发一种稳健的方法来定量模拟缪子X射线光谱。这可以通过数值求解描述实验中发生的所有介子跃迁的狄拉克方程来实现。理论和方法的发展将在MuDirac中实施，MuDirac是一种现代的、开源的、可持续的软件工具，正被用来帮助进行Muonic X射线元素分析。

Muonic X-ray elemental analysis is a non-destructive technique that can be used to study the elemental composition of a whole sample: from micrometres down to centimetres below its surface. Some of the current applications of this technique are to determine the composition of ancient archaeological samples, which cannot sustain any type of physical damage, and also to study meteorites, biological samples and functional materials. This project aims to develop a robust method to model the muonic X-ray spectra quantitatively. This can be achieved by numerically solving the Dirac equation, that describes all the muon transitions occurring in the experiment. The theoretical and methodological developments will be implemented in MuDirac, which is a modern, open-source, sustainable software tool that is being used to aid in muonic X-ray elemental analysis.