LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Tanaka Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab uses elementary particles raining down from space to see inside volcanoes and the Earth.
AboutAbout the lab
Seeing inside mountains with elementary particles
The Tanaka Lab studies the Earth's interior using highly penetrating, high-energy elementary particles such as muons and neutrinos.
It is both an old and a new field, combining geophysics and particle physics.
The lab has developed a technique called muography, which uses cosmic-ray muons to look inside mountains, faults, and the Earth's interior.
The lab was a world pioneer in demonstrating imaging of the Earth's interior with this method.
Key terms
- Muon
- An elementary particle produced when cosmic rays collide with the atmosphere. It is highly capable of passing through rock and mountains.
- Neutrino
- An elementary particle that barely interacts with anything and can even pass through the entire Earth.
- Muography
- A technique that images the density inside mountains and other objects, like an X-ray, based on the number of muons that have passed through them.
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies the Earth's interior using highly penetrating, high-energy elementary particles such as muons and neutrinos. It has developed muography, a technique that uses cosmic-ray muons to probe mountains, faults, and the Earth's interior.
*Illustrative imageSeeing Inside Volcanoes with Muons
The number of cosmic-ray muons that arrive depends on the thickness of the material they pass through. Using this, the lab determines the density inside volcanoes and produces images of the interior of volcanic edifices and faults.
*Illustrative imageReducing Detector Noise
Practical muography requires further reduction of background noise. The lab works to reduce noise using a calorimeter that combines multilayer particle detectors.
*Illustrative imageImaging the Whole Earth with Neutrinos
The lab also conducts research on imaging the entire Earth using giant neutrino detectors.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorHiroyuki Tanaka
VoicesStudent voices
Ratings and reviews reflect the experiences of individual current or former students, not the lab's official views. Whether a lab has reviews, or how many, says nothing about the lab itself.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
Student ratings (0 students)
--
--
--
--
--
--
Student voices answer questions like these
- What's great about this lab?
- What did you learn after joining?
- What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
- Who is this lab for?
- Where do graduates go?
Your experience can help younger students choose their lab. Your name won't be shown.
Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Tanaka Lab
Space Geodesy Lab (SGAT)Faculty of Science, Department of Earth and Planetary PhysicsSpace geodesy / Volcano physics (GNSS/SAR)
Takeuchi LabFaculty of Science, Department of Earth and Planetary PhysicsSeismology (seismic tomography, deep Earth structure)
Kato LabFaculty of Science, Department of Earth and Planetary PhysicsEarthquake source physics, observational seismology (slow ea…
Yokoyama Lab (Climate Variability Research Division)Faculty of Science, Department of Earth and Planetary PhysicsAtmospheric science, tropical meteorology, satellite data an…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “AsamaYamaS” Beh / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Seeing Inside Volcanoes with Muons: “La soufrière Télescope à muons 1” Borvan53 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Reducing Detector Noise: “Photomultiplier Tube (PMT)” Motokoka / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Imaging the Whole Earth with Neutrinos: “Earth Interior Structure Blank” Volcan26 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Space Geodesy Lab (SGAT)): “Interferogram Iran” Roberto Monti / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Takeuchi Lab): “Terrestrial Planet Interiors (Earth, Mars and Moon) - Artist's Concept” NASA/JPL-Caltech / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Kato Lab): “Japan earthquake map” Jackopoid / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yokoyama Lab (Climate Variability Research Division)): “Terra MODIS Stationary front cloud over Japan” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.