Towards a sharpest interpretation of analytical results by assessing the uncertainty of PIXE/RBS data at the AGLAE facility

Abstract The advances in object analysis and data processing are a real asset in science and in particular in the cultural heritage field. However, results interpretations depend on the reliability of the information obtained on the archaeological material studied. At the AGLAE facility, a specific methodology using the theory of analysis of variance (ANOVA) was followed in order to calculate the uncertainty of the PIXE and the RBS analyses due to the machine and to the data processing. Repeatability and reproducibility of measurements are studied on three PIXE standards and one RBS standard and the corresponding uncertainties are developed. Then results of RBS analyses on cultural heritage objects are presented to illustrate the discussion.

[1]  Leonard C. Feldman,et al.  Fundamentals of Surface and Thin Film Analysis , 1986 .

[2]  Edward P. Vicenzi,et al.  Microbeam Characterization of Corning Archeological Reference Glasses: New Additions to the Smithsonian Microbeam Standard Collection , 2002, Journal of research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

[3]  L. Pichon,et al.  Fast mapping of gold jewellery from ancient Egypt with PIXE: Searching for hard-solders and PGE inclusions. , 2015, Talanta.

[4]  Philippe Walter,et al.  Ion beam analysis of art works: 14 years of use in the Louvre , 2004 .

[5]  L. Pichon,et al.  Implementation of ionoluminescence in the AGLAE scanning external microprobe , 2015 .

[6]  M. Mayer.  Ion beam analysis of rough thin films , 2002 .

[7]  I. Reiche,et al.  Non-invasive quantitative micro-PIXE-RBS/EBS/EBS imaging reveals the lost polychromy and gilding of the Neo-Assyrian ivories from the Louvre collection. , 2015, Talanta.

[8]  Adriaan M. H. van der Veen,et al.  Uncertainty calculations in the certification of reference materials. 1. Principles of analysis of variance , 2000 .

[9]  W. Eckstein,et al.  Rutherford backscattering from layered structures beyond the single scattering model , 1999 .

[10]  P. Walter,et al.  Development of a multi-detector and a systematic imaging system on the AGLAE external beam , 2014 .

[11]  William J. Teesdale,et al.  The Guelph PIXE software package II , 1989 .

[12]  Lucile Beck,et al.  Recent trends in IBA for cultural heritage studies , 2014 .

[13]  Quentin Lemasson,et al.  Programs for visualization, handling and quantification of PIXE maps at the AGLAE facility , 2015 .