High-speed automatic microscopy for real time tracks reconstruction in nuclear emulsion

The OPERA experiment (oscillation project with emulsion-tracking apparatus) uses a massive nuclear emulsion detector to search for v_murarrv_tau oscillation by identifying tau leptons through the direct detection of their decay topology. The feasibility of experiments using a large mass emulsion detector is linked to the impressive progress under way in the development of automatic emulsion analysis. A new generation of scanning systems requires the development of fast automatic microscopes for emulsion scanning and image analysis to reconstruct tracks of elementary particles. The paper presents the European scanning system (ESS) developed in the framework of OPERA collaboration