Shroud Body Image Research Articles

THE THOUGHT OF THOMAS AQUINAS. A SWORD OF DAMOCLES ON THE RADIATIVE PROCESS

In this article, we want to further investigate the radiative hypothesis using the thought of a Doctor of the Catholic Church: Saint Thomas Aquinas. Here, we speak about a radiative process (which, in this case, appears to us as if it was a miraculous event) that should lead to the formation of the Shroud Body Image. We do not believe that this hypothesis is able to obtain the above Image with all the complex characteristics already deduced experimentally. Thus, we decided to investigate with the help of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an authoritative scholar in the world of Theology and Philosophy. The above investigation that seems impossible, on the contrary, can become realistic using the thought of Thomas that exudes from all his writings

Pressure and Temperature during the Shroud Image Formation

In this paper, we investigate the trend of Pressure and Temperature during the Shroud Body Image formation. The Pressure is constant with different values on the two images. The Temperature of the corpse decreases to reach the thermal equilibrium. The first parameter acts on the dorsal image that becomes a contact image. The decrease of the second parameter leads to trigger a stochastic process.

Could the VUV Radiation Yield the Shroud Body Image?

We investigate the Vacuum UV radiation with the aim to understand if a radiative mechanism is able to produce the Shroud Body Image. The ENEA team showed that a radiation (with ʎ = 193 nm) penetrated the linen fibrils for about 200 nm (the primary cell wall) as it is for the Shroud. The inner part remained colorless. With the same radiation, the above scientists obtained a latent Shroud-like coloring with the right hue. Now, in order to investigate the VUV radiative hypothesis for the Body Image formation, we underline that: i) the corpse emits radiation on the linen, directly and indirectly crossing the air; ii) the same radiation has a strong interaction with the air located between corpse and sheet. Consequently, the air quickly absorbs the VUV radiation which penetrates for a few microns. In such a case, only the corpse-sheet contact areas will be colored, while the others will appear with the background optical density as in the off-image area. Thus, the above radiation is a right tool to obtaining the Shroud-like coloring but, at the same time, it is unable to produce a complete Body Image.

THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION REVISIT THE SHROUD IMAGE FORMATION BY RADIATIVE PROCESSES

For some decades several scientists have claimed the formation of the Shroud body image by the radiative hypotheses. These proposals have as a start the emission, by the corpse wrapped in the burial linen, of proton or electromagnetic radiation with the wavelengths of the far ultraviolet. From a theological point of view, these hypotheses must be discarded. In fact, the above proposal foresees a transcendental beginning, followed in compliance with the natural laws, hoping to find a result that justifies their initial hypothesis. The Miracles are done only by God, the Omnipotent. Also for Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, the Divine intervention is instant. Therefore a description of these transcendental events, step by step, it is impossible. In line with Theology there is also the Ockham’s thought. It is not a physical law but a philosophical razor that still enjoys great consideration in the scientific world. Used in the case of Shroud Body Image Formation, the “Ockham’s razor” does not agree with the radiative hypotheses. The same occurs with the Religion. In fact, reading The Gospels, The Act of Apostles and The Letter, we must accept the initial absence of image.

PHYSICAL OR THEOLOGICAL APPROACH TO INVESTIGATE THE SHROUD IMAGE FORMATION BY UV RADIATION?

In this article, we ask ourselves if it is possible that Corona Discharge or Vacuum UV radiation may have been the tools to produce the Shroud body image. We are convinced that both are not appropriate mechanisms. In fact, the start of these processes is based on inconsistent hypotheses for the natural sciences, although all that follows is rational, reasonable and acceptable. However, the big initial mole remains. The complexity of this situation is such that it seems to be in a world in part Transcendent and in part Immanent. Therefore, independently from the possible results that in a next future could be obtained, due to identified photochemical processes, the Scientific Method cannot accept both the hypotheses and, consequently, the experiments. The same is also for the Theological approach which discards both proposals

A THEOLOGICAL SUPPORT, FROM CHALCEDON, TO THE SHROUD IMAGE NATURAL FORMATION

The fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) sanctions, for the Holy Church very important conclusions regarding the nature of Christ. The above results do not contrast, but rather open to a natural formation of the Shroud body image. This occurs because it was affirmed in Chalcedon that Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, has two natures, one human and one divine, “inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably”, which coexist in one person (hypostasis). Consequently, the monophysitism of Eutiche and of the Egyptian, Syrian and Armenian Churches, was rejected. Now, the Resurrection of the Nazarene is a Transcendental event that, according to those like us who support the natural formation of the Shroud body image, acted only on the corpse leaving the burial linen in the Immanent, under the dominion of the natural sciences. So, the Miracle of the Resurrection shows the divine nature of Christ, while the Shroud body image formation, the human one..

The Shroud Body Image Generation. Immanent or Transcendent Action?

In this article, we shall study the mechanism of the Shroud body image formation with the help of both natural sciences and religion. The various possibilities can be divided into three groups of hypothesis: the first one is that of the fake, the second is the miracle and the third one of the natural event. The first hypothesis is discarded by the interdisciplinary work of the STURP (The Shroud of Turin Research Project) team. Their results do not support the hypothesis that the blood stains and the body image are due to a forger. In our opinion, even if the Miracle by God is possible, the proposed hypotheses of the supernatural event are theologically unacceptable. So, the natural one remains well supported by the “Ockham’s razor”. Obviously, this last model must be verified by experimental evidence. However, this result is not contrary to the hypothesis that the body image is the one of the Nazarene.

Describing, Step by Step, the Shroud Body Image Formation

In the recent past, we introduced a natural mechanism (stochastic) in the literature to explain the image formation on the Linen of Turin by taking into account the yellowed linen fibrils distribution of the Shroud. In our opinion, a weak energy source like the thermal radiation produced by the enveloped corpse yielded on the linen a latent image, ruled by a stochastic process, and made by small bundles of yellowed fibrils. The image on the Shroud is unique and it appeared later than the blood image with its 2D and 3D characteristics. Moreover, a correlation between the density of yellowed fibrils and the cloth-body distance is present, again proving the action of a stochastic process. In this paper, we would like to discuss, step by step, the whole natural process that occurred in the formation of the Shroud body image. In every case, to confirm our hypothesis of Shroud body image formation, it is necessary to perform experimental investigations in the Forensic Medicine area.

Revisiting a pure stochastic mechanism to explain the body image formation on the Linen of Turin

In this paper, we revisit a pure stochastic process as a possible mechanism of the Shroud body image formation. Successively, we make a comparison with another mechanism that uses the Maillard reaction as source of a ‘stochastic-like effect’ image. Both the mechanisms seem to be able to explain all the chemical and physical characteristics of the Shroud image. However, an experimental confirm of the possible colouration by the Maillard reaction could be, easily, verified. On the contrary, for obtaining a pure stochastic effect, it is necessary to await the result of the experiment for years or decades. Indeed, the latency times, for the two images’ formation are very different.

Experimental results using corona discharge to attempt to reproduce the Turin Shroud Image

It is well known that the Turin Shroud (TS) body image is not reproducible with all its peculiar features, but a great number of attempts have been made to reproduce at the same time the macro- and micro-scale properties of the double (front and back) image of the human body impressed on the most important Relic of the Christianity. The authors are convinced that among these experiments, those performed using CD (Corona Discharge) allowed to reproduce the greatest number of similarities.The experiments were performed in the high-voltage laboratory of the University of Padua where CD was used to produce human images using linen clothes enveloping a half-scale conductive manikin of a man postured in the same way as the TS Man.The manikin was suspended from ground and connected through the feet to a 300-kV DC supply. The resulting CD produced a human image on the enveloping linen cloth after proper aging. Due to the draping configuration, the image showed various distortions of pseudo-cylindrical type.The structure of the resulting electric field and the influence of the cover producing a partial barrier effect was studied together with the pseudo-cylindrical distortions that resulted less evident in the TS image. This information was used to study the enveloping configuration of the TS during the image formation

Comparison among the Shroud body image formation mechanisms by the linen fibrils distributions

Some recent studies on the mechanisms of the body image formation of the Shroud of Turin showed several tentative explanations: (i) attempts to demonstrate that it is a forgery, (ii) experiments devoted to explain the image formation by corona discharge or using UV radiation, and (iii) the hypothesis that the image was naturally produced by stochastic process triggered by an unknown energy source. In this paper, taking into account the microscopic linen structure, we compare the above mechanisms with the physical and chemical characteristics of the body image. The processing supports the stochastic hypothesis as the mechanism able to explain the yellowed fibrils distribution and the Shroud image formation as a natural phenomenon.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Is the Shroud of Turin in relation to the Old Jerusalem historical earthquake?

Phillips and Hedges suggested, in the scientific magazine Nature (1989), that neutron radiation could be liable of a wrong radiocarbon dating, while proton radiation could be responsible of the Shroud body image formation. On the other hand, no plausible physical reason has been proposed so far to explain the radiation source origin, and its effects on the linen fibres. However, some recent studies, carried out by the first author and his Team at the Laboratory of Fracture Mechanics of the Politecnico di Torino, found that it is possible to generate neutron emissions from very brittle rock specimens in compression through piezonuclear fission reactions. Analogously, neutron flux increments, in correspondence to seismic activity, should be a result of the same reactions. A group of Russian scientists measured a neutron flux exceeding the background level by three orders of magnitude in correspondence to rather appreciable earthquakes (4th degree in Richter Scale). The authors consider the possibility that neutron emissions by earthquakes could have induced the image formation on Shroud linen fibres, trough thermal neutron capture by Nitrogen nuclei, and provided a wrong radiocarbon dating due to an increment in C 6 14 content. Let us consider that, although the calculated integral flux of 1013 neutrons per square centimetre is 10 times greater than the cancer therapy dose, nevertheless it is 100 times smaller than the lethal dose.

Piezonuclear neutrons from earthquakes as a hypothesis for the image formation and the radiocarbon dating of the Turin Shroud

Some researchers have suggested that corona discharge phenomenon or proton radiation is responsible for the Shroud body image formation, while neutron radiation is liable to a wrong radiocarbon dating. On the other hand, no plausible physical reason has been proposed to explain the radiation source origin, and its possible effects on the linen fibres. However, some recent studies, carried out by the authors at the Laboratory of Fracture Mechanics of the Politecnico di Torino, found that it is possible to generate neutron emissions from very brittle rock specimens in compression through piezonuclear reaction processes. Neutron flux variations, in correspondence to seismic activity, should be a result of piezonuclear reactions. Considering also the Earth’s crust, in addition to cosmic rays, as being a relevant source of neutron flux variations, other researchers measured a neutron flux exceeding the background by three orders of magnitude in correspondence to seismic activity and rather appreciable earthquakes (4th Richter’s degree). In the first part of this work, the authors consider the possibility that neutron emissions by earthquake piezonuclear reactions could have induced the image formation on Shroud linen fibres through thermal neutron capture on nitrogen nuclei, and provided a wrong radiocarbon dating due to an increment in content. Then they describe their previous studies on the phenomenon of neutron emissions from brittle rocks failure through mechanical tests and microchemical analysis, as well as its relevant geological consequences. Key words: Shroud of Turin, neutron emission, piezonuclear reactions, rocks crushing failure, plate tectonics, element evolution.

Can a latent image explain the characteristics of the Shroud body image?

The distribution of the fibrils that have yielded the body image on the Shroud is stochastic. In this paper, we show that the hypothesis of latent image can explain the chemical and physical characteristics of the above body image. It is also concluded that the “Shroud question” requires new radiocarbon dating done on a sample selected after careful chemical analysis.

Stochastic distribution of the fibrils that yielded the Shroud of Turin body image

The fibrils that yielded the Shroud body image show a stochastic distribution on the Linen of Turin. In fact, the probability of a fibril yellowing is a function of the energy, while this is not the case for the optical density value. This means that the above image is a latent image. We suggest thermal radiation or low-temperature chemical processes as possible natural energy sources to explain, by stochastic effects, the Shroud body image formation. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the phenomenon, we are not able to extract the energy source.

The interaction between radiation and the Linen of Turin

In this paper, we study the possible interactions between radiation and the Linen of Turin. The work is in line with the research focused, by scholars and scientists, on the detection mechanism of the Shroud body image formation. We have analysed the interactions between thermal, UV and particle radiation with the linen fabric. The performed analysis shows that any hypothesis of the Shroud body image formation by radiation must be rejected. Only the background was produced by the action of electromagnetic radiation.

Microscopic and Macroscopic Characteristics of the Shroud of Turin Image Superficiality

The of the Turin Shroud body image is a characteristic frequently described in scientific papers but too often in vague terms. Originating from a discussion among the members of the Shroud Science Group † , this paper was compiled thoroughly describing the unique characteristics of the body image superficial- ity. This concept of superficiality is here described at the fabric, thread and fiber levels. At the fabric level, we show the importance of the geometry of the fabric. At the thread level, the very specific distribution of the color is emphasized. Finally, at the fiber level, we confirm that the color is a chemically altered layer about 200 nm thick found at the surface of the colored fibers (the inner part re- mains uncolored). We suggest that the chemical alteration that pro- duced the discoloration is related to the primary cell wall of the linen fiber. The description of image superficiality here reported will be useful for the formulation of future hypotheses about the body image formation process. © 2010 Society for Imaging Science and Technology. DOI: 10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2010.54.4.040201

Does an I(z) correlation exist for the back-part of the Shroud body image?

Nowadays it is not known if an I(z) correlation exists for the back-part of the Shroud body image. This occurs because it is difficult to measure the cloth-body distances and to correlate them with the intensities of the image. By a scientific analysis we find a correlation with a slope that is different from the one related to the front-part of the above image.

The absorbed energy in the Shroud body image formation appears as contributed by discrete values

Starting from the optical density distribution in the Shroud body image and without any assumption on the mechanism that acts at a distance, we deduce that the absorbed energy by the Linen of Turin, related to the human body shape presence, is due to the contribution of discrete energy values.

L'impossibile ipotesi radiativa nella formazione della Shroud body image

In this paper we studied the radiative hypothesis as the mechanism that acts at a distance in the Shroud body image formation. The comparison with the known characteristics of the above image shows good agreement for the resolution, penetration depth and I(z) correlation. This does not happen for the chemical modification in the region where the image lies. Hence, we reject the radiative hypothesis.