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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Shroud of Turin
• formation mechanism
• latent image

PACS :

• 05.20.-y
• 61.80.-x
• 87.50.-a

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the “Arcidiocesi di Torino”, who has furnished the photographs of the Shroud of Turin taken after the 2002 restoration.