A study on heavy-ion beam simulation using Geant4

Abstract

The last few years have seen a rise in the number of particle accelerators built in Korea. However, there has been relatively little focus on accelerator-based study of secondary particles (such as rare-isotope beams) in the context of nuclear physics, biophysics, and dark matter research. In this context, we compare our simulation results with experimental data on various heavy-ion beams. We determine the optimized simulation toolkit and its parameters for these experiments. Since the Geant4 is more accurate than any other simulation packages, we use the Geant4 toolkit in the study. We also provide the relevant references for various issues arising in our study. We simulate the interaction of particles with target material and study the characteristics of heavy-ion beams. With regard to study design, first, we examine the validity of the Geant4 model. Next, we examine the various physics models built in the Geant4 to determine the most optimized model that describes the expected physical phenomena. Finally, we execute the Geant4 simulations to determine the characteristics of secondary heavy-ion beams. We plan to use these results for rare isotope accelerator complex for on-line experiment (RAON), which is an upcoming facility for heavy-ion collision experiments in Korea.