We have performed a detailed Monte Carlo (MC) calculation for the Advanced thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) detector using the MC code FLUKA-2005 which is capable of simulating particles up to 10 PeV. The ATIC detector has completed two successful balloon flights from McMurdo, Antarctica lasting a total of more than 35 days. ATIC is designed as a multiple, long duration balloon Bight, investigation of the cosmic ray spectra from below 50 GeV to near 100 TeV total energy; using a fully active Bismuth Germanate @GO) calorimeter. It is equipped with a large mosaic of silicon detector pixels capable of charge identification and as a particle tracking system, three projective layers of x-y scintillator hodoscopes were employed, above, in the middle and below a 0.75 nuclear interaction length graphite target. Our calculations are part of an analysis package of both A- and energy-dependences of different nuclei interacting with the ATIC detector. The MC simulates the responses of different components of the detector such as the Simatrix, the scintillator hodoscopes and the BGO calorimeter to various nuclei. We also show comparisons of the FLUKA-2005 MC calculations with a GEANT calculation and data for protons, He and CNO

Adams, J. H.

Ahn, H. S.

Bashindzhagyan, G. L.

Batkov, K. E.

Chang, J.

Christl, M.

Fazely, A. R.

Ganel, O.

Gunasingha, R. M.

Guzik, T. G.

NASA Technical Reports Server

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 
A Detailed Flub-2005 Monte Carlo 
Simulation for the ATIC Detector 
R. M. Gunasinghaal* A. R. Fazely" J. H. Adams, Jr. 
H. S. Ahn" G. L. Bashindzhagyand K. E. Batkov" J. Chang e,1 
M. Christ1 0. Ganel" T. G. Guzikf J. Isbert K. C. Kim" 
E. N. Kouznetsovd M. I. Panasyukd A. D. Panovd 
W. K. H. Schmidt e E. S. Seo " N. V. Sokolskayad J. W. Watts 
J. P. Wefelf J. Wu" V. I. Zatsepind Z. W. Ling 
"Southern University, Physics Department, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. 
bMarshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL,  USA 
University of Maryland, Institute for Physical Science t3 Technology, College 
Park, MD, USA 
dSkobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow, 
Russia 
e Max-Plank Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany 
fLouisiana State University, Department of Physics t3 Astronomy, Baton Rouge, 
LA,  USA 
g University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL,  USA 
Abstract 
We have performed a detailed Monte Carlo (MC) simulation for the Advanced Thin 
Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) detector using the MC code FLUKA-2005 which is 
capable of simulating particles up to 10 PeV. The ATIC detector has completed two 
successful balloon flights from McMurdo, Antarctica lasting a total of more than 35 
days. ATIC is designed as a multiple, long duration balloon flight, investigation of 
the cosmic ray spectra from below 50 GeV to near 100 TeV total energy; using a fully 
active Bismuth Germanate(BG0) calorimeter. It is equipped with a large mosaic 
of silicon detector pixels capable of charge identification, and, for particle tracking, 
three projective layers of x-y scintillator hodoscopes, located above, in the middle 
and below a 0.75 nuclear interaction length graphite target. Our simulations are 
part of an analysis package of both nuclear (A) and energy dependences for different 
nuclei interacting in the ATIC detector. The MC simulates the response of different 
components of the detector such as the Si-matrix, the scintillator hodoscopes and 
the BGQ calorimeter to various nuclei. We present comparisons of the FLUKA-2005 
MC calculations with GEANT calculations and with the ATIC CERN data. 
Preprint submitted to Elsevier 20 October 2006 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20060047793 2019-08-29T23:56:54+00:00Z
Key words: , Scientific Ballooning; ATIC long duration balloon project 
1 Introduction 
High energy cosmic rays, particles of matter from distant regions of our galaxy 
and possibly elsewhere in the universe, can be directly observed by balloon- 
borne or space-based experiments. Understanding the cosmic ray composition 
and energy spectra can provide clues to the origin of cosmic rays, their acceler- 
ation mechanism, and their propagation through the galactic and intergalactic 
media. Cosmic rays contain all natural elements from proton to nuclei beyond 
nickel. The all-particle spectrum of cosmic rays (where species can not be 
distinguished) obeys a power law dependence of the observed flux on energy 
from 10 GeV up to the highest energies measured by ground-based air shower 
array experiments, over 1020eV. From these measurements, it is known that 
the spectrum is somewhat steeper above 1016eV than it is below 101*eV. This 
steepening is called the "knee". It is not known whether this knee is due to: 
0 a change in the propagation of cosmic rays; 
0 a change in the acceleration mechanism of cosmic rays; 
0 a change in the composition of the cosmic rays; 
The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) is a balloon-borne experi- 
ment designed to investigate the elemental spectra of protons and other nuclei 
up to 2 = 26, for energies from 50 GeV to 100 TeV, with a statistical accuracy 
of better than 30% for protons at the highest energy.(l) The ATIC balloon 
payload was launched to an altitude of 36 km above sea level from McMurdo, 
Antarctica in December 2000 and December 2002. These two flights lasted 
more than 35 days. 
In this paper, we discuss a data analysis tool we have developed based on 
FLUKA-2005. This code provides the capability of simulating high energy 
intercations up to 100 TeV, the highest energy measured by the ATIC detector. 
* Corresponding author. 
Email address: phguna@f eynman. phys . subr . edu (R. M. Gunasingha). 
URL: http : //suphys . phys . subr . edu (R. M. Gunasingha). 
Present address: Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 
China 
2 
2 Scientific Objectives 
The ATIC detector focuses on direct measurements of high energy cosmic rays. 
The main scientific objectives of the ATIC experiment are: 
to measure the H and He energy spectrum from M 1O1O eV to x 1014 eV 
with a single instrument; 
to investigate the spectral differences between protons and helium; 
to determine if the proton spectrum has a bend between 2 TeV and x 40 
TeV; 
to accurately measure the H/He ratio as a function of energy; 
to determine if the spectra of heavy nuclei have the same indices; 
to search for high-energy electrons and neutrals; 
ATIC Detector 
The ATIC detector shown in figure 1 is comprised of a fully active 50cm x 
50cm x 20cm deep BGO calorimeter, preceded by three 10 cm thick graphite 
targets sandwiched between panels of scintillator hodoscopes, having an out- 
wardly projective angle of 24 degrees. It is equipped at the top with a large 
mosaic of silicon detector pixels capable of charge identification. The BGO 
crystals of dimensions.2.5cm x 2.5cm x 25.0cm long are arranged horizontally 
in 8 layers, with the long axis aligned alternaltely along the X and Y axes. 
The vertical direction is along the Z axis. There are 320 BGO crystals with 
40 crystals in each layer. The construction and commissioning of the detector, 
the data acquisition system and the software development for the detector, 
and detector calibration are discussed elsewhere (1). 
SILICON WTRW 
S 
Fig. 1. ATIC detector, showing the Si-matrix, the three scintillator hodoscopes S1, 
S2, and S3, the graphite targets and the BGO calorimeter. 
3 
4 GEANT-3.21 ATIC Monte Carlo 
We have written a MC code for the ATIC detector using GEANT-3.21, that 
generates events with energies less than 20 TeV. Note that GEANT-3.21 is 
presently limited to energies below 20 TeV for hadrons. Figure 1 was generated 
by GEANT-3.21 using a geometry input file for the ATIC detector. 
In 1999, the ATIC detector was calibrated using test beams at CERN. The 
detector was illuminated with 375 GeV protons, 300 GeV electrons, 150 GeV 
electrons and 150 GeV pions. Figure 2 shows the energy spectra from data 
and MC simulations for 375 GeV protons. The data and the simulated results 
agreed well as expected. Figures 3 and 4 show the comparison of data for 150 
GeV protons and pions with our GEANT3.21 MC calculations. Note the MC 
calculations have been performed for the same number of events as the data. 
, 
! 
400 
i 
i 
100 I 
100 
I 
O@ SB 100 150 200 230 300 350 400 
Energy(GeV) j 
Fig. 2. Comparison of CERN 375 GeV proton data with GEANT. 
Fig. 3. Comparison of CERN 150 GeV proton data with GEANT. 
GEANT is widely used in high energy physics for the simulation of primary 
particles such as p, e and p. When GEANT4 was introduced the support for 
GEANT-3.21 became limited. GEANT4 is evolving very rapidly but it still 
4 
Fig. 4. Comparison of CERN 150 GeV pion data with GEANT. 
has some limitations for simulations at very high energies ( TeV to PeV range) 
and cannot provide simulations of heavy ions. 
One of the primary goals of ATIC is to determine the indices for the energy 
spectrum of heavy ions from He, C, N, 0 to Fe up to very high energies. For 
this purpose we had to find a reliable simulation code to simulate heavy ions. 
After a thorough search, we decided to use FLUKA. 
5 Description of the FLUKA Code 
FLUKA which stands for “FLUktuierende KAskade” is a MC code able to 
simulate the transport and interaction of hadronic and electromagnetic par- 
ticles on any target material. It is a multi-particle, multipurpose code and is 
used in many different fields such as medical physics, astrophysics and high 
energy physics (2). It has been tested and verified with real data. For light 
nuclei, it uses the Fermi break model. Above 5 GeV/nucleon, the Dual Parton 
Model (DPM) is used. FLUKA can treat combinatorial geometry. It is widely 
used for studies related to both basic research and to applications in radiation 
propagation, dosimetry, cosmic ray and accelerator physics. Followings are a 
few areas to which modern FLUKA has been successfully applied (3). 
0 Accelerators and shielding - CERN, SLAC; 
0 Background and radiation damage studies- ATLAS and LHC experiments; 
0 Dosimetry and radiotherapy- NASA; 
0 Calorimetry - ATLAS test beams and ICARUS neutrino experiment; 
One of the main reasons for using FLUKA for ATIC is the ability to trans- 
port heavy ions at very high energies. FLUKA is designed to transport heavy 
ions and their interaction products from 5 GeV/nucleon to very high ener- 
gies, approximately 10 PeV, using a DPMJET-3 code which is a high energy 
5 
hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, nucleus-nucleus interaction model. It can run 
on various platforms such as Linux, Unix and HP. The validity of the models 
implemented in FLUKA have been benchmarked against several experimental 
data, from accelerators to cosmic ray showers (2). The FLUKA code is main- 
tained and updated regularly. The FLUKA discussion archive provides much 
support for the FLUKA user community (4). 
6 THe ATIC-FLUKA Code 
We implemented the ATIC geometry in the FLUKA code. Events were ran- 
domly generated in position, direction and energy above the Si-matrix plane. 
An energy dependence of E-2.7 was assumed. Figure 5 shows a 150 GeV pro- 
ton vertically incident on ATIC very close to the center on top of the detector. 
150 GeV proton ATIC-FLUKA 
60 
Fig. 5.  A 150 GeV proton interacting in the ATIC detector 
We have compared the energy deposition in the ATIC BGO calorimeter using 
GEANT-3.21 and FLUKA. Figure 6 shows this comparison. Figure 7 shows 
the comparison of energy deposition by 1 TeV protons in ATIC. Figure 8 
shows the energy distributions obtained from FLUKA and CERN data for 
375 GeV protons incident on ATIC. Although at lower enrgies the agreemnet 
between GEANT and FLUKA and CERN data are good at higher energy, 
namely 1 TeV, there is a 10% descrepancy between GEANT and FLUKA. 
Because there is no data avaible at 1.0 TeV for ATIC, it is not clear which 
simulation is better . 
6 
Fi 
GI 
GeV 
I 1.0 TeV proton GEANT and FLUKA I 
Number of Events - 530W 
Bgo Energy > 1.0 GeV 
1500 
6. Comparison of the deposited energy spectra in the BGO 
protons from GEANT and FLUKA calculations 
dorimeter for 150 
Fig. 7. Comparison of the deposited energy spectra in the BGO calorimeter for 1.0 
TeV protons from GEANT and FLUKA calculations 
I 375 GeV p - Data and FLUKA I 
$180 
d 160 
N u m b w d  ErmU-SU)O 
Egomrpv>r.sQ.V 
140 
120 
100 
80 
60 
40 
20 
'0 50 100 150 ZOO 250 300 : 
GeV 
0 
Fig. 8. Comparison of the deposited energy spectra in the BGO calorimeter for 375 
GeV protons from CERN data and FLUKA calculations 
7 Heavy Ion Simulation 
One of the primary goals of ATIC is to determine the indices for the energy 
spectra of nuclei such as He,C,N,O up to Fe. For this purpose, we implemented 
7 
the DPMJET-3 interface to the FLUKA input card file. Figure 9 shows a 12 
TeV 12C nucleus vertically incident on A T E  close to the center of the detector. 
1 TeV per nucleon Carbon42 ATIC-FLUKA 
60 
50 
40 
30 
A 
E 20 
jyj 10 
0 
0 
-10 
-20 
-30 
-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 
Wcm) 
Fig. 9. A 12 TeV 12C nucleus interacting in the ATIC detector 
Figure 10 shows an event display for a 40 TeV 14N nucleus incident on ATIC 
with a randomly chosen position and direction. Figure 11 shows a 64 TeV l 6 0  
nucleus entering the top of the detector with a randomly chosen position and 
direction. 
Randomly generaled 40 lev Nllngen-14 went ATIC-FLUKA 
Fig. 10. A 40 TeV 14N nucleus interacting in the ATIC detector 
8 
-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 
X(cm) 
3 
Fig. 11. A 64 TeV l60 nucleus interacting in the ATIC detector 
8 Event Generation and Reconstruction 
An important goal of the simulation for the ATIC detector is to calculate 
efficiencies for various cuts applied to the data, so that an absolute cosmic ray 
flux can be obtained. The spectra of cosmic rays is well described by an inverse 
power law in energy with differential flux given by = I?E-~.". We have 
written a user code to generate events according to the above power law with 
energies ranging from 10 GeV to 100 TeV. The position is randomly chosen 
to be between -40 cm and +40 cm in both x and y. All events were generated 
in a plane at 10 cm above the top of the detector. The spectra of generated 
events is shown in figure 12. 
a . t io5  
1 0' 
1 0' 
Id 
10 
1 
10.1 1 5 
Fig. 12. 10 GeV to 100 TeV randomly generated protons on ATIC using FLUKA 
We ran the ATIC-FLIKA MC for 1,000,000 protons with energies ranging 
9 
from 50 GeV to 100 TeV. After applying a fiducial volume cut on the particle 
trajectory 2.5 cm from the edge of the calorimeter in x and y, 250,000 events 
remained. Figure 13 shows the distribution of the energy deposited in the BGO 
calorimeter for the events passing the fiducial volume cut. The resulting MC 
generated data are in the same format as the actual data and can be analyzed 
in the same manner. 
Events p a r d  through all Iryers - 10 GeV to 100 TeV pmtonr 
lo' 
1 0' 
Id 
I 
10 
1 
10" 1 10 & IO' IO '  10s 
GenE wlth $= CE*-l" '
2 
Fig. 13. Energy deposited in the BGO calorimeter by events staifying the fiducial 
volume cut 
To insure the integrity of trajectory reconstruction, we required that every 
BGO plane satisfy an energy threshold selection of 1.0 GeV. The energy dis- 
tribution of such events is shown in figure 14. 
Fig. 14. The energy of the events with a mininum deposited energy of 1.0 GeV in 
each layer of BGO. 
The reconstruction of the trajectory was obtained from a x2 fit using the 
weighted pulse-heights in the BGO crystals. The trajectory was them improved 
using the position of the hit pixel in the Si-matrix plane as well as any hit 
scintillator along its intersection with the hodoscope. To check the goodness of 
the fit, we extended the trajectory back to the plane where the MC events were 
generated. The distance between the generated points and the reconstructed 
points is shown in Figure 15. 
10 
20 
15 
10 
0 -4 -2 
recpos) 10 GeV to 100 TeV protons I 
I 
BgoE > 50.0 GeV 
D 
cm 
Fig. 15. The distance between the reconstructed positions and the generated posi- 
tions on a plane 10 cm above the Si-matrix 
For the 12C simulation, a total of 550,000 events out of 1,380,000 events passed 
the above-mentioned fiducial volume cut. Figures 16, 17, and 18 show gener- 
ated, accepted and threshold selected energies, respectively. Figure 19 shows 
the distance between reconstructed and generated positions. 
I 50.0 GeV - 1 O O G  Generated Carbon42 - FLUKA I 
ln 
Y E 
\ 00 TeV 
a 
0 
I04  
io3 
ld 
10 
1 
1 a' 1 10 g*" 103 104 10 
Fig. 16. 50 GeV to 100 TeV randomly generated 12C events 
9 Conclusion 
A simulation code was developed for the ATIC detector using FLUKA-2005. 
This code can be used to simulate ATIC events for very high energy primary 
particles (p,e, and p etc.) and heavy ions. The FLUKA-2005 code provides 
simulation of particles to the maximum energy M 100 TeV measured by ATIC. 
We compared MC data from standard GEANT-3.21 and FLUKA below 20 
TeV. The agreement is reasonable. This ATIC-FLUKA MC code provides a 
11 
Fig. 17. Energy deposited in the BGO calorimeter by 12C events staifying the fiducial 
volume cut 
I C12 events with BgoE > 1.0 GeV in each layer I 
1 io3 104 1 o5 
Fig. 18. The energy deposition of 12C events where each layer has more than 1.0 
GeV energy deposition. 
pivotal role for the analysis of the ATIC data and will be a part of the analysis 
package for heavy ions at high energies, not achievable by the GEANT-3.21 
MC . 
Acknowledgments 
We like to thank Richard L. Imlay for many wondeful discussions regarding 
this paper. This work was supported in the United States by a grant from 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to  Southern 
University under the grant number NNG04WC06G. 
12 
A ~pid%z-~1 Mean 0.688 I RMS 0.2911 I I 
cm 
Fig. 19. The distance between the generated position and the reconstructed positions 
for 50 GeV to 100 TeV randomly generated 12C events. 
References 
Guzik T. 6. et. al., The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) 
for studies of High Energy Cosmic Rays, in proceedings of the 26th ICRC, 
eds. D. Kieda, M. Salamon and B. Dingus, 5 ,  pp 9-12, Salt Lake City, 
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A. F~sso’, A. Ferrari, S. Roesler, P. R. Sala, G. Battistoni, F. Cerutti, E. 
Gadioli, M.V.Garzelli, F. Ballarini, A. Ottolenghi, A: Empl, and J. Ranft, 
”The physics models of FLUKA: status and recent developments”, com- 
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13 


A Detailed FLUKA-2005 Monte Carlo Simulation for the ATIC Detector

A Detailed FLUKA-2005 Monte Carlo Simulation for the ATIC Detector

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