A digital hadronic calorimeter using MICROMEGAS as active elements is a very
promising choice for particle physics experiments at future lepton colliders.
These experiments will be optimized for application of the particle flow
algorithm and therefore require calorimeters with very fine lateral
segmentation. A 1 m2 prototype based on MICROMEGAS chambers with 1x1 cm2
readout pads is currently being developed at LAPP. The GEANT4 simulation of the
physics performance of a MICROMEGAS calorimeter is presented. The main
characteristics, such as energy resolution, linearity and shower profile, have
been carefully examined for various passive materials with pions over a wide
energy range from 3 to 200 GeV. The emphasis is put on the comparison of the
analog and digital readout.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, MPGD09 conferenc
