1 | ======================================================================== |
---|
2 | |
---|
3 | cosmicray_charging advanced example |
---|
4 | |
---|
5 | Henrique Araujo & Peter Wass |
---|
6 | Imperial College London |
---|
7 | |
---|
8 | April 2004 |
---|
9 | |
---|
10 | ======================================================================== |
---|
11 | |
---|
12 | This Geant4 example was derived from an application aimed at |
---|
13 | simulating the electrostatic charging of isolated test masses in the |
---|
14 | LISA mission by galactic cosmic ray protons and helium nuclei. This |
---|
15 | work was supported by the European Space Agency through the SEPTIMESS |
---|
16 | project under Contract No. 16339/02/NL/FM. |
---|
17 | |
---|
18 | LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna for the detection of |
---|
19 | gravitational waves, is a joint ESA/NASA mission composed of three |
---|
20 | identical spacecraft orbiting the Sun in a triangular formation, each |
---|
21 | containing two cubic test masses in pure geodesic (drag free) motion. |
---|
22 | The interferometric measurements between different spacecraft |
---|
23 | are affected by the accrual of charge in the test masses caused by the |
---|
24 | interaction of energetic cosmic rays. |
---|
25 | |
---|
26 | With this example we intend to demonstrate an application of Geant4 to |
---|
27 | space environment simulations, using an extensive set of physics |
---|
28 | models spanning from TeV energies down to a few hundred eV. This code |
---|
29 | retains most (but not all) of the complex spacecraft and sensor |
---|
30 | geometry implemented for the original purpose. In particular, some |
---|
31 | complex elements of the inertial sensor surrounding the test masses |
---|
32 | have not been included. Differential energy spectra for protons, He-4 |
---|
33 | and He-3 nuclei at solar minimum conditions are the only input macros |
---|
34 | provided. The remaining application classes have been kept unchanged. |
---|
35 | |
---|
36 | A Software Users' Manual suitable for Geant4 users of all levels is |
---|
37 | distributed with this application (/docs). The technical description |
---|
38 | of the original software package, including further software |
---|
39 | documentation, physics analysis and a similar effort for the precursor |
---|
40 | ESA mission LISA Pathfinder are available from the SEPTIMESS project |
---|
41 | website at http://reat.space.qinetiq.com/septimess/ or from |
---|
42 | http://astro.ic.ac.uk/~haraujo/SEPTIMESS/ . |
---|
43 | |
---|
44 | Any queries regarding this example or the original work can be |
---|
45 | directed to h.araujo@imperial.ac.uk. |
---|