Model uncertainty in accelerator application simulations

Pronskikh, Vitaly

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2020.164299

Title: Model uncertainty in accelerator application simulations

Journal Article · 25 June 2020 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2020.164299 · OSTI ID:1637599

^[1]

Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

Monte-Carlo nuclear reaction and transport codes are widely used to devise accelerator-based nuclear physics experiments; at the same time, many experiments are performed to validate the Monte-Carlo codes, which can be used for the design of full-scale nuclear power applications or the design of new benchmark experiments. Dedicated model benchmark studies investigate a broad range of nuclear reactions and quantities. Examples of these include isotope formation or secondary particle fluxes that result from the interactions of GeV-range hadrons with monoisotopic targets, which can be used to assess the respective systematic uncertainty of models. Such benchmark studies, as well as many nuclear application experiments and simulations carried out by various groups over the last few decades, enable us to draw methodological lessons. In this work, model uncertainty determined based on available experimental data allow us to identify the effects of practitioner expertise as well as the design of codes (user access to micro-scale parameters) on the range of uncertainties. We found that in cases when simulations are performed by code developers or users that are very experienced in performing simulations, the model to experiment quantity ratios generally agree with the limits determined by dedicated benchmark studies. In other cases, the ratios generally tend to be either smaller (underestimation of model error) or larger (overestimation of model error). A plausible explanation of the aforementioned effects is suggested.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11359

OSTI ID:: 1637599

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1702610

Report Number(s):: FERMILAB-PUB-20-273-AD; oai:inspirehep.net:1804681; TRN: US2201642

Journal Information:: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 977, Issue C; ISSN 0168-9002

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (21)

Study of secondary neutron interactions with 232 Th, 129 I, and 127 I nuclei with the uranium assembly “QUINTA” at 2, 4, and 8 GeV deuteron beams of the JINR Nuclotron accelerator Adam, J.; Chilap, V. V.; Furman, V. I. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Vol. 107 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.11.002	journal	January 2016
Research activities on JASMIN: Japanese and American Study of Muon Interaction and Neutron detection Nakashima, Hiroshi; Mokhov, Nikolai V.; Kasugai, Yoshimi Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol. 4 https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.4.191	journal	January 2014
Statistical multifragmentation of nuclei Bondorf, J. P.; Botvina, A. S.; Iljinov, A. S. Physics Reports, Vol. 257, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0370-1573(94)00097-M	journal	June 1995
Neutron-induced transmutation reactions in 237 Np, 238 Pu, and 239 Pu at the massive natural uranium spallation target Zavorka, L.; Adam, J.; Baldin, A. A. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 349 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2014.12.084	journal	April 2015
Intranuclear cascade model for a comprehensive description of spallation reaction data Boudard, A.; Cugnon, J.; Leray, S. Physical Review C, Vol. 66, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.66.044615	journal	October 2002
A study of muon collider background rejection criteria in silicon vertex and tracker detectors Benedetto, V. Di; Gatto, C.; Mazzacane, A. Journal of Instrumentation, Vol. 13, Issue 09 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/13/09/P09004	journal	September 2018
Benchmark of Spallation Models David, Jean-Christophe; Filges, Detlef; Gallmeier, Franz Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol. 2, Issue 0 https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.2.942	journal	January 2011
Monte Carlo simulations and experimental results on neutron production in the uranium spallation target QUINTA irradiated with 660 MeV protons Khushvaktov, J. H.; Adam, J.; Baldin, A. A. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Vol. 137 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2018.03.003	journal	July 2018
RADIATION STUDIES FOR THE Mu2e EXPERIMENT: A REVIEW Pronskikh, V. S. Modern Physics Letters A, Vol. 28, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217732313300140	journal	June 2013
Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System, PHITS, version 2.52 Sato, Tatsuhiko; Niita, Koji; Matsuda, Norihiro Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol. 50, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2013.814553	journal	September 2013
The FLUKA Code: Developments and Challenges for High Energy and Medical Applications Böhlen, T. T.; Cerutti, F.; Chin, M. P. W. Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 120 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2014.07.049	journal	June 2014
Geant4—a simulation toolkit Agostinelli, S.; Allison, J.; Amako, K. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 506, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(03)01368-8	journal	July 2003
Transmutation of uranium and thorium in the particle field of the Quinta sub-critical assembly Hashemi-Nezhad, S. R.; Asquith, N. L.; Voronko, V. A. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 883 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.11.048	journal	March 2018
Activation detector measurements at the hadron absorber of the NuMI neutrino beamline at Fermilab Matsuda, Norihiro; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Matsumura, Hiroshi Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol. 4 https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.4.337	journal	January 2014
Secondary particle distributions in an extended uranium target under irradiation by proton, deuteron, and carbon beams Adam, J.; Baldin, A. A.; Baznat, M. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 872 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.08.009	journal	November 2017
Analysis of the ( N , xN ′ ) reactions by quantum molecular dynamics plus statistical decay model Niita, Koji; Chiba, Satoshi; Maruyama, Toshiki Physical Review C, Vol. 52, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.52.2620	journal	November 1995
Accelerator-Driven Systems for Nuclear Waste Transmutation Bowman, Charles D. Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Vol. 48, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.nucl.48.1.505	journal	December 1998
MARS15 code developments driven by the intensity frontier needs Mokhov, Nikolai; Aarnio, Pertti; Eidelman, Yury Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol. 4 https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.4.496	journal	January 2014
Computer Modeling and Simulation: Increasing Reliability by Disentangling Verification and Validation Pronskikh, Vitaly Minds and Machines, Vol. 29, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-019-09494-7	journal	March 2019
A reexamination of the abrasion-ablation model for the description of the nuclear fragmentation reaction Gaimard, J. -J.; Schmidt, K. -H. Nuclear Physics A, Vol. 531, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9474(91)90748-U	journal	September 1991
CEM03.03 and LAQGSM03.03 Event Generators for the MCNP6, MCNPX, and MARS15 Transport Codes Mashnik, S. G.; Gudima, K. K.; Prael, R. E. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.0805.0751	text	January 2008