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Calibrating a physical model based on Geant4 to calculate cosmogenic nuclide production rates on lunar surface
Author(s) -
Chen Jian,
Dong Tiekuang,
Ren Zhongzhou
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/maps.12817
Subject(s) - cosmogenic nuclide , nuclide , cosmic ray , neutron , production rate , proton , nuclear physics , physics , geology , industrial engineering , engineering
A physical model based on the open‐source toolkit Geant4 for production rates of cosmogenic nuclei on the lunar surface is proposed and calibrated. The fluxes of proton and neutron beneath the lunar surface are obtained by simulating the physical processes between the cosmic‐ray particles and the lunar surface material. By combining the experimental proton cross sections and the a posteriori neutron cross sections, we calculate the production rate depth profiles of long‐lived nuclei ( 10 Be, 14 C, 26 Al, 36 Cl, and 53 Mn). Through comparing experimental and theoretical data for these nuclei, we find that for all the selected nuclei, experimental and theoretical production rate depth profiles agree well with each other by introducing a single normalization factor. It means that the physical model based on Geant4 can also reproduce the depth profiles of cosmogenic nuclei, and that this model can be used by everyone worldwide. In addition, we predict the production rates of three stable nuclei ( 21 Ne, 22 Ne, and 38 Ar).