Monte Carlo simulation of a satellite-based detector of cosmic ray ions with elemental separation from hydrogen to nickel

Abstract

Observing cosmic rays and solar energetic particles provides important information about the solar wind and solar storms. We are working toward building a Thai detector of energetic ions from space that is inspired by the Mass Spectrometer Telescope (MAST), a satellite-based detector installed on SAMPEX of cosmic ray ions with the energy range of 0.01 to 0.5 GeV/nucleon with the objective to determine the nuclear charge and kinetic energy for nuclei with atomic number of Z = 1 (hydrogen) to 28 (nickel). The energy range of the detector covers the energy range of anomalous cosmic rays, Galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles. Therefore, observations by such a detector can provide insight into the origin and transport of these ions in cosmic rays and solar energetic particles. During solar events, measurements of the elemental composition of solar energetic particles can be compared with the composition of the solar corona. We have created a computational model of the MAST detector to simulate ion detection using the FLUKA program to measure the energy deposition of heavy ions in multiple detector components to determine their initial kinetic energy in the simulation. From the simulation results, we can identify the ions’ energies and species using established methods and calculate the geometry factor of the detector, comparing the results with previous reports.