NrCascadeSim - A simulation tool for nuclear recoil cascades resulting from neutron capture

A N Villano,Kitty Harris,Staci Brown

doi:10.21105/joss.03993

A N Villano, Kitty Harris + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.03993

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Abstract

Neutron capture-induced nuclear recoils have emerged as an important tool for detector calibrations in direct dark matter detection and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE${\nu}$NS). $\texttt{nrCascadeSim}$ is a command-line tool for generating simulation data for energy deposits resulting from neutron capture on pure materials. Presently, silicon, germanium, neon, and argon are supported. While the software was developed for solid state detector calibration, it can be used for any application which requires simulated neutron capture-induced nuclear recoil data.

Highlights

Neutron capture-induced nuclear recoils have emerged as an important tool for detector calibrations in direct dark matter detection and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS)
NrCascadeSim is a C++ command-line tool for generating simulation data for energy deposits resulting from neutron capture on pure materials
While the software was developed for solid state detector calibration, it can be used for any application which requires simulated neutron capture-induced nuclear recoil data

Summary

Neutron capture-induced nuclear recoils have emerged as an important tool for detector calibrations in direct dark matter detection and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS). While the software was developed for solid state detector calibration, it can be used for any application which requires simulated neutron capture-induced nuclear recoil data. The neutron can be captured to one of many discrete energy levels, or states; if the energy level is nonzero (not the ground state), the state will eventually change so that it is zero. This can happen either all at once or in multiple steps — that is, the captured neutron may go from its state to the ground state, or it may go to another state with lower energy that is not the ground state (provided that one exists).

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Statement of Need

State of the Field