The FOOT experiment: current status and future perspective for nuclear fragmentation studies in particle therapy and space radiation protection

Abstract

Nuclear fragmentation processes occurring in the beam-target interaction represent a potential source of hazard for humans’ health both in particle therapy and space exploration. The FragmentatiOn Of Target (FOOT) experiment aims to characterize both beam and target fragments, and to measure with great accuracy nuclear fragmentation cross sections interesting in cancer therapy and in long-lasting interplanetary missions. In this paper, the fragments reconstruction capabilities of the FOOT experimental setup is reported. FOOT future perspective of providing useful data to improve the modelling of neutron interactions is also discussed.