The Geant4 Bertini Cascade

Abstract

One of the medium energy hadron–nucleus interaction models in the Geant4 simulation toolkit is based partly on the Bertini intranuclear cascade model. Since its initial appearance in the toolkit, this model has been largely re-written in order to extend its physics capabilities and to reduce its memory footprint. Physics improvements include extensions in applicable energy range and incident particle types, and improved hadron–nucleon cross-sections and angular distributions. Interfaces have also been developed which allow the model to be coupled with other Geant4 models at lower and higher energies. The inevitable speed reductions due to enhanced physics have been mitigated by memory and CPU efficiency improvements. Details of these improvements, along with selected comparisons of the model to data, are discussed.