Validation of geant4 hadronic physics models at intermediate energies

Abstract

Geant4 provides a number of physics models at intermediate energies (corresponding to incident momenta in the range 1-20 GeV/c). Recently, these models have been validated with existing data from a number of experiments: (a) inclusive proton and neutron production with a variety of beams (π^-, π⁺, p) at different energies between 1 and 9 GeV/c on a number of nuclear targets (from beryllium to uranium); (2) inclusive pion/kaon/proton production from 14.6 GeV/c proton beams on nuclear targets (from beryllium to gold); (3) inclusive pion production from pion beams between 3-13 GeV/c on a number of nuclear targets (from beryllium to lead). The results of simulation/data comparison for different GEANT4 models are discussed in the context of validating the models and determining their usage in physics lists for high energy application. Due to the increasing number of validations becoming available, and the requirement that they be done at regular intervals corresponding to the GEANT4 release schedule, automated methods of validation are being developed.