Recent improvements of the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System; PHITS version 3.33

Sato, Tatsuhiko; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Hashimoto, Shintaro; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko; Furuta, Takuya; Abe, Shinichiro; Kai, Takeshi; Matsuya, Yusuke; Matsuda, Norihiro; Hirata, Yuho; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 9 Pages, 2023/00

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2275736

The Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) is a general-purpose Monte Carlo radiation transport code that can simulate the behavior of most particle species with energies up to 1 TeV (per nucleon for ions). Its new version, PHITS3.31, was recently developed and released to the public. In the new version, the compatibility with high-energy nuclear data libraries and the algorithm of the track-structure modes have been improved. In this paper, we summarize the upgraded features of PHITS3.31 with respect to the physics models, utility functions, and application software introduced since the release of PHITS3.02 in 2017.

Mesospheric ionization during substorm growth phase

Murase, Kiyoka*; Kataoka, Ryuho*; Nishiyama, Takanori*; Nishimura, Koji*; Hashimoto, Taishi*; Tanaka, Yoshimasa*; Kadokura, Akira*; Tomikawa, Yoshihiro*; Tsutsumi, Masaki*; Ogawa, Yasunobu*; et al.

Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate (Internet), 12, p.18_1 - 18_16, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2022012

We identified two energetic electron precipitation (EEP) events during the growth phase of moderate substorms and estimated the mesospheric ionization rate for an EEP event for which the most comprehensive dataset from ground-based and space-born instruments was available. The mesospheric ionization signature reached below 70 km altitude and continued for ~15 min until the substorm onset, as observed by the PANSY radar and imaging riometer at Syowa Station in the Antarctic region. We also used energetic electron flux observed by the Arase and POES 15 satellites as the input for the air-shower simulation code PHITS to quantitatively estimate the mesospheric ionization rate. Combining the cutting-edge observations and simulations, we shed new light on the space weather impact of the EEP events during geomagnetically quiet times, which is important to understand the possible link between the space environment and climate.

Nuclide production cross section of Lu target irradiated with 0.4-, 1.3-, 2.2-, and 3.0-GeV protons

Takeshita, Hayato; Meigo, Shinichiro; Matsuda, Hiroki; Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Maekawa, Fujio

JAEA-Conf 2021-001, p.207 - 212, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2021-001

Prediction of nuclide production of spallation products by high-energy proton injection plays a fundamental and important role in shielding design of high-intensity proton accelerator facilities such as accelerator driven nuclear transmutation system (ADS). Since the prediction accuracy of the nuclear reaction models used in the production quantity prediction simulation is insufficient, it is necessary to improve the nuclear reaction models. We have measured nuclide production cross sections for various target materials with the aim of acquiring experimental data and improving nuclear reaction models. In this study, 1.3-, 2.2- and 3.0-GeV proton beams were irradiated to Lu target, and nuclide production cross-section data were acquired by the activation method. The measured data were compared with several nuclear reaction models used in Monte Carlo particle transport calculation codes to grasp the current prediction accuracy and to study how the nuclear reaction model could be improved.

Measurement of nuclide production cross sections for proton-induced reactions on Mn and Co at 1.3, 2.2, and 3.0 GeV

Takeshita, Hayato*; Meigo, Shinichiro; Matsuda, Hiroki*; Iwamoto, Hiroki; Nakano, Keita; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Maekawa, Fujio

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 511, p.30 - 41, 2022/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2021.10.016

Nuclide production cross sections for proton-induced reactions on Mn and Co at incident energies of 1.3, 2.2, and 3.0 GeV were measured by the activation method at the J-PARC. In total, 143 production cross sections of reaction products were obtained. Among them, the cross sections of Mn(p,X)S and Mn(p,X)Ar were measured for the first time. The stable proton beam and well established beam monitoring system contributed to the reduction of the systematic uncertainties to typically less than 5%, which was better than those of the previous data. To examine the prediction capabilities of spallation reaction models and evaluated data library, the measured data were compared with the spallation reaction models in PHITS (INCL4.6/GEM, etc.), INCL++/ABLA07, and the JENDL/HE-2007 library. The comparison of the mean square deviation factors indicated that both INCL4.6/GEM and JENDL/HE-2007 showed better agreement with the measured data than the others.

Measurement of nuclide production cross-sections of Fe for 0.4-3.0 GeV protons in J-PARC

Matsuda, Hiroki; Takeshita, Hayato*; Meigo, Shinichiro; Maekawa, Fujio; Iwamoto, Hiroki

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011047_1 - 011047_6, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011047

Accurate nuclide production cross-section data are required for the design of Accelerator-Driven nuclear transmutation System (ADS) such as the design of radioactive waste disposal, design of remote-handling procedure of highly activated components, and evaluation of exposure doses of rad-workers. Although much efforts have been devoted to nuclide production cross-section measurements so far, uncertainties of the measured data are sometimes large as several tens percentage, and there is no experimental data in the GeV energy region even for some of important nuclides. In this study, proton induced nuclide production cross-section of iron, which is the most important constituent element of steel, was measured. The present experiment was compared with calculations by the PHITS code with several physics models including Bertini and INCL4.6 and evaluated nuclear data JENDL-HE/2007. The most significant discrepancy found in this study was the production cross sections via the (p,xn) reaction. It was suggested that further improvements, such as the in-medium effect on the nucleon-nucleon scattering and the Pauli blocking, were required in the intra-nuclear cascade models used in this study.

Transient ionization of the mesosphere during auroral breakup; Arase satellite and ground-based conjugate observations at Syowa Station

Kataoka, Ryuho*; Nishiyama, Takanori*; Tanaka, Yoshimasa*; Kadokura, Akira*; Uchida, Herbert Akihito*; Ebihara, Yusuke*; Ejiri, Mitsumu*; Tomikawa, Yoshihiro*; Tsutsumi, Masaki*; Sato, Kaoru*; et al.

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 71(1), p.9_1 - 9_10, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-019-0989-7

Transient ionization of the mesosphere was detected at around 65 km altitude during the isolated auroral expansion occurred at 2221-2226 UT on June 30, 2017. A general-purpose Monte Carlo particle transport code PHITS suggested that significant ionization is possible in the middle atmosphere due to auroral X-rays from the auroral electrons of 10 keV.

Features of particle and heavy ion transport code system (PHITS) version 3.02

Sato, Tatsuhiko; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Hashimoto, Shintaro; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko; Furuta, Takuya; Abe, Shinichiro; Kai, Takeshi; Tsai, P.-E.; Matsuda, Norihiro; Iwase, Hiroshi*; et al.

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 55(6), p.684 - 690, 2018/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1419890

We have upgraded many features of the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) and released the new version as PHITS3.02. The accuracy and the applicable energy ranges of the code were greatly improved and extended, respectively, owing to the revisions to the nuclear reaction models and the incorporation of new atomic interaction models. In addition, several user-supportive functions were developed, such as new tallies to efficiently obtain statistically better results, radioisotope source-generation function, and software tools useful for applying PHITS to medical physics. In this paper, we summarize the basic features of PHITS3.02, especially those of the physics models and the functions implemented after the release of PHITS2.52 in 2013.

Recent improvements of particle and heavy ion transport code system: PHITS

Sato, Tatsuhiko; Niita, Koji*; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Hashimoto, Shintaro; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko; Furuta, Takuya; Abe, Shinichiro; Kai, Takeshi; Matsuda, Norihiro; Okumura, Keisuke; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 153, p.06008_1 - 06008_6, 2017/09

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201715306008

Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System, PHITS, has been developed under the collaboration of several institutes in Japan and Europe. It can deal with the transport of nearly all particles up to 1 TeV (per nucleon for ion) using various nuclear reaction models and data libraries. More than 2,500 researchers and technicians have used the code for a variety of applications such as accelerator design, radiation shielding and protection, medical physics, and space and geosciences. This paper briefly summarizes physics models and functions newly implemented in PHITS between versions 2.52 and 2.82.

Benchmark study of the recent version of the PHITS code

Iwamoto, Yosuke; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Hashimoto, Shintaro; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko; Furuta, Takuya; Abe, Shinichiro; Kai, Takeshi; Matsuda, Norihiro; Hosoyamada, Ryuji*; Niita, Koji*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 54(5), p.617 - 635, 2017/05

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1297742

We performed a benchmark study for 58 cases using the recent version 2.88 of the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) in the following fields: particle production cross-sections for nuclear reactions, neutron transport calculations, and electro-magnetic cascade. This paper reports details for 22 cases. In cases of nuclear reactions with energies above 100 MeV and electro-magnetic cascade, overall agreements were found to be satisfactory. On the other hand, PHITS did not reproduce the experimental data for an incident proton energy below 100 MeV, because the intranuclear cascade model INCL4.6 in PHITS is not suitable for the low-energy region. For proton incident reactions over 100 MeV, PHITS did not reproduce fission product yields due to the problem of high-energy fission process in the evaporation model GEM. To overcome these inaccuracies, we are planning to incorporate a high-energy version of the evaluated nuclear data library JENDL-4.0/HE, and so on.

Radiation response of silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors in high dose region

Oshima, Takeshi; Yokoseki, Takashi; Murata, Koichi; Matsuda, Takuma; Mitomo, Satoshi; Abe, Hiroshi; Makino, Takahiro; Onoda, Shinobu; Hijikata, Yasuto*; Tanaka, Yuki*; et al.

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 55(1S), p.01AD01_1 - 01AD01_4, 2016/01

https://doi.org/10.7567/JJAP.55.01AD01