Geant4 simulation of the Solar Neutron Telescope (SNT) at Sierra Negra, Mexico

GONZALEZ, L. X.; SANCHEZ, F.; VALDES-GALICIA, J. F.; MEDINA-TANCO, G.

Lodz, Polonia

Congreso; 31th ICRC - International Cosmic Ray Conference; 2009

The SNT at Sierra Negra (19.0N, 97.3W and 4580 m.a.s.l) is part of the Solar Neutron Telescope Network. This SNT has an area of 4m^2 and it is composed by four 1mx1mx30cm plastic scintillators. The telescope is completely sourrounded by anti-coincidence proportional counters (PRCs). In order to discard photon background it is shielded on its sides by 10mm thick iron plates and on its top by 5mm lead plate. It is capable of registering four different channles corresponding to four energy depostion thresholds: E>30, >60, >90 and >120 MeV. The arrival direction of neutrons is determined by four layers of PCRs orthogonally located underneath the SNT. In this paper we present the simulated detector response to neutrons, protons, and gammas entering the SNT with a range of energies from 100 to 1000 MeV. In particular, we report on the detector efficiency and on its angular resolution for particles impinging the device with different zenith angles. The simulation code was written using the Geant4 package taking into account all relevant physical processes.