TIERRAS: an AIRES package to simulate High Energy Cosmic Ray Showers Underground and Underwater Matias Tueros

M. TUEROS; S.C. SCIUTTO

Lodz, Polonia

Conferencia; 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference; 2009

In this communication we present TIERRAS,an extension for the AIRES cosmic ray extended air shower simulation program that enables the four dimensional propagation of a cosmic ray particle cascade underground, under-ice or underwater up to energies of 1 ZeV and depths of 3 kilometers. TIERRAS was developed as a new simulation tool for shallow underground muon detectors but it evolved to cover the shower simulation needs of almost every type of ultra high energy cosmic ray or neutrino experiment. Results are checked against experimental measurements on underground laboratories and compared with other particle propagation codes, such as FLUKA or Geant4. The first results of full underground shower simulations are presented, including an example for shallow underground detectors and another for hadron showers induced by neutrinos having its first interaction in water, to be used on neutrino telescopes on water or Ice. The idea to use TIERRAS to track particles exiting the ground either as albedo of an incoming cosmic ray shower or from underground initiated showers, of great interest for projected orbiting detectors, is also discussed.