RUSCOSMIC — the new software toolbox for detailed analysis of cosmic ray interactions with matter

Abstract

At present, cosmic ray (CR) physics uses a considerable variety of methods for studying CR char-acteristics of both primary and secondary fluxes. Experimental methods make the main contribution, using various types of detectors, but numerical methods increasingly complement it due to the active development in computer technology. This approach provides researchers with the most extensive infor-mation about details of the process or phenomenon and allows us to make the most competent conclu-sions. This paper presents a concept of the RUSCOSMIC © software package based on the GEANT4 toolkit and representing a range of different numerical models for studying CR propagation through medium of different systems (radiation detectors, Earth’s atmosphere). The obtained results represent response functions of the main radiation detectors as well as some typical characteristics of secondary CR fluxes. Comparative results also show the operation of the module verification of calculations with experimental data.

Keywords

• cosmic rays
• experimental techniques
• numerical methods
• Monte Carlo method
• radiation detectors
• particle interaction with matter