GEANT4 simulations for γ-ray detector array design for inplasma β-decays studies of nuclear astrophysics interest

Abstract

The PANDORA project aims to investigate, by a new experimental approach, the β-decays lifetimes of isotopes of nuclear astrophysics interest as a function of thermodynamic conditions of a laboratory plasma able to mimic some stellar-like conditions. A γ-ray detection system was designed by GEANT4 simulations to tag the in-plasma β-decays via the γ-rays emitted from the excited states of the daughter nuclei. The feasibility of PANDORA, in terms of significance levels, was checked by a “virtual experiment run”, also investigating the sensitivity for discriminating among different theoretical predictions.