Related papers: Geant4 simulations of soft proton scattering in X-…
The last generation of X-ray focusing telescopes operating outside the Earth's radiation belt discovered that optics were able to focus not only astrophysical X-ray photons, but also low-energy heliophysical protons entering the Field of…
Given the unprecedented effective area, the new ATHENA Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) focusing technology, the dynamic and variable L2 environment, where no X-ray mission has flown up to date, a dedicated Geant4 simulation campaign is needed to…
Astronomical X-ray observatories with grazing incidence optics face the problem of pseudo-focusing of low energy protons from the mirrors towards the focal plane. Those protons constitute a variable, unpredictable component of the non X-ray…
Soft protons are a potential threat for X-ray missions using grazing incidence optics, as once focused onto the detectors they can contribute to increase the background and possibly induce radiation damage as well. The assessment of these…
Both the interplanetary space and the Earth magnetosphere are populated by low energy ($\leq300$ keV) protons that are potentially able to scatter on the reflecting surface of Wolter-I optics of X-ray focusing telescopes and reach the focal…
The rapid development of X-ray astronomy has been made possible by widely deploying X-ray focusing telescopes on board many X-ray satellites. Geant4 is a very powerful toolkit for Monte Carlo simulations and has remarkable abilities to…
X-ray telescopes opened up a new window into the high-energy universe. However, the last generation of these telescopes encountered an unexpected problem: their optics focused not only X-rays but low-energy (so called soft) protons as well.…
In-orbit experience has shown that soft protons are funneled more efficiently through focusing Wolter-type optics of X-ray observatories than simulations predicted. These protons can degrade the performance of solid-state X-ray detectors…
Low-energy (<300 keV) protons entering the field of view of XMM-Newton are observed in the form of a sudden increase in the background level, the so-called soft proton flares, affecting up to 40% of the mission observing time. In-flight…
A version of Geant4 has been developed to treat high-energy proton radiography. This article presents the results of calculations simulating the effects of nuclear elastic scattering for various test step wedges. Comparisons with…
Low energy protons (<100-300 keV) in the Van Allen belt and the outer regions can enter the field of view of X-ray focusing telescopes, interact with the Wolter-I optics, and reach the focal plane. The use of special filters protects the…
Evolutions of Geant4 code have affected the simulation of electron backscattering with respect to previously published results. Their effects are quantified by analyzing the compatibility of the simulated electron backscattering fraction…
Usually, Monte Carlo models are validated against experimental data. However, models of multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS) in the Gaussian approximation are exceptional in that we have theories which are probably more accurate than the…
We describe a feasible implementation of a novel X-ray detector for highly energetic x-ray photons with a large solid angle coverage, optimal for the detection of Compton x-ray scattered photons. The device consists of a 20~cm-thick…
In this paper we investigate, with a detailed Monte-Carlo simulation based on Geant4, the novel approach [Nucl. Instrum. Methods A588 (2008) 457] to 3D imaging with photon scattering. A monochromatic and well collimated gamma beam is used…
Backscattering is a sensitive probe of the accuracy of electron scattering algorithms implemented in Monte Carlo codes. The capability of the Geant4 toolkit to describe realistically the fraction of electrons backscattered from a target…
Hard X-ray photons with energies in the range of hundreds of keV typically undergo Compton scattering when they are incident on a detector. In this process, an incident photon deposits a fraction of its energy at the point of incidence and…
Context: Environmental soft protons have affected the performance of the X-ray detectors on board Chandra and XMM-Newton, and they pose a threat for future high energy astrophysics missions with larger aperture, such as ATHENA. Aims: We aim…
Gamma-ray spectroscopy provides diagnostics of particle acceleration in solar flares, but care must be taken when interpreting the spectra due to effects of the angular distribution of the accelerated particles (such as relativistic…
Hard X-ray astronomical observatories in orbit suffer from a significant amount of background due to radioactivation induced by cosmic-ray protons and/or geomagnetically trapped protons. Within the framework of a full Monte Carlo…