The NPTool framework and efficiency simulation of close packed arrays of CsI for charged particle detection

Abstract:  Since the first radioactive ion beam produced more than 50 years ago, we have come a long way in the development of radioactive ion beam facilities and opened new doors to our understanding of both nuclear reactions and nuclear structures. The result is a steep increase in the complexity and variety of the experimental devices used to perform nuclear physics experiments and with it more and more time spent on data analysis. On the other hand Monte Carlo simulation became the standard approach to better understand those complex experimental setups allowing for all the correlated effects at play to be taken into account consistently. I will present the NPTool framework 1, a novel ROOT and GEANT4 based framework designed to help low-energy nuclear physicists analyse and simulate their experiments. The framework design has a strong focus on ease of use, helping the user to focus on the experimental problems rather than pure programming issues. In addition, bringing together Monte Carlo simulation and data analysis in a consistent fashion help develop and test reliable analysis code, as well as gaining insight in the experiment’s behavior by confronting directly simulated and experimental data. NPTool is also used as a hub for the community, helping to mutualize and share user work, to help the design of a detector systems and performing quicker analysis. The package is available through our dedicated web site nptool.org and contains all the necessary documentation to install and use NPTool. I will illustrate as an example the simulation part of NPTool by showing the efficiencies of close packed arrays of CsI crystals for charged particle detection such as the HiRA and LASSA telescopes, where both Coulomb multiple scattering and nuclear reactions occurring in the crystal are taken into account. 1. A. Matta, P. Morfouace et al. J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 43, 045113 2016.