Advanced simulation techniques for gaseous detectors: application on spherical proportional counters
The “Geant4 and GARfield integration” (GaGARin) project will deliver a powerful and fully validated simulation framework for gaseous detectors. The strengths of the established GEANT4 and GARFIELD++ toolkits will be combined in a flexible framework and made freely available, for the first time, in the public domain to researchers using gaseous detectors for fundamental research and applications. GaGARin will be optimised with advanced compu- tational techniques, targeting growing technologies such as GPUs, and will be exhaustively validated with dedicated measurements from a range of state-of-the-art gaseous detectors, including micro-pattern gaseous detectors (MPGDs) and spherical proportional counters (SPCs). A variety of detector configurations and operating conditions will be explored, to maximally validate the implemented physics modelling. GaGARin will immediately allow for new insights into physics experiments, such as direct dark matter (DM) and neutrinoless double-beta decay searches (0νββ), and design and optimisation of novel detectors. Furthermore, it will enable the implementation of advanced ana- lysis techniques, maximising experimental sensitivity. In industrial applications, where use of gaseous detectors is widespread, GaGARin will open up new possibilities, for example in neutron spectroscopy with SPCs.