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International audience; During the flight, an aircraft is submitted to a radiation environment composed of cosmic-ray-induced particles (CRIP) of which neutrons are responsible for approximately 40% of the crew effective dose and are the main cause of single event effects (SEE) in avionics systems at flight altitudes. A model of Learjet aircraft was developed on Monte Carlo simulation using the MCNPX code in order to detail the CRIP field inside the aircraft. The radiation source modeling was previously developed by a computational platform that simulates the energy and angular distributions of the CRIP along the atmosphere. In this article, we determined the variation of the neutron radiation field in several positions inside the aircraft at 11- and 18-km altitudes and for both equatorial and polar regions. The results suggest that the maximum variation of neutron fluence rate between different positions inside the aircraft shows a tendency of higher differences for a lower energy threshold (thermal and E > 1 MeV) in comparison with those differences for a higher energy threshold (E > 10 MeV). Moreover, the angular distribution results show relevant differences between positions inside aircraft, mainly for thermal neutrons close to the fuel. The general tendency is to enhance these discrepancies for devices with new technologies, due to their lower energy threshold for SEE occurrences.

International audience; This work investigates solar events occurred in September 2017 characterized by a series of Forbush decreases and a ground level enhancement (GLE). Forbush decreases is a rapid decrease in the observed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_cosmic_ray intensity following a coronal mass ejection while GLE is induced by a strong solar event for which the flux of high‐energy solar particles is sufficient to enhance the radiation level on the ground. These investigations were performed using data recorded by a neutron spectrometer network composed of a Bonner sphere system. Two instruments located at Pic‐du‐Midi Observatory (+2,885 m above sea level) and at Concordia station (Antarctica, +3,233 m) record simultaneously and continuously the neutron spectra, allowing to consider short‐term variations during solar events. The main objective is to analyze neutron spectral properties including their energy distributions and dynamics. This paper presents cosmic ray‐induced neutron spectra during active solar event leading to changes in the local cosmic ray spectrum (Forbush decreases and a GLE). Concerning the GLE, analyses show that neutrons in the evaporation domain are particularly amplified during the GLE, while other energetic domains increase uniformly.

Molecular clouds (MCs) are exposed to Galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays (CR) that trigger several physical and physicochemical changes, including gas and grain heating and molecular destruction and formation. Here we present a theoretical model describing the energy delivered by CRs, composed of protons, alphas, and electrons taken from Voyager I measurements, into a typical MC with 5400 M ☉ (composed mainly of H with a density law of r −1.2) and size around 1 × 106 au. The calculation was performed employing the Monte Carlo toolkit GEANT4 to obtain the energy deposition per mass from several types of secondary particles (considering nuclear and hadron physics). The results indicate that incoming protons contribute to most of the energy delivered in the MC in all regions (maximum ∼230 MeV g−1 s−1 at outer regions of the cloud). Secondary electrons are the second most important component for energy deposition in almost all layers of the MC and can deliver an energy rate of ∼130 MeV g−1 s−1 in the outer region of the MC. Other cascade particles have their major energy delivery in the central and denser core of the MC. From a temperature model (considering CR data from Voyager I), we observed (i) a small bump in temperature at the distance of 3 × 103–2 × 104 au from the center, (ii) a rapid temperature decrease (roughly 7 K) between the outer layer and the second most outer layer, and (iii) that, at a distance of 5 × 104 au (Av > 10), the gas temperature of the MC is below 15 K.

In this paper are described the ACROPOL and OPD high-altitude stations devoted to characterize the atmospheric radiation fields. The ACROPOL platform, located at the summit of the Pic du Midi in the French Pyrenees at 2885 m above sea level, exploits since May 2011 some scientific equipment, including a BSS neutron spectrometer, detectors based on semiconductor and scintillators. In the framework of a IEAv and ONERA collaboration, a second neutron spectrometer was simultaneously exploited since February 2015 at the summit of the Pico dos Dias in Brazil at 1864 m above the sea level. The both high station platforms allow for investigating the long period dynamics to analyze the spectral variation of cosmic-ray- induced neutron and effects of local and seasonal changes, but also the short term dynamics during solar flare events. This paper presents long and short-term analyses, including measurement and modeling investigations considering the both high altitude stations data. The modeling approach, based on ATMORAD computational platform, was used to link the both station measurements.

International audience; Several applications exist that calculate cosmic-ray-induced particle (CRIP) spectra as a function of the altitude in the atmosphere. In general, the Earth's magnetic field is only used to modulate the primary cosmic radiation that arrives at the top of the atmosphere, but it can also modulate low-energy charged particles at flight altitudes. The effects of the Earth's magnetic field on the angular distributions of CRIP transport in the atmosphere should be quantified, because it furnishes important data for the development of applications for aircrew radiation protection, onboard dosimetry and the simulation of irradiation of sensitive equipment and particle detector systems used at ground level, flight and atmospheric balloon altitudes.In this work we calculate the angular distribution of the cosmic-ray-induced particles (CRIP) for altitudes from ground level up to 80 km using an application based on Geant4 developed in previous works. In order to quantify the effects of the Earth's magnetic field (EMF) on the angular distribution of the CRIP, the calculations were carried out both including the EMF in the South Atlantic Magnetic region and omitting it. A part of these results were compared with analytical calculations of the ratio between the mean free path of the primary particles from the cosmic radiation and the deflection radii at different altitudes in the atmosphere. The albedos of neutrons and protons at 80 km were estimated and compared with the QARM and ATMORAD codes, which ignore the Earth's magnetic field.

This article report the measurements on-board a small aircraft at the same altitude and around the same geographic coordinates. The measurements of Ambient Dose Equivalent Rate (H*(10)) were performed in several positions inside the aircraft, close and far from the pilot location and the discrimination between neutron and non-neutron components. The results show that the neutrons are attenuated close to fuel depots and the non-neutron component appears to have the opposite behavior inside the aircraft. These experimental results are also confronted with results from Monte Carlo simulation, obtained with the MCNPX code, using a simplified model of the Learjet-type aircraft and a modeling of the standard atmosphere, which reproduces the real energy and angular distribution of the particles. The Monte Carlo simulation agreed with the experimental measurements and shows that the total H*(10) presents small variation (around 1%) between the positions inside aircraft, although the neutron spectra present significant variations.

Flight missions were made in Brazilian territory in 2009 and 2011 with the aim of measuring the cosmic radiation dose rate incident on aircraft in the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly and to compare it with Monte Carlo simulations. During one of these flights, small fluctuations were observed in the vicinity of the aircraft with formation of Cumulonimbus clouds. Motivated by these observations, in this work, the authors investigated the relationship between the presence of clouds and the neutron flux and dose rate incident on aircraft using computational simulation. The Monte Carlo simulations were made using the MCNPX and Geant4 codes, considering the incident proton flux at the top of the atmosphere and its propagation and neutron production through several vertically arranged slabs, which were modelled according to the ISO specifications.

International audience; Modeling cosmic-ray-induced particle fluxes in the atmosphere is very important for developing many applications in aeronautics, space weather and on ground experimental arrangements. There is a lack of measurements and modeling at flight altitude and on ground in the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly. In this work we have developed an application based on the Geant4 toolkit called gPartAt that is aimed at the analysis of extensive air shower particle spectra. Another application has been developed using the MCNPX code with the same approach in order to evaluate the models and nuclear data libraries used in each application. Moreover, measurements were performed to determine the ambient dose equivalent rate of neutrons at flight altitude in different regions and dates in the Brazilian airspace; these results were also compared with the simulations.The results from simulations of the neutron spectra at ground level were also compared to data from a neutron spectrometer in operation since February 2015 at the Pico dos Dias Observatory in Brazil, at 1864 m above sea level, as part of a collaboration between the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv) and the French Aerospace Lab (ONERA). This measuring station is being operated with support from the National Astrophysics Laboratory (LNA). The modeling approaches were also compared to the AtmoRad computational platform, QARM, EXPACS codes and with measurements of the neutron spectrum taken in 2009 at the Pico dos Dias Observatory.

A Long-Counter-type neutron detector was designed as a standard directional flow detector for energies up to 10 MeV. To use the Long Counter as a ground-based neutron monitoring instrument for an isotropic cosmic-ray neutron flux and to extend its use to energies up to several hundreds of MeV, its response must be evaluated for this specific radiation field. We have developed a simulation of the Long-Counter-type neutron detector response for energies of the cosmic-ray-induced neutron spectrum using the Monte Carlo codes MCNP and MCNPX.

This paper investigates seasonal cosmic ray-induced neutron variations measured over a long-term period (from 2011 to 2016) in both the high-altitude stations located in medium geomagnetic latitude and Antarctica (Pic-du-Midi and Concordia, respectively). To reinforce analysis, modeling based on ground albedo neutrons simulations of extensive air showers and the solar modulation potential was performed. Because the local environment is well known and stable over time in Antarctica, data were used to validate the modeling approach. A modeled scene representative to the Pic-du-Midi was simulated with GEANT4 for various hydrogen properties (composition, density, and wet level) and snow thickness. The orders of magnitudes of calculated thermal fluence rates are consistent with measurements obtained during summers and winters. These variations are dominant in the thermal domain (i.e., En 20 MeV) is weakly impacted. The role of hydrogen content on ground albedo neutron generation was investigated with GEANT4 simulations. These investigations focused to mountain environment; nevertheless, they demonstrate the complexity of the local influences on neutron fluence rates.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volumen 630 There is interest in modeling the atmosphere in the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly in order to obtain information about the cosmic-ray induced neutron spectrum and angular distribution as functions of altitude. In this work we use the Monte Carlo codes MCNPX and Geant4 to determine the cosmic-ray-induced neutron flux in the atmosphere produced by the cosmic ray protons incident on the top of the atmosphere and to estimate the ambient dose equivalent rate as function of altitude. The results present a reasonable conformity to other codes (QARM and EXPACS) based on other parameterizations.

There has been considerable research on measurements and simulation of the cosmic radiation doses for aircrew. Most of this was made in the northern hemisphere and on routes between Europe, Asia and North America. The current work shows the results of measurements made onboard a military aircraft specifically in the South Atlantic Anomaly Region, comparing some active and passive instruments and the results from computational dose estimation with special concern about possible effects from the anomaly on the radiation doses.

The South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA) is a region where there is a deformation in the Earth's magnetic field that could modify cosmic ray (CR) propagation through the atmosphere. The protons from cosmic rays interact with atmospheric atoms producing high energy neutrons in spallation reactions, which are then moderated to produce a wide energy spectrum, ranging from thermal energies (0.025 eV) to energies of several hundreds of MeV. It is important to study and quantify the cosmic-ray-induced neutron spectrum (CRINS), because the neutrons make an important contribution to the accumulated dose in sensitive devices and aircrew. In this work, we present preliminary results of the CRINS in the atmosphere of the SAMA using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended) and its comparison with experimental data and the EXPACS code.

The Instituto de Estudos Avancados (IEAv) is developing activities to study the dose levels of ionizing radiation from cosmic rays (CR) received by aircraft crews, sensitive equipment (on‐board computers, for example) and embedded electronics in Brazilian airspace. Neutrons generated by the interaction of CR with the atmosphere are the dominant particles in the dose accumulation in electronic circuits and aircraft crews at flight altitude. Their production by spallation reactions and intranuclear cascade processes has a high‐energy spectrum and the atmosphere interactions of these neutrons moderate them as well, producing secondary neutrons and resulting in a wide energy spectrum. The final neutron spectrum ranges from thermal neutrons to neutrons of several hundreds of MeV, making their flux determination a difficult process. To observe the temporal variation in neutron flux during the measurements, a detector of the Long Counter (LC) type is being used. This detector is designed to measure the directional flow of neutrons with near constant response over a wide energy range (thermal to 20 MeV). However, to measure cosmic rays, the dependence of the response on the angle of incidence, as well as energy, should be properly investigated.