Current status of MCNP6 as a simulation tool useful for space and accelerator applications

TL;DR

MCNP6 is a comprehensive Monte Carlo transport code developed at LANL, now enhanced for high-energy applications relevant to space and accelerator physics, validated against extensive experimental data.

Contribution

This paper details the latest developments of MCNP6 at higher energies, improving its reliability for space and accelerator applications, and provides validation against diverse experimental data.

Findings

MCNP6 accurately models reactions from tens of MeV to 1 TeV/nucleon.

Validation shows strong agreement with experimental data across various reaction types.

MCNP6 outperforms or matches other modern simulation tools in key benchmarks.

Abstract

For the past several years, a major effort has been undertaken at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to develop the transport code MCNP6, the latest LANL Monte-Carlo transport code representing a merger and improvement of MCNP5 and MCNPX. We emphasize a description of the latest developments of MCNP6 at higher energies to improve its reliability in calculating rare-isotope production, high-energy cumulative particle production, and a gamut of reactions important for space-radiation shielding, cosmic-ray propagation, and accelerator applications. We present several examples of validation and verification of MCNP6 compared to a wide variety of intermediate- and high-energy experimental data on reactions induced by photons, mesons, nucleons, and nuclei at energies from tens of MeV to about 1 TeV/nucleon, and compare to results from other modern simulation tools.