Simulation of radioactive decay in GEANT Monte Carlo codes: comparison between spectra and efficiencies computed with sch2for and G4RadioactiveDecay.

ABSTRACT

Two CERN Monte Carlo codes, i.e. GEANT3.21 and GEANT4, were compared. The specific routine (sch2for), implemented in GEANT3.21 to simulate a disintegration process, and the G4RadioactiveDecay class, provided by GEANT4, were used for the computation of the full-energy-peak and total efficiencies of several radionuclides. No reference to experimental data was involved. A level of agreement better than 1% for the total efficiency and a deviation lower than 3.5% for the full-energy-peak efficiencies were found.