Deep space exploration is a rapidly advancing field, and protection against Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) irradiation for astronauts and electronic devices is of paramount importance. With the GCR flux peaking around 1 GeV/n, significantly higher than the Coulomb barrier, secondary particle production plays a crucial role in understanding the radiation effects. To accurately simulate the response of 3D electronics and biological DNA, the 3D distribution of GCR-induced particle production is essential^[1-2]. Among the various interactions, the double-differential cross-sections for reactions such as Fe, Si, O, He + H, C, Al →α, p, n, π^± + X at 1.5 and 3 GeV/n are of particular interest. However, the lack of experimental data and accurate physics models poses a significant challenge. Studies have shown that discrepancies between different Monte Carlo simulations, e.g., Geant4, FLUKA, PHITS, and MCNP6, can be attributed to the reaction models employed^[3]. While empirical models like the DDFRG developed by NASA scientists have been introduced recently, the presence of 15 arbitrary parameters raises concerns among developers and users^[4-5].
We will present a quark-gluon freedom level model based on high-energy physics principles and effective field theory, to produce the double-differential cross-section of the secondary particles for space radiation area. The initial particles are based on nuclear parton distribution functions, and nuclear modification factors are employed to incorporate nucleon-nucleon interaction data. Compared with the DDFRG model, our model has fewer arbitrary parameters, and better χ2 compared to the NASA’s DDFRG model.
 

GCR radiation