Monte Carlo Simulation of the EMPHATIC Spectrometer

Neutrinos are the most abundant massive fundamental particle universe, but because they interact with other matter only through the weak nuclear force, we know very little about them. Understanding the nature of the neutrino will enable physicists to better understand the creation and evolution of the universe, and in particular answer the question of why we live in a matter-only universe. To study the neutrino, Fermilab produces powerful beams of the elusive particle for experiments to use. Neutrinos are produced when certain hadrons such as pions and kaons decay via the weak interaction. The weak interaction decay is very well understood, however the process of creating some of the hadrons is only understood at the 10-40% level, resulting in an uncertainty in the neutrino flux at accelerators at the level of 10%. More measurements of the particle interactions (hadron interactions) that create neutrinos can help researchers reduce the uncertainty on the neutrino flux, and will enhance the capabilities of neutrino experiments like NOvA and DUNE in a variety of measurements such as neutrino cross-sections, sterile neutrino searches, and other BSM physics searches. The EMPHATIC collaboration's goal is to measure these hadron production probabilities (cross sections) using a novel compact, table-top sized spectrometer. This talk describes the building of a Monte Carlo of the EMPHATIC spectrometer using GEANT4 to see simulated hits in the individual components for use in tracking.