Monte Carlo benchmark calculations of energy deposition by electron/photon showers up to 1 GeV

Over the past several years the TIGER series of coupled electron/photon Monte Carlo transport codes has been applied to a variety of problems involving nuclear and space radiations, electron accelerators, and radioactive sources. In particular, they have been used at Sandia to simulate the interaction of electron beams, generated by pulsed-power accelerators, with various target materials for weapons effect simulation, and electron beam fusion. These codes are based on the ETRAN system which was developed for an energy range from about 10 keV up to a few tens of MeV. In this paper we will discuss the modifications that were made to the TIGER series of codes in order to extend their applicability to energies of interest to the high energy physics community (up to 1 GeV). We report the results of a series of benchmark calculations of the energy deposition by high energy electron beams in various materials using the modified codes. These results are then compared with the published results of various experimental measurements and other computational models