MARS code developments, benchmarking and applications

Recent developments of the MARS Monte Carlo code system for simulation of hadronic and electromagnetic cascades in shielding, accelerator and detector components in the energy range from a fraction of an electron volt up to 100 TeV are described. The physical model of hadron and lepton interactions with nuclei and atoms has undergone substantial improvements. These include a new nuclear cross section library, a model for soft prior production, a cascade-exciton model, a dual parton model, deuteron-nucleus and neutrino-nucleus interaction models, a detailed description of negative hadron and muon absorption, and a unified treatment of muon and charged hadron electro-magnetic interactions with matter. New algorithms have been implemented into the code and benchmarked against experimental data. A new Graphical-User Interface has been developed. The code capabilities to simulate cascades and generate a variety of results in complex systems have been enhanced. The MARS system includes links to the MCNP code for neutron and photon transport below 20 MeV, to the ANSYS code for thermal and stress analyses and to the STRUCT code for multi-turn particle tracking in large synchrotrons and collider rings. Results of recent benchmarking of the MARS code are presented. Examples of non-trivial code applications are given for the Fermilab Booster and Main Injector, for a 1.5 MW target station and a muon storage ring