Comparative study of depth dose-distributions and partial fragmentation cross sections of 56Fe ions on polyethylene using GEANT4

Highlights: • Depth-dose distributions of 56Fe nuclei in polyethylene are obtained using GEANT4. • Fragmentation cross sections of 56Fe ion on polyethylene are calculated. • Validation of Geant4 models for calculating fragmentation cross sections and depth-dose distributions are performed. • Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) model is good for calculating the fragmentation cross sections on polyethylene. • The study demonstrates the necessity to improve models for better description of fragmentation in heavy ion interaction. - Abstract: The depth dose-distributions and partial fragmentation cross sections for 56Fe ions on a polyethylene medium are estimated using Geant4: a Monte Carlo simulation toolkit. The models employed in the present work are the Binary Cascade, Abrasion-Ablation and Quantum Molecular Dynamics. The multifragmentation models, such as statistical multifragmentation and Fermi break-up models are used in combination with the other models to define the nuclear interactions more precisely. The partial fragmentation cross sections are calculated on the basis of charge scored in the detector. The simulated results are validated by comparing with the experimental data