Simulations of nuclear resonance fluorescence in GEANT4

The nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) technique has been used effectively to identify isotopes based on their nuclear energy levels. Specific examples of its modern-day applications include detecting spent nuclear waste and cargo scanning for homeland security. The experimental designs for these NRF applications can be more efficiently optimized using Monte Carlo simulations before the experiment is implemented. One of the most widely used Monte Carlo physics simulations is the open-source toolkit GEANT4. However, NRF physics has not been incorporated into the GEANT4 simulation toolkit in publicly available software. Here we describe the development and testing of an NRF simulation in GEANT4. We describe in depth the development and architecture of this software for the simulation of NRF in any isotope in GEANT4; as well as verification and validation testing of the simulation for NRF in boron. In the verification testing, the simulation showed agreement with the analytical model to be within 0.6% difference for boron and iron. In the validation testing, the simulation showed agreement to be within 20.5% difference with the experimental measurements for boron, with the percent difference likely due to small uncertainties in beam polarization, energy distribution, and detector composition