PHITS: Particle and heavy ion transport code system, version 2.23

Abstract

A Particle and Heavy-Ion Transport code System PHITS has been developed under the collaboration of JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency), RIST (Research Organization for Information Science and Technology) and KEK (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization). PHITS can deal with the transport of all particles (nucleons, nuclei, mesons, photons, and electrons) over wide energy ranges, using several nuclear reaction models and nuclear data libraries. Geometrical configuration of the simulation can be set with GG (General Geometry) or CG (Combinatorial Geometry). Various quantities such as heat deposition, track length and production yields can be deduced from the simulation, using implemented estimator functions called 'tally'. The code also has a function to draw 2D and 3D figures of the calculated results as well as the setup geometries, using a code ANGEL. Because of these features, PHITS has been widely used for various purposes such as designs of accelerator shielding, radiation therapy and space exploration. Recently PHITS introduces an event generator for particle transport parts in the low energy region. Thus, PHITS was completely rewritten for the introduction of the event generator for neutron-induced reactions in energy region less than 20 MeV. Furthermore, several new tallis were incorporated for estimation of the relative biological effects. This document provides a manual of the new PHITS. (author)