07/14/2021
By Hadrick Green

The Kennedy College of Sciences, Department of Physics, invites you to attend a Master's thesis defense by Hadrick Green on "MCNP6 Modeling of Correlated Gamma-ray Events in the DANCE Array."

Candidate Name: Hadrick Green
Degree: Master's
Defense Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Time: 2 to 3 p.m.
Location: Zoom
Thesis Title: MCNP6 Modeling of Correlated Gamma-ray Events in the DANCE Array

Committee:

  • Advisor Marian Jandel, Physics, UMass Lowell
  • Erno Sajo, Physics, UMass Lowell
  • Mark Tries, Radiological Sciences, UMass Lowell

Brief Abstract:
The aim of this work was to develop a method to build correlated events of gamma rays in MCNP for the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) array and benchmark this method to experimental data obtained with this array at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A model of the DANCE array and other arrays were developed in MCNP, and the PTRAC tool was used to analyze simulations involving gamma-ray sources. While the attempt to create a capability to build coincidence events in MCNP was successful, benchmarking the method to experimental data posed significant challenges. The simulated results are comparable to the experimental results, but there are some key differences that stem from factors that cannot be remedied at the moment. It has been concluded that source terms in MCNP have shortcomings that complicate its ability to mimic the real emission of cascade gamma-ray sources, and that the experimental data used had significant pileup in certain data sets. Despite the insufficiencies in the MCNP sources and the experimental data, it can be concluded that the models and methods developed are adequate and reliable for future work.