Preface

This manual is the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) user’s guide. PHITS is a general-purpose Monte Carlo particle transport simulation code that is used in many studies in the fields of accelerator technology, radiotherapy, space radiation, etc. For details on the physical models and important functions implemented in PHITS, see Section 1.3. This manual explains how to execute PHITS and which parameters should be used in the system.

The contents of this manual correspond to the PHITS version number shown on the title page and are subject to change without notice. If you have any question or comment regarding this manual, please contact the PHITS office (phits-office@jaea.go.jp).

Table of Contents

• 1. Recent Improvements and Development Members
  • 1.1. Recent Improvements
  • 1.2. Development members
  • 1.3. References of PHITS
• 2. Installation and execution of PHITS
  • 2.1. Installation and execution on Windows OS
    • 2.1.1. Installation on Windows OS
    • 2.1.2. Execution on Windows OS
      • 2.1.2.1. Executing PHITS via the Windows send to Function
      • 2.1.2.2. Executing PHITS from the Command Line
    • 2.1.3. Recommended software
  • 2.2. Installation and Execution on Mac OS
    • 2.2.1. Before Installation
    • 2.2.2. Installation Procedure
      • 2.2.2.1. Recommendation method
      • 2.2.2.2. What to do if the recommended method fails
      • 2.2.2.3. If none of the above methods work
    • 2.2.3. Execution
      • 2.2.3.1. File Associations
      • 2.2.3.2. Execution of PHITS
      • 2.2.3.3. Execution of PHITSPAD
      • 2.2.3.4. Execution of PHIG-3D
      • 2.2.3.5. Execution of ANGEL
      • 2.2.3.6. Execution of DCHAIN
      • 2.2.3.7. Detailed instructions for using PHITS Router
      • 2.2.3.8. Viewing EPS files
  • 2.3. Installation and Execution on Linux OS
    • 2.3.1. Installation on Linux OS
    • 2.3.2. Execution on Linux OS
      • 2.3.2.1. Execute by specifying an executable file without using a shell
  • 2.4. How to change the executable file
• 3. Restart and terminate PHITS calculations
  • 3.1. Restart PHITS calculations
  • 3.2. Terminate the PHITS code
• 4. General Format Of Input And Output Files
  • 4.1. Sections
  • 4.2. Reading Control
  • 4.3. Inserting Files
  • 4.4. User-Defined Variables
  • 4.5. User-Defined Characters
  • 4.6. Using Mathematical Expressions
  • 4.7. Particle specification
  • 4.8. Summary Output File (phits.out)
  • 4.9. Tally Output File
• 5. Section format
  • 5.1. [ Title ] section
  • 5.2. [ Parameters ] section
    • 5.2.1. Calculation mode
    • 5.2.2. Number of history and Bank
    • 5.2.3. Cut-off and switching energies
    • 5.2.4. Cut-off time, cut-off weight, and weight window
    • 5.2.5. Stopping power models
    • 5.2.6. Elastic scatterings, total cross sections, and reaction cross sections
    • 5.2.7. Decays and de-excited process models
    • 5.2.8. Event generator mode and kerma approximation
    • 5.2.9. Adjoint (backward-in-time) mode
    • 5.2.10. Nuclear reaction model options
    • 5.2.11. Options for low energy neutrons
    • 5.2.12. Photon transport based on the PHITS original model
    • 5.2.13. Parameters for EGS5
    • 5.2.14. Photon- and muon-induced reaction models
    • 5.2.15. Muon production model
    • 5.2.16. Neutrino-induced reaction model
    • 5.2.17. Options for Coulomb diffusion, gravitational field, and electromagnetic field
    • 5.2.18. Output options (1)
    • 5.2.19. Output options (2)
    • 5.2.20. Output options (3)
    • 5.2.21. Output options (4)
    • 5.2.22. Voxel and tetrahedron geometry options
    • 5.2.23. About geometrical errors
    • 5.2.24. Input-output file name
    • 5.2.25. Others
    • 5.2.26. Dumpall option
    • 5.2.27. Event Generator Mode
  • 5.3. [ Source ] section
    • 5.3.1. <source>: Multi-source
    • 5.3.2. Common parameters
    • 5.3.3. Cylindrical source
    • 5.3.4. Rectangular solid source
    • 5.3.5. Gaussian source (x, y, z independent)
    • 5.3.6. Generic parabola source (x, y, z independent)
    • 5.3.7. Gaussian source (x-y plane)
    • 5.3.8. Generic parabola source (x-y plane)
    • 5.3.9. Sphere and spherical shell source
    • 5.3.10. Phase-space source based on accelerator beam emittance
    • 5.3.11. s-type = 12 source
    • 5.3.12. Cone source
    • 5.3.13. Triangle prism source
    • 5.3.14. xyz-mesh distribution source
    • 5.3.15. Tetra-mesh source
    • 5.3.16. Surface definition source
    • 5.3.17. Dump file source
    • 5.3.18. User-defined source
    • 5.3.19. Definition of energy distribution
      • 5.3.19.1. Continuous energy distribution with integral value
        • 5.3.19.1.1. e-type = 1, (11)
        • 5.3.19.1.2. e-type = 4, (14)
      • 5.3.19.2. Continuous energy distribution with differential value
        • 5.3.19.2.1. e-type = 21, (31)
        • 5.3.19.2.2. e-type = 24, (34)
      • 5.3.19.3. Continuous energy distribution with double (energy & angular) differential type
        • 5.3.19.3.1. e-type = 41, (51)
        • 5.3.19.3.2. e-type = 42, (52)
      • 5.3.19.4. Discrete energy distribution
        • 5.3.19.4.1. e-type = 8, (18)
        • 5.3.19.4.2. e-type = 9, (19)
      • 5.3.19.5. Energy distribution by free format
        • 5.3.19.5.1. e-type = 22, (32)
        • 5.3.19.5.2. e-type = 23, (33)
      • 5.3.19.6. Gaussian and Maxwellian energy distributions
        • 5.3.19.6.1. e-type = 2, (12)
        • 5.3.19.6.2. e-type = 3
        • 5.3.19.6.3. e-type = 7
      • 5.3.19.7. Energy distribution defined by analytical functions
        • 5.3.19.7.1. e-type = 5, (15)
        • 5.3.19.7.2. e-type = 6, (16)
      • 5.3.19.8. Energy distribution of RI source
      • 5.3.19.9. Energy distribution of tally results
      • 5.3.19.10. Cosmic-ray source mode
        • 5.3.19.10.1. References
    • 5.3.20. Definition of angular distribution
      • 5.3.20.1. a-type = 1, (11)
      • 5.3.20.2. a-type = 4, (14)
      • 5.3.20.3. a-type = 5, (15)
      • 5.3.20.4. a-type = 6, (16)
    • 5.3.21. Definition of time distribution
      • 5.3.21.1. t-type = 0, 1, 2
      • 5.3.21.2. t-type = 3
      • 5.3.21.3. t-type = 4
      • 5.3.21.4. t-type = 5
      • 5.3.21.5. t-type = 6
      • 5.3.21.6. t-type = 100
    • 5.3.22. Examples of multi-source
    • 5.3.23. Duct source option
  • 5.4. [ Material ] section
    • 5.4.1. Element (nuclide) definition
    • 5.4.2. Composition ratio definition
    • 5.4.3. Material parameters
    • 5.4.4. Direct specification of stopping power
      • 5.4.4.1. Format of stopping-power database
    • 5.4.5. \(S(\alpha,\beta)\) settings
    • 5.4.6. Chemical form specification for track structure calculation
    • 5.4.7. Examples
  • 5.5. [ Surface ] section
    • 5.5.1. Formats
    • 5.5.2. Examples
    • 5.5.3. Surface definition by macro body
  • 5.6. [ Cell ] section
    • 5.6.1. Formats
    • 5.6.2. Description of cell definition
    • 5.6.3. Universe frame
    • 5.6.4. Lattice definition
    • 5.6.5. Repeated structures
      • 5.6.5.1. LIKE n BUT cell parameter
      • 5.6.5.2. Nesting structure with lattice
      • 5.6.5.3. Voxel phantom
      • 5.6.5.4. Use of tetrahedron geometry
  • 5.7. [ Transform ] section
    • 5.7.1. Formats
    • 5.7.2. Mathematical definition and usage of transformation
      • 5.7.2.1. The case of \(M=\pm1\)
      • 5.7.2.2. The case of \(M=\pm2\)
      • 5.7.2.3. The case of \(M=\pm3\)
    • 5.7.3. The case of tally
  • 5.8. [ Temperature ] section
  • 5.9. [ Mat Time Change ] section
  • 5.10. [ Electro Magnetic Field ] section
    • 5.10.1. Uniform electric and magnetic fields
    • 5.10.2. Neutron
    • 5.10.3. Implementation of the magnetic field map
    • 5.10.4. Format of magnetic field map file
      • 5.10.4.1. Header format
      • 5.10.4.2. Data format
    • 5.10.5. Use of electric field map
  • 5.11. [ Delta Ray ] section
  • 5.12. [ Track Structure ] section
  • 5.13. [ Light ] section
    • 5.13.1. Overall Structure
    • 5.13.2. Global Parameters
    • 5.13.3. Table Units
    • 5.13.4. set-region Block
      • 5.13.4.1. Region Specification
      • 5.13.4.2. Refractive Index
      • 5.13.4.3. Scintillation
      • 5.13.4.4. Absorption Coefficient
      • 5.13.4.5. Scattering Coefficient
      • 5.13.4.6. Re-emission: Fluorescence, Phosphorescence, and Wavelength Shifting
    • 5.13.5. set-boundary Block
      • 5.13.5.1. Boundary Specification
      • 5.13.5.2. Boundary Conditions
    • 5.13.6. Loading External Data
    • 5.13.7. Others
    • 5.13.8. Examples
      • 5.13.8.1. Scintillation Light Generation
      • 5.13.8.2. Cherenkov Light Generation
      • 5.13.8.3. Fresnel Boundary
      • 5.13.8.4. Perfect Specular Reflection
      • 5.13.8.5. Perfect Specular + Specular Lobe + Diffuse Reflection (1:1:1)
      • 5.13.8.6. Absorption
      • 5.13.8.7. Scattering (Rayleigh Scattering)
  • 5.14. [ Super Mirror ] section
  • 5.15. [ Elastic Option ] section
  • 5.16. [ Data Max ] section
  • 5.17. [ Frag Data ] section
  • 5.18. [ Importance ] section
  • 5.19. [ Weight Window ] section
  • 5.20. [ WW Bias ] section
  • 5.21. [ Forced Collisions ] section
  • 5.22. [ Repeated Collisions ] section
  • 5.23. [ Outgoing Particle Bias ] section
  • 5.24. [ Volume ] section
  • 5.25. [ Multiplier ] section
    • 5.25.1. Multiplier subsection
  • 5.26. [ Mat Name Color ] section
  • 5.27. [ Reg Name ] section
  • 5.28. [ Counter ] section
  • 5.29. [ Timer ] section
  • 5.30. [ User Defined Interaction ], [ User Defined Particle ] section
    • 5.30.1. Application examples of user-defined code
      • 5.30.1.1. Example 1: Muon Pair Production Induced by Positrons
      • 5.30.1.2. Example 2: Neutrino reaction
      • 5.30.1.3. Example 3: Apply Energy Cutoff Only to Specified Regions and Particles
  • 5.31. [ Libout ] section
• 6. General format of tally sections
  • 6.1. Mesh type
    • 6.1.1. Region mesh
    • 6.1.2. Definition of the region and volume for repeated structures and lattices
    • 6.1.3. r-z mesh
    • 6.1.4. xyz mesh
    • 6.1.5. tet mesh
  • 6.2. Energy mesh
  • 6.3. LET mesh
  • 6.4. Time mesh
  • 6.5. Angle mesh
  • 6.6. Mesh definition
    • 6.6.1. Mesh type
    • 6.6.2. e-type = 1
    • 6.6.3. e-type = 2, 3
    • 6.6.4. e-type = 4
    • 6.6.5. e-type = 5
  • 6.7. Other tally parameters
    • 6.7.1. part parameter
    • 6.7.2. axis parameter
    • 6.7.3. samepage parameter
    • 6.7.4. file parameter
    • 6.7.5. resfile parameter
    • 6.7.6. unit parameter
    • 6.7.7. factor parameter
    • 6.7.8. output parameter
    • 6.7.9. info parameter
    • 6.7.10. title parameter
    • 6.7.11. ANGEL parameter
    • 6.7.12. SANGEL parameters
    • 6.7.13. 2d-type parameter
    • 6.7.14. gshow parameter
    • 6.7.15. rshow parameter
    • 6.7.16. x-txt, y-txt, z-txt parameter
    • 6.7.17. volmat parameter
    • 6.7.18. epsout parameter
    • 6.7.19. counter parameter
    • 6.7.20. resolution and line thickness parameters
    • 6.7.21. trcl coordinate transformation
    • 6.7.22. Particle information for Dump function
  • 6.8. Function to sum up two (or more) tally results
  • 6.9. Function to analyze two (or more) tally results
    • 6.9.1. User-defined anatally function
    • 6.9.2. Analysis function
      • 6.9.2.1. PHITS input file for transport calculations (phits.inp)
      • 6.9.2.2. input file for scripts of analysis function (autorun.inp)
      • 6.9.2.3. Procedure of scripts of analysis function
      • 6.9.2.4. Output format
  • 6.10. Extended statistical indicators
    • 6.10.1. How to use
    • 6.10.2. Calculation method and output examples for each statistical indicator
      • 6.10.2.1. A) transition of the mean and the statistical error as a function of the total history number
      • 6.10.2.2. B) Statistical check sheet and transition of the mean, statistical error, variance of the variance (VOV), and figure of merit (FOM) as a function of the total history number
      • 6.10.2.3. C) Statistical check sheet, transition of mean, statistical error, VOV, and FOM as a function of the total history number, and probability density function (PDF)
    • 6.10.3. Statistical check sheet
• 7. Tally section format
  • 7.1. [ T-Track ] section
  • 7.2. [ T-Cross ] section
  • 7.3. [ T-Point ] section
  • 7.4. [ T-Adjoint ] section
  • 7.5. [ T-Deposit ] section
  • 7.6. [ T-Deposit2 ] section
  • 7.7. [ T-Heat ] section
  • 7.8. [ T-Yield ] section
  • 7.9. [ T-Product ] section
  • 7.10. [ T-DPA ] section
  • 7.11. [ T-LET ] section
  • 7.12. [ T-SED ] section
  • 7.13. [ T-Time ] section
  • 7.14. [ T-Interact ] section (formerly named [ T-Star ])
  • 7.15. [ T-Dchain ] section
  • 7.16. [ T-WWG ] section
  • 7.17. [ T-WWBG ] section
  • 7.18. [ T-Volume ] section
  • 7.19. [ T-Userdefined ] section
  • 7.20. [ T-Gshow ] section
  • 7.21. [ T-Rshow ] section
  • 7.22. [ T-3Dshow ] section
    • 7.22.1. Box definition
    • 7.22.2. 3dshow example
  • 7.23. [ T-4Dtrack ] section
• 8. Processing dump file
• 9. Region error check
• 10. How to Build PHITS
  • 10.1. Build Procedure on Windows OS
    • 10.1.1. Installation of Compilers and Libraries
    • 10.1.2. Building PHITS
      • 10.1.2.1. Build Method Using CMake
        • 10.1.2.1.1. Single Mode
        • 10.1.2.1.2. Single Mode (Option 1)
        • 10.1.2.1.3. Single Mode (Option 2)
        • 10.1.2.1.4. Single Mode (Option 3)
        • 10.1.2.1.5. Single Mode (Option 4)
        • 10.1.2.1.6. OpenMP Mode
        • 10.1.2.1.7. MPI Mode
      • 10.1.2.2. Build Method Using Microsoft Visual Studio
      • 10.1.2.3. Executable Replacement
  • 10.2. macOS
    • 10.2.1. Introduction
    • 10.2.2. Installing Compilers and Compilation Tools
    • 10.2.3. Installing Libraries
    • 10.2.4. Building PHITS
  • 10.3. Linux
    • 10.3.1. Installing Compilers and Libraries
    • 10.3.2. Installing Libraries
    • 10.3.3. Building PHITS
  • 10.4. Compilation with KURBUC
  • 10.5. Array sizes
• 11. Specification for Parallel Execution
  • 11.1. Distributed-Memory Parallelization
    • 11.1.1. Setup
    • 11.1.2. Execution Using Batch Files or Shell Scripts
    • 11.1.3. Execution from the Command Line
    • 11.1.4. Specification of maxcas and maxbch
    • 11.1.5. Handling of Abnormal Termination
    • 11.1.6. Output File Names for Dump, dumpall, and [t-userdefined]
    • 11.1.7. Specification of Input Files in PHITS
  • 11.2. Shared-Memory Parallelization
    • 11.2.1. Execution Using Batch Files or Shell Scripts
    • 11.2.2. Execution from the Command Line
    • 11.2.3. Notes on Shared-Memory Parallel Computation
• 12. FAQ
  • 12.1. Questions related to parameter setting
  • 12.2. Questions related to errors occurred in compiling or executing PHITS
  • 12.3. Questions related to Tallies
  • 12.4. Questions related to source generation
  • 12.5. Questions related to PHIG-3D
  • 12.6. Other questions
• 13. Appendix
  • 13.1. ANGEL
    • 13.1.1. ANGEL parameters
  • 13.2. List of physical processes that cannot be handled by PHITS
  • 13.3. Evaluated nuclear data libraries
    • 13.3.1. JENDL-4.0 neutron libraries
    • 13.3.2. JENDL-5 neutron and proton libraries
    • 13.3.3. JENDL-5 deuteron libraries