Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Paleodetectors

Paleo-detectors are an exploratory experimental technique to detect crystal defects induced by rare particle interactions in ancient minerals. At the University of Michigan, we are utilizing computational methods such as molecular dynamics simulations to better understand the formation and stabilization of these defects, called nuclear recoil damage tracks. We present a model of track formation via nuclear recoil and ion irradiation in quartz (SiO2), simulated with the molecular dynamics package LAMMPS. We analyze the features of the simulated tracks with particular interest in final track state as well as recombination effects over extended time periods. We discuss efforts to validate computational models with experiment, as well as the outlook and limitations of molecular dynamics and similar computational tools to study high-energy particle interactions in solids for the fields of neutrino and dark matter detection.