Predicting the Cosmic Ray Response in Scintillators for BEACON

Ultra-high energy neutrinos allow for the study of the most powerful astrophysical accelerators in the universe. Unlike other particles emitted by these high energy cosmic events, neutrinos are electrically neutral and rarely interact with matter, meaning they can travel large distances in a straight path from their source. The Beamforming Elevated Array for COsmic Neutrinos (BEACON) is an observatory concept that utilizes many mountain-top phased radio antenna arrays to detect high-energy neutrinos. These neutrinos can initiate particle showers in Earth's atmosphere, which emit radio signals that can be detected by BEACON. The current BEACON prototype validates detection methods by observing cosmic rays. Scintillators are being used at the BEACON prototype site to calibrate the radio antennas, validate cosmic ray events, and aid in event reconstruction. By using the Geant4 simulation package, interactions between scintillators and particle showers of different energies and angular distributions can be simulated. Using the simulations, the distribution of particles on the ground can be modeled, including the energy deposition into the scintillators and the time differences of when the shower hits each scintillator. Consequently, expected scintillator signals from a given cosmic ray particle shower can be predicted. Simulated cosmic ray particle showers in scintillators can be used to gain greater insight into the radio response at BEACON.