Diffusely reflective aerogel Cherenkov detector simulation techniques

Due to the similarity of construction materials used in large diffusely reflective aerogel Cherenkov detectors, a reasonable prediction of a detector’s photoelectron signal can be made using a phenomenological equation and parameters easily determined prior to construction. By using the same parameters and Monte Carlo techniques, it is possible not only to predict the photoelectron signal; but also, the uniformity of the signal, the average number of photomultiplier tubes which trigger per event, and the timing resolution of the detector. In this paper both techniques are described and it is shown that even though they use only a minimal number of parameters, both reproduce experimental results and can be used to quickly model detector designs.