Application of the Geant4 PIXE implementation for space missions new models for PIXE simulation with Geant4

The production of particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) is an important physical effect that is not yet accurately modelled in Geant4. After providing a brief overview of Geant4 implementations of PIXE up to now, we describe our current effort for improving the Geant4 implementation of PIXE. This research and development activity is part of a larger effort addressing more general aspects of particle transport in Geant4. We illustrate the status of our work by applying a prototype implementation of Geant4 PIXE to a study of the passive shielding of the X-ray detectors of the German eROSITA telescope on the upcoming Russian Spectrum-X-Gamma space mission.