Monte Carlo calibration of the SMM gamma ray spectrometer for high energy gamma rays and neutrons

The Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) on the Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft was primarily designed and calibrated for nuclear gamma ray line measurements, but also has a high energy mode which allows the detection of gamma rays at energies above 10 MeV and solar neutrons above 20 MeV. The GRS response has been extrapolated until now for high energy gamma rays from an early design study employing Monte Carlo calculations. The response to 50 to 600 MeV solar neutrons was estimated from a simple model which did not consider secondary charged particles escaping into the veto shields. In view of numerous detections by the GRS of solar flares emitting high energy gamma rays, including at least two emitting directly detectable neutrons, the calibration of the high energy mode in the flight model has been recalculated by the use of more sophisticated Monte Carlo computer codes. New results presented show that the GRS response to gamma rays above 20 MeV and to neutrons above 100 MeV is significantly lower than the earlier estimates.