Welcome to the official MARS site on the World Wide Web! There is information about the code, its users, and its uses. One can also register as a user of the code (www-ap.fnal.gov/MARS).

News

• The MARS15(2014) version of September 15, 2015, is released and installed on all the MARS supported sites. This minor upgrade includes improvements to the particle tracking algorithms, more consistent handling of the ROOT geometry especially in presence of other geometry types, default non-zero values of all the volumes in the VFAN routine, and minor fixes in histograming and the aver500.f code for averaging results of multiple jobs. Users need to update subroutines REG1 and VFAN of their m1514.f in correspondence with the $MARS15/m1514.f
• The new MARS15(2014) version of June 29, 2015, is released and installed on all the MARS supported sites. The upgrade includes numerous improvements: substantially increased robustness and CPU-performance of the ROOT geometry mode that has become the main geometry mode in the code (it is important to update your REG1 routines according to that in the newly released m1514.f); refined ROOT-based Beamline Builder compatible with MAD-X; a new switch IVOLBML for volume Monte-Carlo session either in a global or a beamline coordinate system; increased accuracy and CPU performance of charged particle tracking below a few MeV and down to 1 keV; fully consistent switches between inclusive and exclusive modeling of all the physics processes; better handling of colors in histograms and zoom-in features in GUI; several minor fixes in scoring, MTUPLE files, averaging code etc. The MARS manual has been updated on the MARS home page and in the $MARS15/auxiliary directories.
• Several intermediate MAR15 updates have been performed on all the MARS sites in the period of December 2014 to June 2015.
• A mini-tutorial on the current MARS15(2014) is given at GSI, Darmstadt on December 3, 2014.
• HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, MARS! October 2014.
• The improved and extended MARS15(2014) of August 7, 2014, is released and installed on all the MARS supported sites. The upgrade includes a flexible more consistent inclusive/exclusive switches for low-energy neutrons and photons, photoproduction of muons via vector mesons, electronuclear interactions and e+e- to mu+mu- annihilation; the ancient CERN FFREAD reader of MARS.INP cards replaced with a new format-free reader with no limitations on a number of digits in variables and on a string length; in applications with EXTENDED or/and ROOT geometry, the boundary localization precision (first parameter on the SMIN card) is now automatically 1.e-8 cm, independent of its value on the SMIN card; the $MARS15/auxiliary/root directory contains now comprehensive ROOT-based and ROOT beamline builder examples with the current MARS manual available in the $MARS15/auxiliary directory.
• A tutorial on the newest MARS15(2014) is scheduled for June 16-20, 2014 at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, Pohang, S. Korea.
• Further improved and polished MARS15(2014) code is released and updated on all the MARS supported sites on May 8, 2014 with the manual available on this site.
• The newest substantially improved and extended MARS15(2014) is released and installed on all the MARS supported sites in February and March of 2014.
• A tutorial on MARS15(2012) and its new features as of May 2013 is given at ESS, Lund, Sweden, on May 27-28, 2013.
• Further improved and extended MARS15(2012) code of May 2013 is released and updated on all the MARS sites with the manual available on this site.
• The newest MARS15(2012) of February 2013 is released and updated on all the MARS sites with the manual available on this site.
• A tutorial on MARS15(2012) new features is given at KEK, Tsukuba, Japan, on September 10, 2012, at 13:30-17:00. For details contact Toshiya Sanami, KEK-RC (x5490), toshiya.sanami@kek.jp.
• A MARS15 tutorial is given at the ICRS12 Conference, Nara, Japan, on September 7, 2012, at 13:30-16:30 .
• A half-a-day mini-tutorial MARS15: New Features is given at 9:00-12:30 on Thursday, September 15, 2011, at Fermilab in the One North Conference room. The purpose is to (very briefly) remind the code basics (for new users) and describe a just-released version with its new features. Special presentations are given on how to calculate nuclide decay and transmutation, residual dose rate at a distance from small objects, and on the newest ROOT-based geometry module.
• After intense developments and beta-tests on Fermilab computers and some other sites by members of the MARS team, the MARS15 (2010) version has just been updated on all MARS sites worldwide. The release of September 9, 2011, replaces the previous official release of February 2011. The updates mainly concern the following: (1) More consistent and convenient description and handling of beam line and accelerator structures in MMBLB, including their Monte-Carlo volume calculations and visualization in global and beamline coordinate systems. (2) Refined, faster and more accurate modeling of energy loss fluctuations and Coulomb scattering at energies as low as 1 keV, including arbitrary mixtures. (3) Enhanced modeling of negative muon captures. (4) Fixes in the CEM, QGSM and elastic nuclear interaction modules. (5) Refined description and control of exclusive, inclusive and hybrid modes for electromagnetic showers, low-energy neutron interactions and some other processes. (6) Substantially improved and enhanced GUI, with many new self-explanatory features. (7) Refined tagging moved to user MFILL routine. (8) New user EVENTIN routine giving access to all products of every inelastic nuclear interaction; access to nuclear elastic vericies is currently done in a user routine MFILL. (9) New consistent interface files to feed DeTra for nuclide decay and transmutation studies. (10) The User's Guide.
• The newest version MARS15(2010) of the code is released on February 24, 2011. It has been installed and tested on the MARS sites. It replaces the previous version of the code of May 4, 2009, and several beta-releases since then in 2010. The most important new features are summarized in the release note. A new manual was posted on February 7, 2011.
• Upgrade to a substantially improved and extended version MARS15(2009) was performed on all MARS sites on January, 2010. Compared to the previous release of May 4, 2009, this version includes a new model for interaction cross-sections on d, t, He3 and He4; a new version of the LAQGSM code (re-written in many parts at energies from about 10 GeV down to a few MeV and used in these energies whenever is needed including light target nuclei such as hydrogen, deuterium, tritium, helium, lithium and beryllium), with a modified definition of the IQGSM parameter of the ICEM card; accurate hadron, muon and heavy-ion dE/dx description down to 1 keV; a new module for DPA calculations in all nuclear and electromagnetic processes. The release includes new built-in materials: DEUT, TRIT, D2O, BEO, CSI, SMCO and FERR (total list is 172); and the number of materials for 2-D mass-charge distributions (NCLD and IMNC cards) increased from 5 to 20. User routine KILLPTCL has a new parameter TOFF (time-of-flight). User routine MFILL has a new parameter NREG2 (region number before crossing a surface); this routine can now be used for writing a file of particles crossing an arbitrary user-defined surface and for the weight splitting and/or Russian Roulette on such a surface. Hydrogen, helium and tritium gas production is calculated and scored in histograms and other output files. Arbitrary cutoff energies can be applied to any XYZ histograms except for those for gas production. Several new features are controlled via new input cards: UCTR (arbitrary control in user routines), HTIR (arbitrary irradiation and cooling times for residual dose rate distributions scored in histograms and regions), RTIR (array of the irradiation times for 2-D residual dose rate distributions scored in materials), CFTD (specifies the sets for fluence-to-dose conversion and radiation weighting factors wR, the default provides the effective dose and wR according to ICRP103 as decribed by J.D. Cossairt and K. Vaziri for neutrons, for other particles are calculated according to M. Pellicioni, Rad. Prot. Dos., v. 88, 2000, pp. 279-297 and ICRP60). The IND(15) list of options - strongly recommended for thick shielding studies - was extended. All these new features are described in detail in the updated manual which can be downloaded from this site. On top of that, the Graphical-User Interface capabilities have been substantially extended (they are self-explainatory).
• Upgrade of MARS15(2009) was performed on all MARS sites on May 4, 2009. Compared to the previous releases of January 30 and March 13, 2009, there are improvements to several modules (CEM, dE/dx, decay and tracking in magnetic field) towards their better performance; cutoff energies for charged hadrons, muons and heavy ions were reduced to 1 keV, and default parameters of the ENRG, ALMX and MTQG cards were redefined. The updated manual can be downloaded from this site.
• Announcement: Nikolai gives a two-day MARS15 Course on March 30-31, 2009, at PSI, Villigen, Switzerland.
• Further upgrade to MARS15(2009) was performed on about 50% of MARS sites on March 13, 2009. The updated manual can be downloaded from this site.
• The newest MARS15(2009) was released worldwide on January 30, 2009.
• Upgrade of MARS15 is performed worldwide on December 27, 2007. The improvements concern the LAQGSM mode (ICEM 4=1) for heavy ions, neutral kaons, hydrogen target, residual nuclide scoring and low-energy projectiles, as well as deep-inelastic muon interactions at E < 5 GeV and minor cleaning. The updated manual of November 5, 2007 can be downloaded from this site.
• Further upgrade of MARS15 is completed worldwide on November 5, 2007. Several improvements concern the LAQGSM mode, extended geometry tracking and histograming.
• Substantial upgrade to MARS15 is completed worldwide on August 28, 2007. Most important improvements concern the LAQGSM mode for heavy ions, enhanced control of unstable particle decays and refinements in low-energy electron and other particle tracking in magnetic field. The updated manual can be downloaded from this site
• MARS15 with further minor improvements to the code and input cards has been released and updated on most MARS sites on August 7, 2007. The updated manual can be downloaded from this site
• MARS15 with a LAQGSM option and many other improvements has been released and updated on most MARS sites on June 26-27, 2007.
• Announcement: Nikolai gives a one-day MARS15 Course on May 24, 2007, at 9:00 to 16:00 at Fermilab, Wilson Hall, WH7XO, the Racetrack conference room, with Agenda. Specific examples are given by the MARS15 experts N. Nakao, I. Rakhno, T. Sanami and S. Striganov.
• MARS15 (2007) is released on May 14, 2007, with the manual available on this site.
• A beta-version of MARS15 (2007) is released on February 6, 2007, with a manual available on this site.
• Newest MARS15 manual of May 18, 2006, is available from this site.
• Nikolai gives a mini-tutorial on the newest version of MARS15 code at KEK on May 26, 2006.
• MARS15 has been updated on most MARS sites on May 13-14, 2006.
• MARS15 has been updated on beta-test sites on February 18, 2006.
• MARS15 has been updated worldwide on February 8, 2005.
• Transition from MARS14 to MARS15 complete. The manual and a separate Input section updated.
• Nikolai gives a tutorial on the MARS15 code at SLAC on December 1-3, 2004.
• A draft manual on the current MARS15 version has been updated and posted on the MARS web page on November 28, 2004.
• The MARS15 code has been upgraded -- including re-installation under a fixed gcc compiler (3.3.3 - 3.4.1) -- on most of the MARS sites on November 24 and 27, 2004.
• HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, MARS! October 2004.
• Nikolai gives a two-day mini-tutorial on the MARS15 code at NSCL MSU (Lansing, MI) on September 9-10, 2004.
• The MARS15 code has been released on August 31, 2004.
• Nikolai gives an intensive tutorial on the MARS15 code at KEK (Tsukuba, Japan) on August 9-13, 2004.
• A draft manual on the newest MARS15 version is posted on the MARS web page on July 31, 2004.
• The version MARS14(2002) of the code of November 19, 2002,is now available, replacing the previous release of September 20, 2002. A MARS Memo, describing numerous new features of the code, including two new geometry options, has been sent out to the MARS users on November 20, 2002. A detailed description of the input files is posted on the secure page.
• Nikolai gives an intensive introduction to the MARS14 code at CERN September 30 - October 2, 2002 in the SL Amphitheatre starting 9:30 AM.
• The version MARS14(2002) of the code of September 20, 2002,is now available, replacing the previous MARS14(2002) releases earlier this year. A MARS Memo, describing new features of the code, has been sent out to the MARS users on September 25, 2002.
• The version MARS14(2002) of the code of February 27, 2002,is now available, replacing the previous MARS14(00) release of February 16, 2001 and intermediate updates on many sites over the year 2001. A MARS Memo, describing new features of the code, has been sent out to the MARS users on January 9, 2002.
• A MARS discussion list mars-forum@fnal.gov open to all the registered MARS users has been established. You can now direct questions of a general interest to the entire MARS group (more than 140 users). Q&A will be archived at this web page.
• The newest version MARS14(2000) of February 16, 2001 is now available, replacing the previous MARS14(00) release of May 3, 2000. A MARS Memo, describing new features of the code, has been sent out to the MARS users.
• See also MARS publications of 2000 listed below.
• The newest drastically improved and extended version MARS14(2000) of May 3, 2000 is now available, replacing the previous release MARS13(99) of October 13, 1999 and December 22, 1999.
• February 9-10, 1998, Fermilab, WH12NE: Nikolai Mokhov has presented a two-day Tutorial on the MARS Code System with on-screen demonstration of the current version MARS13(98) with 45 attendees from Fermilab, SLAC and TJNAF
• Version 14(2000) of MARS can be used by registered users. Please contact us for this purpose.

Links

This page has been visited    times since February 7, 1998.

Forward any questions to Nikolai Mokhov.

Last updated: September 16, 2015