ISOCAM Long Wave Detector Glitches: Data and Ray-Tracing Simulations

The affected pixel number distribution of the ISOCAM Long-Wave (LW) detector in cosmic ray-induced glitchesis calculated. The methods employed are Monte Carlo ray-tracing techniques and the taxi metric, which allows direct calculation of the affected pixels based on the knowledge of entry and exit points of the ray. The simulation results are compared with long-term experimental data. Based on the simulations combined with the CREME96 cosmic ray model for solar quiet period, it is estimated that the detector is on average traversed by ∼0.3 cosmic ray protons per second. For the experimental data, a corresponding minimum bound of ∼0.14 cosmic ray protons per second is obtained. Deviations in the simulated and measured pixel number distributions are discussed.