Simulating hadron test beams in liquid argon

Thorough modeling of the physics involved in liquid argon calorimetry is essential for accurately predicting the performance of DUNE and optimizing its design and analysis pipeline. At the fundamental level, it is essential to quantify the detector response to individual hadrons—protons, charged pions, and neutrons—at different injection energies. We report such a simulation, analyzed under different assumptions about event reconstruction, such as particle identification and neutron detection. The role of event containment is also quantified. The results of this simulation can help inform the ProtoDUNE test-beam data analysis, while also providing a framework for assessing the impact of various cross section uncertainties.