HERMES: Simulating the Propagation of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

Abstract: The study of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) at Earth cannot prescind from the study of their propagation in the Universe. In this paper, we present HERMES, the \emph{ad hoc} Monte Carlo code we have developed for the realistic simulation of UHECR propagation. We discuss the modeling adopted to simulate the cosmology, the magnetic fields, the interactions with relic photons and the production of secondary particles. In order to show the potential applications of HERMES for astroparticle studies, we provide an estimation of the surviving probability of UHE protons, the GZK horizons of nuclei and the all-particle spectrum observed at Earth in different astrophysical scenarios. Finally, we show the expected arrival direction distribution of UHECR produced from nearby candidate sources. A stable version of HERMES will be released in the next future for public use together with libraries of already propagated nuclei to allow the community to perform mass composition and energy spectrum analysis with our simulator.