Particle Shower Simulations for IceCube*

The events detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have two main topologies: cascades and tracks. Cascades are particle showers, and historically, due to their short extension (on the order of meters) relative to the spacing between optical modules, the main focus for cascade events has been on measuring the total light yield as a proxy for energy, rather than their spatial features. However, as our understanding of the medium improves and we broaden our spectrum of event selection techniques, IceCube becomes more sensitive to various subtle features of cascades, especially with high energy events. These features include the electromagnetic or hadronic origin of the shower, its charm content, longitudinal and transverse profiles, and the muonic component. We present detailed shower simulations generated by tailored software using up-to-date hadronic interaction models and discuss the results and potential applications.