The background of the ATHENA X-IFU instrument is evaluated by Geant4 simulations. A new, highly detailed, mass model of the X-IFU and of its cryostat has been produced, a new model for the Galactic Cosmic Ray protons in L2 has been developed from satellite data, and a set of physics models tuned to ATHENA needs has been refined through extensive validations against experimental results. We are going to report the latest results in the estimate of the background of the X-IFU instrument, obtained after the update of all the elements of the Geant4 simulations and of the post processing software.

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Simone Lotti, Claudio Macculi, Matteo D'Andrea, Valentina Fioretti, Paolo Dondero, Alfonso Mantero, Gabriele Minervini, Andrea Argan, and Luigi Piro, "Estimates for the background of the ATHENA X-IFU instrument: the cosmic rays contribution," Proc. SPIE 10699, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 106991Q (Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation: June 13, 2018; Published: 6 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313236.