  The space environment encountered by operating spacecraft is populated by a
continuous flux of charged particles that penetrate into electronic devices
inducing phantom commands and loss of control, eventually leading to satellite
failure. Moreover, electron static discharge that results from secondary
electron emission of the device materials can also be responsible for satellite
malfunction. In this regard, the estimate of the total electron yield is
fundamental for our understanding of the test-mass charging associated with
galactic cosmic rays in the LISA Pathfinder mission and in the forthcoming
gravitational wave observatory LISA. To unveil the role of low energy electrons
in this process owing to galactic and solar energetic particle events, in this
work we study the interaction of keV and sub-keV electrons with a gold slab
using a mixed Monte Carlo and ab-initio framework. We determine the energy
spectrum of the electrons emerging from such a gold slab hit by a primary
electron beam by considering the relevant energy loss mechanisms as well as the
elastic scattering events. We also show that our results are consistent with
experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations carried out with the GEANT4-DNA
toolkit.
