No Arabic abstract
An intercomparison of microdosimetric and nanodosimetric quantities simulated Monte Carlo codes is in progress with the goal of assessing the uncertainty contribution to simulated results due to the uncertainties of the electron interaction cross-sections used in the codes. In the first stage of the intercomparison, significant discrepancies were found for nanodosimetric quantities as well as for microdosimetric simulations of a radiation source placed at the surface of a spherical water scoring volume. This paper reports insight gained from further analysis, including additional results for the microdosimetry case where the observed discrepancies in the simulated distributions could be traced back to the difference between track-structure and condensed-history approaches. Furthermore, detailed investigations into the sensitivity of nanodosimetric distributions to alterations in inelastic electron scattering cross-sections are presented which were conducted in the lead up to the definition of an approach to be used in the second stage of the intercomparison to come. The suitability of simulation results for assessing the sought uncertainty contributions from cross-sections is discussed and a proposed framework is described.
Monte-Carlo Diffusion Simulations (MCDS) have been used extensively as a ground truth tool for the validation of microstructure models for Diffusion-Weighted MRI. However, methodological pitfalls in the design of the biomimicking geometrical configurations and the simulation parameters can lead to approximation biases. Such pitfalls affect the reliability of the estimated signal, as well as its validity and reproducibility as ground truth data. In this work, we first present a set of experiments in order to study three critical pitfalls encountered in the design of MCDS in the literature, namely, the number of simulated particles and time steps, simplifications in the intra-axonal substrate representation, and the impact of the substrates size on the signal stemming from the extra-axonal space. The results obtained show important changes in the simulated signals and the recovered microstructure features when changes in those parameters are introduced. Thereupon, driven by our findings from the first studies, we outline a general framework able to generate complex substrates. We show the frameworks capability to overcome the aforementioned simplifications by generating a complex crossing substrate, which preserves the volume in the crossing area and achieves a high packing density. The results presented in this work,along with the simulator developed, pave the way towards more realistic and reproducible Monte-Carlo simulations for Diffusion-Weighted MRI.
Organized by the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS), a Monte Carlo code intercomparison exercise was conducted where participants simulated the emitted electron spectra and energy deposition around a single gold nanoparticle (GNP) irradiated by X-rays. In the exercise, the participants scored energy imparted in concentric spherical shells around a spherical volume filled with gold or water as well as the spectral distribution of electrons leaving the GNP. Initially, only the ratio of energy deposition with and without GNP was to be reported. During the evaluation of the exercise, however, the data for energy deposition in the presence and absence of the GNP were also requested. A GNP size of 50 nm and 100 nm diameter was considered as well as two different X-ray spectra (50 kVp and 100kVp). This introduced a redundancy that can be used to cross-validate the internal consistency of the simulation results. In this work, evaluation of the reported results is presented in terms of integral quantities that can be benchmarked against values obtained from physical properties of the radiation spectra and materials involved. The impact of different interaction cross-section datasets and their implementation in the different Monte Carlo codes is also discussed.
Several total and partial photoionization cross section calculations, based on both theoretical and empirical approaches, are quantitatively evaluated with statistical analyses using a large collection of experimental data retrieved from the literature to identify the state of the art for modeling the photoelectric effect in Monte Carlo particle transport. Some of the examined cross section models are available in general purpose Monte Carlo systems, while others have been implemented and subjected to validation tests for the first time to estimate whether they could improve the accuracy of particle transport codes. The validation process identifies Scofields 1973 non-relativistic calculations, tabulated in the Evaluated Photon Data Library(EPDL), as the one best reproducing experimental measurements of total cross sections. Specialized total cross section models, some of which derive from more recent calculations, do not provide significant improvements. Scofields non-relativistic calculations are not surpassed regarding the compatibility with experiment of K and L shell photoionization cross sections either, although in a few test cases Ebels parameterization produces more accurate results close to absorption edges. Modifications to Biggs and Lighthills parameterization implemented in Geant4 significantly reduce the accuracy of total cross sections at low energies with respect to its original formulation. The scarcity of suitable experimental data hinders a similar extensive analysis for the simulation of the photoelectron angular distribution, which is limited to a qualitative appraisal.
Chiral Perturbation Theory predicts the lifetime of pionium, a hydrogen-like $pi^+ pi^-$ atom, to better than 3% precision. The goal of the DIRAC experiment at CERN is to obtain and check this value experimentally by measuring the break-up probability of pionium in a target. In order to accurately measure the lifetime one needs to know the relationship between the break-up probability and lifetime to a 1% accuracy. We have obtained this dependence by modeling the evolution of pionic atoms in the target using Monte Carlo methods. The model relies on the computation of the pionium--target atom interaction cross sections. Three different sets of pionium--target cross sections with varying degrees of complexity were used: from the simplest first order Born approximation involving only the electrostatic interaction to a more advanced approach taking into account multi-photon exchanges and relativistic effects. We conclude that in order to obtain the pionium lifetime to 1% accuracy from the break-up probability, the pionium--target cross sections must be known with the same accuracy for the low excited bound states of the pionic atom. This result has been achieved, for low $Z$ targets, with the two most precise cross section sets. For large $Z$ targets only the set accounting for multiphoton exchange satisfies the condition.
We present the achievements of the last years of the experimental and theoretical groups working on hadronic cross section measurements at the low energy e+e- colliders in Beijing, Frascati, Ithaca, Novosibirsk, Stanford and Tsukuba and on tau decays. We sketch the prospects in these fields for the years to come. We emphasise the status and the precision of the Monte Carlo generators used to analyse the hadronic cross section measurements obtained as well with energy scans as with radiative return, to determine luminosities and tau decays. The radiative corrections fully or approximately implemented in the various codes and the contribution of the vacuum polarisation are discussed.