This extended abstract briefly summarizes ongoing research activity on the evaluation and experimental validation of physics methods for photon and electron transport. The analysis includes physics models currently implemented in Geant4 as well as mo
deling methods used in other Monte Carlo codes, or not yet considered in general purpose Monte Carlo simulation systems. The validation of simulation models is performed with the support of rigorous statistical methods, which involve goodness-of-fit tests followed by categorical analysis. All results are quantitative, and are fully documented.
Several models for the Monte Carlo simulation of Compton scattering on electrons are quantitatively evaluated with respect to a large collection of experimental data retrieved from the literature. Some of these models are currently implemented in gen
eral purpose Monte Carlo systems; some have been implemented and evaluated for possible use in Monte Carlo particle transport for the first time in this study. Here we present first and preliminary results concerning total and differential Compton scattering cross sections.
Several physics methods for the simulation of the photoelectric effect are quantitatively evaluated with respect to a large collection of experimental data retrieved from the literature. They include theoretical and empirical calculations of total an
d partial cross sections, and calculations of the photoelectron angular distribution. Some of these models are currently implemented in general purpose Monte Carlo systems; some have been implemented and evaluated for possible use in Monte Carlo particle transport for the first time in this study.
ISICS, originally a C language program for calculating K-, L- and M-shell ionization and X-ray production cross sections from ECPSSR and PWBA theory, has been reengineered into a C++ language class, named ISICSoo. The new software design enables the
use of ISICS functionality in other software systems. The code, originally developed for Microsoft Windows operating systems, has been ported to Linux and Mac OS platforms to facilitate its use in a wider scientific environment. The reengineered software also includes some fixes to the original implementation, which ensure more robust computational results and a review of some physics parameters used in the computation. The paper describes the software design and the modifications to the implementation with respect to the previous version; it also documents the test process and provides some indications about the software performance.
