Electron and nuclear pressures in electron-nucleus mixtures

It is shown for an electron-nucleus mixture that the electron and nuclear pressures are defined clearly and simply by the virial theorem; the total pressure of this system is a sum of these two pressures. The electron pressure is different from the conventional electron pressure being expressed as the sum of two times of kinetic energy and the potential energy in that the nuclear virial term is subtracted; this fact is exemplified by several kinds of definitions for the electron pressure enumerated in this work. The conventional definition of the electron pressure in terms of the nuclear virial term is shown inappropriate. Similar remarks are made about the definition of the stress tensor in this mixture. It is also demonstrated that both of the electron and nuclear pressures become zero at the same time for a metal in the vacuum, in contrast to the conventional viewpoint that the zero pressure is realized by a result of the cancellation between the electron and nuclear pressures, each of which is not zero. On the basis of these facts, a simple equation of states for liquid metals is derived, and examined numerically for liquid alkaline metals by use of the quantum hypernetted chain equation and the Ashcroft model potential.Comment: 24pages. 2 ps-figures, use epsf.sty, namelist.sty,REVtex macro

Pressure formulas for liquid metals and plasmas based on the density-functional theory

At first, pressure formulas for the electrons under the external potential produced by fixed nuclei are derived both in the surface integral and volume integral forms concerning an arbitrary volume chosen in the system; the surface integral form is described by a pressure tensor consisting of a sum of the kinetic and exchange-correlation parts in the density-functional theory, and the volume integral form represents the virial theorem with subtraction of the nuclear virial. Secondly on the basis of these formulas, the thermodynamical pressure of liquid metals and plasmas is represented in the forms of the surface integral and the volume integral including the nuclear contribution. From these results, we obtain a virial pressure formula for liquid metals, which is more accurate and simpler than the standard representation. From the view point of our formulation, some comments are made on pressure formulas derived previously and on a definition of pressure widely used.Comment: 18 pages, no figur

Radiotherapy using a laser proton accelerator

Laser acceleration promises innovation in particle beam therapy of cancer where an ultra-compact accelerator system for cancer beam therapy can become affordable to a broad range of patients. This is not feasible without the introduction of a technology that is radically different from the conventional accelerator-based approach. The laser acceleration method provides many enhanced capabilities for the radiation oncologist. It reduces the overall system size and weight by more than one order of magnitude. The characteristics of the particle beams (protons) make them suitable for a class of therapy that might not be possible with the conventional accelerator, such as the ease for changing pulse intensity, the focus spread, the pinpointedness, and the dose delivery in general. A compact, uncluttered system allows a PET device to be located in the vicinity of the patient in concert with the compact gantry. The radiation oncologist may be able to irradiate a localized tumor by scanning with a pencil-like particle beam while ascertaining the actual dosage in the patient with an improved in-beam PET verification of auto-radioactivation induced by the beam therapy. This should yield an unprecedented flexibility in the feedback radiotherapy by the radiation oncologist. Laser accelerated radiotherapy has a unique niche in a current world of high energy accelerator using synchrotron or cyclotron.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, 69 references. International Symposium on Laser-Driven Relativistic Plasmas Applied for Science, Industry and Medicine, Kyoto, Japan, 17-20 September (2007

A parameter study of pencil beam proton dose distributions for the treatment of ocular melanoma utilizing spot scanning

Results of Monte Carlo calculated dose distributions of proton treatment of ocular melanoma are presented. An efficient spot-scanning method utilizing active energy modulation which also minimizes the number of target spots was developed. We simulated various parameter values for the particle energy spread and the pencil-beam diameter in order to determine values suitable for medical treatment. We found that a 2.5-mm-diameter proton beam with a 5% Gaussian energy spread is suitable for treatment of ocular melanoma while preserving vision for the typical case that we simulated. The energy spectra and required proton current were also calculated and are reported. The results are intended to serve as a guideline for a new class of low-cost, compact accelerators