Electron transport in radiotherapy using local-to-global Monte Carlo

Local-to-Global (L-G) Monte Carlo methods are a way to make three-dimensional electron transport both fast and accurate relative to other Monte Carlo methods. This is achieved by breaking the simulation into two stages: a local calculation done over small geometries having the size and shape of the ``steps`` to be taken through the mesh; and a global calculation which relies on a stepping code that samples the stored results of the local calculation. The increase in speed results from taking fewer steps in the global calculation than required by ordinary Monte Carlo codes and by speeding up the calculation per step. The potential for accuracy comes from the ability to use long runs of detailed codes to compile probability distribution functions (PDFs) in the local calculation. Specific examples of successful Local-to-Global algorithms are given

MCAPM: All particle method generator and collision package

MCAPM (Monte Carlo All Particle Method) is a collection of subroutines that read the data necessary for and perform the physics involved in collisions of neutrons, protons, deuterons, helium-3, alphas, and gammas with background material. These subroutines are divided into two packages. The first package, gen2000, reads the cross sections and distributions from binary libraries that describe in-flight reactions and formats them in a form appropriate for use by the second package. Libraries are organized by incident particle type, but contain information describing the attributes of all output particles. The method of tabulating cross section data depends on the incident particle type. Neutron and charged particle cross sections are multi-group; gamma cross sections are log-log interpolated from an energy grid consistent over all target elements. The second package, bang2000, uses these data to perform the collision physics. Each Monte Carlo particle possesses a discrete energy value allowing the kinematics of collisions to be performed on a continuous energy basis. The result of the kinematics is the attributes (type, number, energy, and direction) of all the particles emerging from the collision. MCAPM is modular and has been ported to a variety of platforms

Efficient single scatter electron Monte Carlo

A single scatter electron Monte Carlo code (SSMC), CREEP, has been written which bridges the gap between existing transport methods and modeling real physical processes. CREEP simulates ionization,elastic and bremsstrahlung events individually. Excitation events are usually treated with an excitation-only stopping power, although simulation of individual excitation events is possible. Agreement of these quantities with experimental values is generally quite good.One application of this code is the generation of probability distribution functions (PDFs) to describe the phase space of a single electron emerging from a sphere of a given material and radius. A library of data sets for such spheres (or ``kugels``) is being computed for a variety of incident energies, material types, and sizes. The final goal of this work is to achieve extremely accurate transport results with an efficiency that is similar to that of condensed history methods

The All Particle Monte Carlo method: Atomic data files

Development of the All Particle Method, a project to simulate the transport of particles via the Monte Carlo method, has proceeded on two fronts: data collection and algorithm development. In this paper we report on the status of the data libraries. The data collection is nearly complete with the addition of electron, photon, and atomic data libraries to the existing neutron, gamma ray, and charged particle libraries. The contents of these libraries are summarized

Response Matrix Monte Carlo for electron transport

A Response Matrix Monte Carol (RMMC) method has been developed for solving electron transport problems. This method was born of the need to have a reliable, computationally efficient transport method for low energy electrons (below a few hundred keV) in all materials. Today, condensed history methods are used which reduce the computation time by modeling the combined effect of many collisions but fail at low energy because of the assumptions required to characterize the electron scattering. Analog Monte Carlo simulations are prohibitively expensive since electrons undergo coulombic scattering with little state change after a collision. The RMMC method attempts to combine the accuracy of an analog Monte Carlo simulation with the speed of the condensed history methods. The combined effect of many collisions is modeled, like condensed history, except it is precalculated via an analog Monte Carol simulation. This avoids the scattering kernel assumptions associated with condensed history methods. Results show good agreement between the RMMC method and analog Monte Carlo. 11 refs., 7 figs., 1 tabs

The all particle method: Coupled neutron, photon, electron, charged particle Monte Carlo calculations

At the present time a Monte Carlo transport computer code is being designed and implemented at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to include the transport of: neutrons, photons, electrons and light charged particles as well as the coupling between all species of particles, e.g., photon induced electron emission. Since this code is being designed to handle all particles this approach is called the ''All Particle Method''. The code is designed as a test bed code to include as many different methods as possible (e.g., electron single or multiple scattering) and will be data driven to minimize the number of methods and models ''hard wired'' into the code. This approach will allow changes in the Livermore nuclear and atomic data bases, used to described the interaction and production of particles, to be used to directly control the execution of the program. In addition this approach will allow the code to be used at various levels of complexity to balance computer running time against the accuracy requirements of specific applications. This paper describes the current design philosophy and status of the code. Since the treatment of neutrons and photons used by the All Particle Method code is more or less conventional, emphasis in this paper is placed on the treatment of electron, and to a lesser degree charged particle, transport. An example is presented in order to illustrate an application in which the ability to accurately transport electrons is important. 21 refs., 1 fig