A. Biegun

Systematic study of three-nucleon force effects in the cross section of the deuteron-proton breakup at 130 MeV

High-precision cross-section data of the deuteron-proton breakup reaction at 130 MeV are presented for 72 kinematically complete configurations. The data cover a large region of the available phase space, divided into a systematic grid of kinematical variables. They are compared with theoretical predictions, in which the full dynamics of the three-nucleon (3N) system is obtained in three different ways: realistic nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials are combined with model 3N forces (3NFs) or with an effective 3NF resulting from explicit treatment of the Delta-isobar excitation. Alternatively, the chiral perturbation theory approach is used at the next-to-next-to-leading order with all relevant NN and 3N contributions taken into account. The generated dynamics is then applied to calculate cross-section values by rigorous solution of the 3N Faddeev equations. The comparison of the calculated cross sections with the experimental data shows a clear preference for the predictions in which the 3NFs are included. The majority of the experimental data points are well reproduced by the theoretical predictions. The remaining discrepancies are investigated by inspecting cross sections integrated over certain kinematical variables. The procedure of global comparisons leads to establishing regularities in disagreements between the experimental data and the theoretically predicted values of the cross sections. They indicate deficiencies still present in the assumed models of the 3N system dynamics.

Evidence of the Coulomb-force effects in the cross-sections of the deuteron-proton breakup at 130 MeV

High precision cross-section data of the deuteron–proton breakup reaction at 130 MeV deuteron energy are compared with the theoretical predictions obtained with a coupled-channel extension of the CD Bonn potential with virtual Δ-isobar excitation, without and with inclusion of the long-range Coulomb force. The Coulomb effect is studied on the basis of the cross-section data set, extended in this work to about 1500 data points by including breakup geometries characterized by small polar angles of the two protons. The experimental data clearly prefer predictions obtained with the Coulomb interaction included. The strongest effects are observed in regions in which the relative energy of the two protons is the smallest.

Time-of-flight neutron rejection to improve prompt gamma imaging for proton range verification: a simulation study

Therapeutic proton and heavier ion beams generate prompt gamma photons that may escape from the patient. In principle, this allows for real-time, in situ monitoring of the treatment delivery, in particular, the hadron range within the patient, by imaging the emitted prompt gamma rays. Unfortunately, the neutrons simultaneously created with the prompt photons create a background that may obscure the prompt gamma signal. To enhance the accuracy of proton dose verification by prompt gamma imaging, we therefore propose a time-of-flight (TOF) technique to reject this neutron background, involving a shifting time window to account for the propagation of the protons through the patient. Time-resolved Monte Carlo simulations of the generation and transport of prompt gamma photons and neutrons upon irradiation of a PMMA phantom with 100, 150 and 200 MeV protons were performed using Geant4 (version 9.2.p02) and MCNPX (version 2.7.D). The influence of angular collimation and TOF selection on the prompt gamma and neutron longitudinal profiles is studied. Furthermore, the implications of the proton beam microstructure (characterized by the proton bunch width and repetition period) are investigated. The application of a shifting TOF window having a width of ΔTOF(z) = 1.0 ns appears to reduce the neutron background by more than 99%. Subsequent application of an energy threshold does not appear to sharpen the distal falloff of the prompt gamma profile but reduces the tail that is observed beyond the proton range. Investigations of the influence of the beam time structure show that TOF rejection of the neutron background is expected to be effective for typical therapeutic proton cyclotrons.

Elastic proton-deuteron scattering at intermediate energies

Observables in elastic proton-deuteron scattering are sensitive probes of the nucleon-nucleon interaction and three-nucleon force effects. The present experimental database for this reaction is large, but contains a large discrepancy between data sets for the differential cross section taken at 135 MeV/nucleon by two experimental research groups. This article reviews the background of this problem and presents new data taken at Kernfysisch Versneller Instituute (KVI). Differential cross sections and analyzing powers for the

Spin-isospin selectivity in three-nucleon forces

{}^{2}\mathrm{H}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{p},d)p

Challenges of radiotherapy: Report on the 4D treatment planning workshop 2013

and

Short-lived positron emitters in beam-on PET imaging during proton therapy

{}^{1}\mathrm{H}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{d},d)p

Improving proton therapy by metal-containing nanoparticles: Nanoscale insights

reactions at 135 MeV/nucleon and 65 MeV/nucleon, respectively, have been measured. The differential cross-section data differ significantly from previous measurements and consistently follow the energy dependence as expected from an interpolation of published data taken over a large range at intermediate energies.

Optimization of collimator designs for real-time proton range verification by measuring prompt gamma rays

Abstract Precision data are presented for the break-up reaction, H 2 ( p → , p p ) n , within the framework of nuclear-force studies. The experiment was carried out at KVI using a polarized-proton beam of 190 MeV impinging on a liquid-deuterium target and by exploiting the detector, BINA. Some of the vector-analyzing powers are presented and compared with state-of-the-art Faddeev calculations including three-nucleon forces effect. Significant discrepancies between the data and theoretical predictions were observed for kinematical configurations which correspond to the H 2 ( p → , He 2 ) n channel. These results are compared to the H 2 ( p → , d ) p reaction to test the isospin sensitivity of the present three-nucleon force models. The current modeling of two and three-nucleon forces is not sufficient to describe consistently polarization data for both isospin states.

Proton-deuteron break-up measurements with BINA at 135 MeV

This report, compiled by experts on the treatment of mobile targets with advanced radiotherapy, summarizes the main conclusions and innovations achieved during the 4D treatment planning workshop 2013. This annual workshop focuses on research aiming to advance 4D radiotherapy treatments, including all critical aspects of time resolved delivery, such as in-room imaging, motion detection, motion managing, beam application, and quality assurance techniques. The report aims to revise achievements in the field and to discuss remaining challenges and potential solutions. As main achievements advances in the development of a standardized 4D phantom and in the area of 4D-treatment plan optimization were identified. Furthermore, it was noticed that MR imaging gains importance and high interest for sequential 4DCT/MR data sets was expressed, which represents a general trend of the field towards data covering a longer time period of motion. A new point of attention was work related to dose reconstructions, which may play a major role in verification of 4D treatment deliveries. The experimental validation of results achieved by 4D treatment planning and the systematic evaluation of different deformable image registration methods especially for inter-modality fusions were identified as major remaining challenges. A challenge that was also suggested as focus for future 4D workshops was the adaptation of image guidance approaches from conventional radiotherapy into particle therapy. Besides summarizing the last workshop, the authors also want to point out new evolving demands and give an outlook on the focus of the next workshop.