Govind S. Khandelwal

Proton dose approximation in arbitrary convex geometry

An expansion is derived for the solution to the transport equation in two dimensions subject to boundary conditions given for an arbitrary convex region. Questions of high-energy transport are considered along with the properties of the dose response function. The expansion of the solution of the transport equation is presented in terms of a parameter which measures the lateral dispersion of an unidirectional beam. This parameter is usually small and the expansion is expected to converge rapidly. The dominant term in the expansion is related to fluence-to-dose conversion factors in a semiinfinite slab for normal incidence. A convenient parameterization of the conversion factors is provided along with numerical examples.

Shell corrections for K- and L-electrons

Abstract Walskes asymptotic stopping power formulae for K- and L-shell electrons are extended to cover the entire periodic table. Extensive use is made of the various existing formulae in numerical calculations.

Space proton transport in one dimension

An approximate evaluation procedure is derived for a second-order theory of coupled nucleon transport in one dimension. An analytical solution with a simplified interaction model is used to determine quadrature parameters to minimize truncation error. Effects of the improved method on transport solutions with the BRYNTRN data base are evaluated. Comparisons with Monte Carlo benchmarks are given. Using different shield materials, the computational procedure is used to study the physics of space protons. A transition effect occurs in tissue near the shield interface and is most important in shields of high atomic number.

Correlations in alpha-alpha scattering and semi-classical optical models.

We show the equivalence of semi-classical solutions to optical model coupled-channel equations derived from Watsons form of the nucleus-nucleus multiple-scattering series to the Glauber multiple-scattering series. A second-order solution to the semi-classical coupled-channel elastic amplitude is shown to be nearly equivalent to a second-order optical-phase-shift approximation to the Glauber amplitude if the densities of all nuclear excited states are approximated by the ground-state density. Using the Jastrow method to model the two-body density we find an average excited-state density to be of negligible importance in the double-scattering region of alpha-alpha scattering.

Proton-tissue dose buildup factors

When an object is exposed to external radiation, the dose field within the object is a complicated function of the character of the external radiation, the shape of the object (including orientation), and the objects material composition. In this note, the dose conversion factors for protons in tissue are represented using buildup factors. A parametric form for the buildup factors is obtained. The values of the parameters are derived from Monte Carlo calculations of various authors. All the necessary information to estimate nuclear reaction effects in proton irration of convex objects of arbitrary shape is included.

A Green's function method for high charge and energy ion transport.

A heavy-ion transport code using Greens function methods is developed. The low-order perturbation terms exhibiting the greatest energy variation are used as dominant energy-dependent terms, and the higher order collision terms are evaluated using nonperturbative methods. The recently revised NUCFRG database is used to evaluate the solution for comparison with experimental data for 625A MeV 20Ne and 517A MeV 40Ar ion beams. Improved agreements with the attenuation characteristics for neon ions are found, and reasonable agreement is obtained for the transport of argon ions in water.

Proton dosimeter design for distributed body organs

A simple dosimeter design is established to monitor the space proton dose to a distributed body organ as a linear combination of ion chambers with varying wall thickness. Even dosimetric quantities, including quality and distribution factors, can be monitored.

1s -> ns excitation cross sections of H atoms by fast protons

An expression for the cross section for excitation by fast protons of hydrogen atoms to any state ns has been obtained. Numerical values for the cross section as a function of impact energy and n are exhibited in tabular form.

Microscopic optical model calculations of - nucleus absorption cross sections

Calculations of absorption cross sections using a microscopic first-order optical potential for heavy-ion scattering are compared with experiments. In-medium nucleon-nucleon (NN) cross sections were used to calculate the two-body scattering amplitude. A medium-modified first-order optical potential was obtained for heavy-ion scattering using the in-medium two-body scattering amplitude. A partial wave expansion of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation in momentum space was used to calculate the absorption cross sections for various systems. The results are presented for the absorption cross sections for 4He-nucleus and 12C-nucleus scattering systems and are compared with the experimental values in the energy range 18-83A MeV. The use of the in-medium NN cross sections is found to result in significant reduction of the free space absorption cross sections in agreement with experiment.

Moments of dipole oscillator-strength distribution for the helium sequence

The moments S(mu) for -6 < or = mu < or = 2 and L(mu) for mu = 0, 1 and 2 are calculated for the helium sequence for atomic numbers Z up to 30 under a screened hydrogenic model. In this model, one describes the atom by single-particle hydrogenic wavefunctions and treats the initial and the final state as characterised by two different effective charge parameters Zi and Zf, respectively. An asymptotic expansion is made of the differential oscillator strength of the screened hydrogenic model. Assuming the value 287.6 for the coefficient of the term epsilon -7/2 for helium atom as given by Salpeter and Zaidi, the parameter Zf is determined for the helium sequence. This approach has resulted in values which are in reasonable agreement with the various moment values of other authors.