Impact of photon cross section systematic uncertainties on Monte Carlo-determined depth-dose distributions

This work studies the impact of systematic uncertainties associated to interaction cross sections on depth dose curves determined by Monte Carlo simulations. The corresponding sensitivity factors are quantified by changing cross sections in a given amount and determining the variation in the dose. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Aguirre, Eder, Bernal, Mario A, Mariano, David, deAlmeida, Carlos E
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 30.03.2016
Subjects
Computer simulation
Cross-sections
Dosage
Elastic scattering
Monte Carlo simulation
Photons
Physics - Medical Physics
Sensitivity
Uncertainty
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Summary:This work studies the impact of systematic uncertainties associated to interaction cross sections on depth dose curves determined by Monte Carlo simulations. The corresponding sensitivity factors are quantified by changing cross sections in a given amount and determining the variation in the dose. The influence of total cross sections for all particles, photons and only for Compton scattering is addressed. The PENELOPE code was used in all simulations. It was found that photon cross section sensitivity factors depend on depth. In addition, they are positive and negative for depths below and above an equilibrium depth, respectively. At this depth, sensitivity factors are null. The equilibrium depths found in this work agree very well with the mean free path of the corresponding incident photon energy. Using the sensitivity factors reported here, it is possible to estimate the impact of photon cross section uncertainties on the uncertainty of Monte Carlo-determined depth dose curves.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1603.08890