Monte Carlo-Based Modeling of Secondary Particle Tracks Generated by Intermediate- and Low-Energy Protons in Water
This chapter gives an overview of recent developments in the Monte Carlo-based modeling of the interaction of ionizing radiation with biologically relevant systems. Several track structure codes, such as Geant4 (GEometry ANd Tracking 4), Geant4-DNA, and L
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Abstract This chapter gives an overview of recent developments in the Monte Carlo-based modeling of the interaction of ionizing radiation with biologically relevant systems. Several track structure codes, such as Geant4 (GEometry ANd Tracking 4), Geant4-DNA, and LEPTS (Low-Energy Particle Track Simulation), are described. Main features, areas of application and current limitations of each tool are discussed. A special attention is focused on the energy range covered by primary and secondary charged particles and on the type of interactions included in the simulation. A recent development of LEPTS is presented, aimed at the simulation of full slowing-down of protons in water together with all molecular processes involving secondary particles. The utilized approach allows one to study radiation effects on the nanoscale in terms of the number and the type of induced molecular processes. A. Verkhovtsev (B) · G. García Instituto de Física Fundamental, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Serrano 113-bis, 28006 Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] G. García e-mail: [email protected] A. Verkhovtsev MBN Research Center, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany P. Arce Medical Applications Unit, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Av. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] A. Muñoz Scientific Computing Unit, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Av. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] F. Blanco Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza de Ciencias 1, 28040 Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] G. García Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 A.V. Solov’yov (ed.), Nanoscale Insights into Ion-Beam Cancer Therapy, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43030-0_3
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Development of new tools for the simulation of biologically relevant materials opens the way for a more realistic, physically meaningful description of radiation damage in living tissue.
1 Introduction Understanding radiation effects produced by charged projectiles traversing biological media is of great interest in radiation biology, radiation therapy, and environmental radiation protection. An important feature of the interaction of ionizing radiation with biological systems is the complexity of produced damage [1]. It is well-established nowadays that the great portion of biodamage resulting from ionizing radiation is related to secondary electrons, free radicals and other reactive species, which are produced by ionizing and exciting molecules of the medium [1–3]. All these secondary species have been found to be more efficient in producing damage than the primary radiation, because they can effectively trigger physicochemical processes leading to molecular structure alterations, for instance, to covalent bond breaking, ionization
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