Magnetic fields with photon beams: dose calculation using electron multiple-scattering theory

Strong transverse magnetic fields can produce large dose enhancements and reductions in localized regions of a patient under irradiation by a photon beam. We have developed a new equation of motion for the transport of charged particles in an arbitrary magnetic field, incorporating both energy loss and multiple scattering. Key to modeling the latter process is a new concept, that of "typical scattered particles." The formulas which we have arrived at are particularly applicable to the transport of, and deposition of energy by, Compton electrons and pair-production electrons and positrons generated within a medium by a photon beam, and we have shown qualitatively how large dose enhancements and reductions can occur. A companion article examines this dose modification effect through systematic Monte Carlo simulations.