Track structure for low energy ions including charge exchange processes

Area of Science:

• Radiation Physics
• Computational Physics
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Accurate simulation of charged particle transport is crucial for understanding radiation interactions in matter.
• Existing codes often have limitations in simulating low-energy particle tracks and secondary electron transport.
• Monte Carlo methods provide a powerful tool for detailed track structure simulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development of a new generation of Monte Carlo track structure codes.
• To simulate the full slowing down of low-energy proton and alpha particle histories in water.
• To derive and present microdosimetric parameters from the simulated tracks.

Main Methods:

• Development of the LEPHIST code for proton tracks (1 keV-1 MeV) and LEAHIST for alpha particle tracks (1 keV-8 MeV).
• Simulation of primary ion interactions down to 1 keV and electrons down to 1 eV.
• Utilizing the KURBUC electron code to trace secondary electron tracks.

Main Results:

• Successful simulation of complete low-energy proton and alpha particle histories in water.
• Detailed tracking of primary and secondary charged particles down to sub-eV energies.
• Generation of track structure data for microdosimetric parameter derivation.

Conclusions:

• The developed codes (LEPHIST, LEAHIST) represent a significant advancement in low-energy charged particle track structure simulation.
• These codes enable detailed analysis of energy deposition at the nanometer scale.
• The generated microdosimetric data are valuable for radiobiology and radiation protection applications.