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A comparison of Monte Carlo and analytic first scatter dose spread arrays
Author(s) -
McGary J. E.,
Boyer A. L.,
Mackie T. R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.598583
Subject(s) - monte carlo method , compton scattering , physics , backscatter (email) , photon , computational physics , range (aeronautics) , point (geometry) , electron , statistical physics , optics , mathematics , nuclear physics , statistics , computer science , materials science , geometry , telecommunications , composite material , wireless
We compare first scattered point dose spread arrays generated by Monte Carlo and an analytic method. The analytic method models energy deposition using Klein‐Nishina cross sections for Compton scatter and approximations for electron transport. Assumptions in the analytic method are shown to be valid within a region of the point dose spread kernel in which meaningful comparisons can be made. Differences between the models are less than 10% for the forward scatter directions for radii greater than the electron range associated with the first scattered Compton photon. Differences in the backscatter region are discussed and indicate that the analytic model is useful for identifying large errors that might be present in numerically generated first scatter point dose spread arrays. The analytic method is simple and useful for validating first scatter kernels.