[Gate-users] Physics list in proton and particle therapy

[Andreas Resch]

Am 2018-04-18 11:42, schrieb Katrin Schnürle:
> Dear fellow GATE-users,
> 
> Have you seen the following articles on physics-list parameters to use
> in proton therapy?
> 
> http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-9155/61/1/N1/meta
> 
> http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6560/aa6ce3/meta
> 
> What do you think? So far I have been using QBBC_EMY for my
> simulations, as this gave me the best agreement between the measured
> and simulated proton range.
> It seems like the options she used are very close to the QBBC_EMZ,
> exect for the binary cascade models and the G4IonBinaryCascade.
> Unfortunately, in GATE, we can't use QBBC_BIC_EMZ.
> Also, when trying to use the recommendated self-built physics lists
> from the website, I get the warning that self-built lists won't be
> supported  in future versions. So this seems not to be a longterm
> solution...
> 
> What are your thoughts on this? What physics lists are you using?
> 
> All the best,
> Katrin Schnürle
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Hi Katrin,

I am familiar with the Hall paper but not with the second one.

The reference physics list separate into a hadron physics configuration 
(QBBC, QGSP_BIC, QGSP_BERT etc.) and a electromagnetic option (..., EMY 
3, EMZ 4). The first handles nuclear interactions, the latter EM 
interactions.

The QBBC uses for some processes the binary and for some bertini cascade 
models (you can have a look into the QBBC physics lists in the source 
code of Geant4, the reference physics manual or  Ivanchenko 2012 "Geant4 
hadronic physics for space radiation environment").
All these models have been used in literature for proton therapy 
simulations. As far as I know, there is no "best" list and you can use 
either of the 3. From some tests a colleague did, in our case QBBC 
tended to agree best and therefore we use it, although the differences 
were small. (But it depends on what you want to look at, which processes 
are interesting for you - some model may be better than the other for 
special stuff). If you want to look at particles heavier than protons, 
you should consult literature and look for other physics lists.

For the EM part, EMZ may be considered
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168583X17307826


cheers,
Andreas