[Gate-users] How do you produce a Gadolinium neutron capture therapy (GdNCT) reaction in GATE?

[Kurt V]

I have been running many simulations with varied setups trying to reproduce a Gadolinium neutron capture therapy reaction in GATE but, I am unable to observe the capture reaction taking place.

Even if I reproduce a low energy neutron beam directly on Gadolinium, I am unable to see the resulting capture reactions take place.

Does anyone have any experience with GdNCT in GATE?

Has anyone produced a script where this interaction can be seen?

I am using the preferred Physics list QGSP_BERT_HP_EMV.

I have been working on a simple setup of an isotropic thermal neutron source surrounded by a thin spherical sheet of Gd. I have created a large detector volume surrounding the entire setup with the Energy Spectrum Actor on the Detector. The results are that no thermal n’s are being captured by the Gd. The thermal n cross section for Gd is extremely large.
I suspect there is some kind of catch, like only a specific physics list can be used?

What is the next logical step?

If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, I would appreciate it greatly.

Thank you,
Kurt W. Van Delinder

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