Energy dissipation of electron, proton, and Carbon-12 crossing in between tissue and water phantoms using Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

When moving in a material, a charged particle loses its energy constantly and finally stops. Considering that working with these particles has lots of harm despite its benefits, a method that could investigate the energy dissipation trend and interactions in materials without directly manipulating them would be of great advantage. One of these methods is Monte Carlo and coding with Geant 4. The simulation results of the charged particles crossing the human body and water to investigate the energy dissipation in electron, proton, and carbon-12 indicated that the energy dissipation increases with a positive gradient in heavy charged particles of Carbon-12 and proton after entering both tissue and water phantoms. Meanwhile, this increase is performed with a negative gradient for the electron as a lightweight charged particle. Heavy charged particles suddenly lose their energy after the formation of the Bragg Peak. However, after peak formation, the lightweight electron particles lose their power with a relatively lower gradient. The peak formed for the heavy charged particles of Carbon-12 and proton is very sharp. In terms of the electron, although the peak is sharp in the very low energy territory (1MEV), a wider peak exists at higher energy levels of these particles. However, the maximum energy dissipation rate here is less than that of Carbon-12 due to the longer path.