Barrientos, L., Borja-Lloret, M., Casaña, J. V., Dendooven, P., Garcia Lopez, J. G., Hueso-Gonzalez, F., et al. (2024). Gamma-ray sources imaging and test-beam results with MACACO III Compton camera. Phys. Medica, 117, 103199–10pp.
Abstract: Hadron therapy is a radiotherapy modality which offers a precise energy deposition to the tumors and a dose reduction to healthy tissue as compared to conventional methods. However, methods for real-time monitoring are required to ensure that the radiation dose is deposited on the target. The IRIS group of IFIC-Valencia developed a Compton camera prototype for this purpose, intending to image the Prompt Gammas emitted by the tissue during irradiation. The system detectors are composed of Lanthanum (III) bromide scintillator crystals coupled to silicon photomultipliers. After an initial characterization in the laboratory, in order to assess the system capabilities for future experiments in proton therapy centers, different tests were carried out in two facilities: PARTREC (Groningen, The Netherlands) and the CNA cyclotron (Sevilla, Spain). Characterization studies performed at PARTREC indicated that the detectors linearity was improved with respect to the previous version and an energy resolution of 5.2 % FWHM at 511 keV was achieved. Moreover, the imaging capabilities of the system were evaluated with a line source of 68Ge and a point-like source of 241Am-9Be. Images at 4.439 MeV were obtained from irradiation of a graphite target with an 18 MeV proton beam at CNA, to perform a study of the system potential to detect shifts at different intensities. In this sense, the system was able to distinguish 1 mm variations in the target position at different beam current intensities for measurement times of 1800 and 600 s.
|
Baran, J. et al, & Brzezinski, K. (2024). Feasibility of the J-PET to monitor the range of therapeutic proton beams. Phys. Medica, 118, 103301–9pp.
Abstract: Purpose: The aim of this work is to investigate the feasibility of the Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomography (J -PET) scanner for intra-treatment proton beam range monitoring. Methods: The Monte Carlo simulation studies with GATE and PET image reconstruction with CASToR were performed in order to compare six J -PET scanner geometries. We simulated proton irradiation of a PMMA phantom with a Single Pencil Beam (SPB) and Spread -Out Bragg Peak (SOBP) of various ranges. The sensitivity and precision of each scanner were calculated, and considering the setup's cost-effectiveness, we indicated potentially optimal geometries for the J -PET scanner prototype dedicated to the proton beam range assessment. Results: The investigations indicate that the double -layer cylindrical and triple -layer double -head configurations are the most promising for clinical application. We found that the scanner sensitivity is of the order of 10-5 coincidences per primary proton, while the precision of the range assessment for both SPB and SOBP irradiation plans was found below 1 mm. Among the scanners with the same number of detector modules, the best results are found for the triple -layer dual -head geometry. The results indicate that the double -layer cylindrical and triple -layer double -head configurations are the most promising for the clinical application, Conclusions: We performed simulation studies demonstrating that the feasibility of the J -PET detector for PET -based proton beam therapy range monitoring is possible with reasonable sensitivity and precision enabling its pre -clinical tests in the clinical proton therapy environment. Considering the sensitivity, precision and cost-effectiveness, the double -layer cylindrical and triple -layer dual -head J -PET geometry configurations seem promising for future clinical application.
|
Martin-Luna, P., Esperante, D., Prieto, A. F., Fuster-Martinez, N., Rivas, I. G., Gimeno, B., et al. (2024). Simulation of electron transport and secondary emission in a photomultiplier tube and validation. Sens. Actuator A-Phys., 365, 114859–10pp.
Abstract: The electron amplification and transport within a photomultiplier tube (PMT) has been investigated by developing an in-house Monte Carlo simulation code. The secondary electron emission in the dynodes is implemented via an effective electron model and the Modified Vaughan's model, whereas the transport is computed with the Boris leapfrog algorithm. The PMT gain, rise time and transit time have been studied as a function of supply voltage and external magnetostatic field. A good agreement with experimental measurements using a Hamamatsu R13408-100 PMT was obtained. The simulations have been conducted following different treatments of the underlying geometry: three-dimensional, two-dimensional and intermediate (2.5D). The validity of these approaches is compared. The developed framework will help in understanding the behavior of PMTs under highly intense and irregular illumination or varying external magnetic fields, as in the case of prompt gamma-ray measurements during pencil-beam proton therapy; and aid in optimizing the design of voltage dividers with behavioral circuit models.
|
Ferrer-Sanchez, A., Martin-Guerrero, J., Ruiz de Austri, R., Torres-Forne, A., & Font, J. A. (2024). Gradient-annihilated PINNs for solving Riemann problems: Application to relativistic hydrodynamics. Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Eng., 424, 116906–18pp.
Abstract: We present a novel methodology based on Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) for solving systems of partial differential equations admitting discontinuous solutions. Our method, called Gradient-Annihilated PINNs (GA-PINNs), introduces a modified loss function that forces the model to partially ignore high-gradients in the physical variables, achieved by introducing a suitable weighting function. The method relies on a set of hyperparameters that control how gradients are treated in the physical loss. The performance of our methodology is demonstrated by solving Riemann problems in special relativistic hydrodynamics, extending earlier studies with PINNs in the context of the classical Euler equations. The solutions obtained with the GA-PINN model correctly describe the propagation speeds of discontinuities and sharply capture the associated jumps. We use the relative l(2) error to compare our results with the exact solution of special relativistic Riemann problems, used as the reference ''ground truth'', and with the corresponding error obtained with a second-order, central, shock-capturing scheme. In all problems investigated, the accuracy reached by the GA-PINN model is comparable to that obtained with a shock-capturing scheme, achieving a performance superior to that of the baseline PINN algorithm in general. An additional benefit worth stressing is that our PINN-based approach sidesteps the costly recovery of the primitive variables from the state vector of conserved variables, a well-known drawback of grid-based solutions of the relativistic hydrodynamics equations. Due to its inherent generality and its ability to handle steep gradients, the GA-PINN methodology discussed in this paper could be a valuable tool to model relativistic flows in astrophysics and particle physics, characterized by the prevalence of discontinuous solutions.
|
Martinez-Reviriego, P., Esperante, D., Grudiev, A., Gimeno, B., Blanch, C., Gonzalez-Iglesias, D., et al. (2024). Dielectric assist accelerating structures for compact linear accelerators of low energy particles in hadrontherapy treatments. Front. Physics, 12, 1345237–12pp.
Abstract: Dielectric Assist Accelerating (DAA) structures based on ultralow-loss ceramic are being studied as an alternative to conventional disk-loaded copper cavities. This accelerating structure consists of dielectric disks with irises arranged periodically in metallic structures working under the TM02-pi mode. In this paper, the numerical design of an S-band DAA structure for low beta particles, such as protons or carbon ions used for Hadrontherapy treatments, is shown. Four dielectric materials with different permittivity and loss tangent are studied as well as different particle velocities. Through optimization, a design that concentrates most of the RF power in the vacuum space near the beam axis is obtained, leading to a significant reduction of power loss on the metallic walls. This allows to fabricate cavities with an extremely high quality factor, over 100,000, and shunt impedance over 300 M omega/m at room temperature. During the numerical study, the design optimization has been improved by adjusting some of the cell parameters in order to both increase the shunt impedance and reduce the peak electric field in certain locations of the cavity, which can lead to instabilities in its normal functioning.
|
