Basic Interactions
Problem Set 3.2c Solutions
1. (J & C 6-27) Evaluate Scoll for electrons in water for E = 400 keV using only the first
term inside the square brackets of J & C equation 6-26 and compare with the value
given in Table 6-3. Determine the important terms in the equation for electrons with
energies less than 0.5 MeV.
From equation 6-26, keeping only the first term in brackets, we have
0 E 2 (E + 2 0 )
S coll = 2r02 N e log
2 2 0 I
2
r02 square of the classical radius of the electron = 7.94 10-30 m2 p 170
Ne electron density of water = 3.343 10 el kg A-3b
26 -2
We can determine from the kinetic energy of the electron. We note that the
kinetic energy E is given by
E = mc 2 m0 c 2
m0 c 2
= m0 c 2
1 2
1
= 0 1
1
2
( E + 0 )2
0.511 MeV 2
= 1.000
(0.4 + 0.511)MeV 2
= 0.6854
MeV cm 2
S coll = 0.1243 17.50
g
MeV cm 2
= 2.175
g
E 2 (E + 1.022 )
1st term = log
(
1.022 75 10
6 2
)
E (E + 1.022 )
2
= log 8
0.5749 10
[ ]
= log 1.740 10 8 E 2 (E + 1.022 )
E 2 8 - (2 E + 0.511)0.511 log 2
2nd term =
(E + 0.511)2
E 2 8 - 0.3541(2 E + 0.511)
=
(E + 0.511)2
3rd and 4th terms = 1 - 2
m 02
=
(E + m0 )2
0.2611
=
(E + 0.511)2
Rather than try to extract data from Figure 6-5, let us start with the equation for
d(E)/dE as a function of electron energy E for 1 MeV photons. This quantity is
given by equation (c) in J & C problem 6-35.
d ( E ) 3 0 2E E2 E2
= 2 + +
8 h (h E ) (h E ) h (h E )
2 2
dE
In this equation, 0 is the total Thomson scattering cross section, and is equal to
66.525 1030 m2, and is the photon energy divided by the rest mass of the
electron, or h (MeV)/0.511. For photons of energy 1 MeV, is 1.957, and the
differential energy cross section is given by
d (E ) 3 66.525 10 30 m 2 2E E2 E2
= 2 + +
dE 8 1.957 MeV electron 1.957(1 E ) 3.830(1 E )2 (1 E )
E E
2
E2
= 12.748 10 30 m 2 electron 1 MeV 1 2 1.022 + 0.2611 +
1 E 1 E (1 E )
Tabulating the electron spectrum, we get the following
100
Differential cross section (m2/electron-MeV)
10
0.0 0.5 1.0
d (E ) (h ) dN (E ')
Emax
dE
=
S tot (E )
E
dE '
dE '
d (E ) (h ) N N (E j )
dE
=
Stot (E ) j =1 E
E j (1)
In the table below, the third column presents the value of Stot for each value of E.
(Actually, we are using Scoll as taken from J & C Table A-5, but we assume
radiative stopping power is negligible.) In the fourth column, we sum the
distribution of energies from the energy E to the maximum energy Ei, and in the
fifth column we calculate the slowing-down spectrum according to equation (1).
LET vs Energy
LET
E (MeV) (MeV/cm)
0.025 12.445
0.075 4.757
0.125 3.410
0.175 2.761
0.225 2.357
0.275 2.198
0.325 2.039
0.375 1.880
0.425 1.784
0.475 1.749
0.525 1.714
0.575 1.679
0.625 1.645
0.675 1.610
0.725 1.575
0.775 1.540
0.796 1.523
The electronic energy distribution as a function of LET is given by
d (L ) d (E ) dE
=
dL dE dL
LET spectrum
LET
(MeV/cm) E (MeV) dE/dL dPhi/dE DPhi/dL
1.5 0.824 -0.973
2.0 0.337 -0.260 7.529 1.958
2.5 0.207 -0.101 7.185 0.728
3.0 0.157 -0.070 6.576 0.459
3.5 0.122 -0.037 5.911 0.220
4.0 0.103 -0.037 5.435 0.202
4.5 0.085 -0.022 4.960 0.110
5.0 0.073 -0.007 4.635 0.030
5.5 0.070 -0.007 4.468 0.029
6.0 0.067 -0.007 4.301 0.028
6.5 0.064 -0.007 4.134 0.027
7.0 0.060 -0.007 3.967 0.026
7.5 0.057 -0.007 3.800 0.025
8.0 0.054 -0.007 3.633 0.024
8.5 0.051 -0.007 3.466 0.023
9.0 0.047 -0.007 3.300 0.021
9.5 0.044 -0.007 3.133 0.020
10.0 0.041 -0.007 2.966 0.019
10.5 0.038 -0.007 2.799 0.018
11.0 0.034 -0.007 2.632 0.017
11.5 0.031 -0.007 2.465 0.016
12.0 0.028
3. (J & C 6-34) Show why protons and helium nuclei of the same energy per nucleon
will have the same range.
If Ep is the kinetic energy of a proton, then EH, the kinetic energy of the helium
nucleus, would be equal to 4Ep because the two particles are said to have the same
energy per nucleon. Because the mass of a helium nucleus is approximately 4
times the mass of the proton, we can write
So, vH = vp, and SH = 4Sp. Inserting these values into the integral for charged
particle range, we get
EH 4Ep
dE H dE p
RH =
0
SH
=
0
4S p
Rp