This work describes the development of a Monte Carlo simulation toolkit built on the Geant4 framework for applied health physics applications. The toolkit is designed to construct complex radiation fields and measure how radiation detectors respond to those fields, specifically radiation fields expected to be encountered in environmental and safety applications. The toolkit, along with its development and validation, is described. The use of the toolkit for performing minimum detectable concentration evaluations is outlined, following methods described in the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) and Nuclear Regulatory Guidance Manual 1507, which detail Minimum Detectable Concentrations for Typical Radiation Surveys using Instruments for Various Contaminants and Field Conditions. Results and implications from the findings of these evaluations are also discussed. This work demonstrates the simulation toolkit’s ability to replicate real-world scenarios through simulation validation against real laboratory data before showcasing its use. Minimum detectable concentration evaluations completed with this toolkit are compared to commercially available software traditionally used for these evaluations when employing methods outlined in NUREG- 1507. The evaluations completed using simulations developed from this toolkit agree well with the commercially available software, except for sources with primary photon emissions below 100 keV, where the toolkit simulation shows a significant deviation. This work also underscores the importance for individuals using regulatory guidance manuals for performing minimum detectable concentration analysis to consider the motion of detectors and soil moisture content for sources with low-energy photon emissions. Furthermore, the toolkit demonstrates its effectiveness in developing Monte Carlo simulations that recreate radiation survey data for large open land areas.

La méthode de mesure de référence du débit d’émission de sources neutroniques se fonde sur la technique du bain de manganèse. Elle est destinée à étalonner des sources de neutrons utilisant des radionucléides (241AmBe, 239PuBe, 252Cf,…) en termes de débit d’émission neutronique sous 4π sr. Ce dispositif est complété par un banc de mesure de l’anisotropie d’émission utilisant un support rotatif et un compteur long de type BF3. La source à mesurer est immergée dans une solution de sulfate de manganèse et les neutrons émis sont capturés par les constituants du bain. Dans une configuration classique (sphère de bain de manganèse de 1 m de diamètre et solution concentrée), environ la moitié de ces neutrons conduisent à la création de 56Mn par réaction (n, γ) sur 55Mn. Le radionucléide 56Mn a une période radioactive d’environ 2,6 heures et le bain de manganèse atteint son activité de saturation en 56Mn quand le nombre d’atomes radioactifs créés par unité de temps devient égal au nombre d’atomes se désintégrant pendant ce même temps. Le débit d’émission de la source peut alors être déduit de l’activité en 56Mn de la solution à saturation, via une modélisation ad hoc des réactions nucléaires se produisant dans le bain. Cette installation a été récemment rénovée au LNE-LNHB afin de respecter les règles de sécurité et de radioprotection en vigueur. Cette rénovation a été l’occasion de moderniser et de remettre à niveau les méthodes de mesure et de modélisation du bain et d’entreprendre une étude sur le développement d’un détecteur original pour la mesure directe en ligne de l’activité du manganèse. Ce détecteur est fondé sur la méthode de mesure par coïncidences β-γ. La voie bêta est constituée de deux photomultiplicateurs permettant de détecter l’émission de lumière due à l’effet Cerenkov et la voie gamma utilise un détecteur à scintillateur solide. L’intérêt de cette méthode de mesure est qu’elle permet d’avoir accès à l’activité du bain sans nécessiter d’étalonnage préalable, contrairement à la méthode classique qui utilise un compteur gamma et nécessite la fabrication d’une source de haute activité. Le principe de mesure a été validé à l'aide d'un prototype de détecteur et d'une modélisation effectuée à l'aide du code de calcul stochastique GEANT4. Le détecteur définitif a été réalisé et les mesures obtenues ont été comparées à celles données par une méthode primaire présente au laboratoire. Par ailleurs, des modélisations du bain de manganèse effectuées sous GEANT4, MCNPX et FLUKA, ont été comparées afin de choisir le code le plus fiable. Cette comparaison a permis d'identifier des lacunes notamment dans le code GEANT4 ainsi que des facteurs d'incertitude nécessitant une attention particulière, tels que la modélisation de l'émission neutronique et le choix des sections efficaces. Enfin, un étalonnage de source neutronique a été réalisé grâce à la méthode Cerenkov-gamma et aux facteurs correctifs donnés par la nouvelle modélisation du bain sous MCNPX. Ces mesures ont été complétées dans le cadre d'une comparaison comprenant également des mesures par l'ancienne méthode après étalonnage du couple bain/détecteur par irradiation d'une cible de manganèse en réacteur. Au terme de cette étude, plusieurs voies d'améliorations ont été proposées, dont certaines font déjà l'objet de travaux au LNHB. / The manganese bath technique is the reference method for neutron source emission rates calibration. It is used to calibrate neutron sources using radionuclides (AmBe, PuBe, 252Cf,…) in terms of neutron emission rate under 4π sr. As a complement to this technique, the anisotropy of the source is measured using a rotating source holder and a neutron long counter. The neutron source to be measured is immersed in a manganese sulphate solution whereby the emitted neutrons are captured within the bath contents. In a typical configuration (a 1m diameter sphere and a concentrated solution), approximately half of the neutrons lead to the creation of 56Mn via the 55Mn(n, γ) capture reaction. The 56Mn radionuclide has a half-life of approximately 2.6 hours and the bath reaches saturation when the number of nuclei decaying is equal to the number of nuclei created per unit time. The neutron emission rate from the source can then be deduced from the 56Mn activity at saturation, assuming proper modelling of the nuclear reactions occuring in the bath. The manganese bath facility at LNE-LNHB has been recently refurbished in order to comply with appropriate safety and radioprotection regulations. This has lead to the upgrading of both the measurement methodology and the modelling of the bath, and a study on the development of a new detector for the on-line measurement of the manganese activity was started. This new detector uses the β-γ coincidence measurement method. The bêta channel consists of two photomultipliers tubes which allow the detection of Cerenkov light, and the gamma channel uses a solid scintillation detector. The advantage of this measurement method is that it allows the determination of the bath activity without any prior calibration, unlike the former method which uses a gamma-ray detector calibrated using a high activity manganese source. The principle of the Cerenkov-gamma coincidence measurement has been validated by a prototype of the detector and via modelling of the system using the stochastic transport code GEANT4. The final detector has also been made and the results obtained have been compared to those from a primary measurement method already in use at LNE-LNHB. Furthermore, a comparison of the results from modelling the manganese bath with GEANT4, MCNPX and FLUKA have been undertaken to find the most reliable code. This comparison lead to the identification of various weaknesses, particularly in GEANT4, and several uncertainty factors, such as the modeling of the neutron emission and the choice of the cross-section library. Finally, neutron source calibration has been carried out with the Cerenkov-gamma method and the correction factors given by the new modeling of the bath using MCNPX. These results have been complemented with a comparison with the former method simultaneously undertaken, after calibration of the detector in the bath using a 56Mn source irradiated in a nuclear reactor. At the end of this study, several improvements have been proposed, from which a number are currently under development at LNE-LNHB.

Orientador: José Augusto Chinellato / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T02:47:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vicente_ElaineCristinaFarinchondePadua_M.pdf: 2256081 bytes, checksum: b35748a03035f4aa2a7be12161501597 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Neste trabalho apresentamos a importância das câmaras de fotoemulsão que continuam, após décadas de uso, a oferecer atrativos para a física de partículas elementares. Citamos o detector OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus), que é o maior detector de câmara de fotoemulsão-chumbo já construído (nove milhões de filmes de emulsão nuclear) como exemplo de sua aplicação na atualidade. Ele está presente no experimento de fluxo de neutrinos CNGS. Apresentamos também o detector CASTOR (Centauro And STrange Objects Research), que é um calorímetro hadrônico e eletromagnético de tungstênio e quartzo, desenvolvido para aprimorar o desempenho do experimento CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) do LHC na região frontal. O CASTOR foi criado entre outras coisas, para o estudo de hádrons de longa penetração, observado em eventos de raios cósmicos ricos em hádrons. Estes foram identificados e chamados de strangelets. A proposta dos strangelets é que estes seriam produtos de decaimento de matéria de quarks rica em bárions, penetrariam grandes profundidades no chumbo e sairiam do detector quase não atenuados. Introduzimos os conceitos de chuveiros extensos atmosféricos e a técnica de câmara de fotoemulsão usada para o estudo destes. Ao mencionarmos o uso de câmaras de fotoemulsão em experimentos de montanha, não podemos deixar de citar a colaboração Brasil-Japão que detectou um evento exótico que passou a ser chamado de Centauro, por ter grande momento transversal. Além disso, a ausência de píons neutros é uma característica marcante deste tipo de evento. Vários outros eventos de mesmo tipo foram encontrados e a busca continua até hoje. Ainda falando sobre chuveiros atmosféricos, citamos como era feita a classificação de cascatas locais originadas pelas partículas da frente do chuveiro, na literatura das câmaras de fotoemulsões. O perfil longitudinal (em profundidade) de cada cascata local é usado para se determinar a energia da partícula incidente e também é um indicativo da sua natureza ¿ se faz parte da componente eletromagnética (elétron, pósitron ou gama) ou componente hadrônica. Cada cascata local observada é associada a um desses dois grupos. Apresentamos o software Geant como ferramenta de simulação deste trabalho. Originalmente desenvolvido no CERN para experimentos da física de altas energias, atualmente Geant é utilizado em outros campos como medicina e astrofísica. A versão mais recente (Geant4) também inclui tratamento de nêutrons de baixa energia (< 20 MeV) e de íons. Para a física de nêutrons, o Geant4 possui implementação de modelos de nêutrons de alta precisão que incluem os processos de colisões elásticas e inelásticas, captura e fissão. Para o tratamento de íons, foram implementados processos de colisão inelástica, decaimento radioativo e dissociação eletromagnética implementados para simulações. Apresentamos a geometria dos detectores tipo CBJ e tipo Pamir implementada com os recursos do Geant4. O detector tipo CBJ foi construído para o estudo de cascatas locais, produzidas em chumbo ou em carbono, no caso em que uma camada de ar serve como meio onde os secundários propagam-se e separam-se de modo a serem identificados a distâncias de centenas de micra ou mais; o perfil longitudinal é sempre usado para a análise. O detector tipo Pamir, composto somente de chumbo e filmes fotossensíveis, foi construído para o estudo de partículas de longa penetração e para analisar as profundidades em que os nêutrons podem iniciar cascatas em seu interior. Com os resultados obtidos, percebemos que há hádrons que podem interagir em grandes profundidades no chumbo, como o nêutron, em situações que poderiam ser erroneamente identificados como strangelets. Para determinar as características das cascatas assim produzidas, usamos o tratamento de colisões hadrônicas recentemente implantado no GEANT4. Este é um resultado importante deste trabalho ¿ mostramos que há uma probabilidade de identificação falsa de partículas / Abstract: This work introduces the importance of photoemulsion chambers that remain in use after decades and still offer many advantages for elementary particle physics. We cite OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus) detector that is the greatest lead photoemulsion chamber detector ever constructed as an example of its application nowadays (nine million nuclear emulsion films). We also introduce the CASTOR detector (Centauro And STrange Objects Research) that is a hadronic and electromagnetic calorimeter of tungsten and quartz developed to improve the performance of CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment of LHC in its frontal region. One of most important features of Castor is its long dimension in the frontal region, which is suited to study long penetrating hadrons, as they appear in hadron-rich cosmic rays events. These hadrons were identified and called strangelets. The proposal of strangelets is that they were a result of baryon-rich quark matter decay and that they would penetrate great depth in lead and would leave the detector almost unattenuated. We presented the basic concepts of extensive air shower and the photoemulsion chamber technique used for its study. We introduce the use of photoemulsion chambers in mountain experiments and cited the Brasil-Japão Collaboration that detected an exotic event called Centauro for having large cross section. Besides, the absence of neutral pions is a remarkable feature of this type of event. Many other events of this type were detected and its search remains until today. Still talking about atmospheric showers, we cited how the classification of local cascades originated by frontal particles of shower were made in photoemulsion chamber literature. The longitudinal profile (in depth) of each local cascade is used to determine the energy of entering particle and it is also a signal of its nature ¿ if it is a part of electromagnetic component (electron, positron or gamma) or hadronic component. Each local cascade is observed is associated to one of these groups. We present Geant software as the simulation tool of this work. Originally developed at CERN for experiments of high energy physics, presently Geant is used in others fields as medicine and astrophysics. The most recent version of Geant is Geant4 and also includes low energy neutrons (< 20 MeV) and ion treatment. For neutron physics, Geant4 has the implementation of very high precision neutron models that include elastic and inelastic collision process, capture and fission. For ion treatment, we have inelastic collisions, radioactive decay and electromagnetic dissociation implemented for simulations. We introduce the CBJ and Pamir detectors geometry implemented with Geant4 resources. The CBJ detector was constructed to study local cascades produced in lead or carbon when an air layer is used as a mean where secondary particles propagates and are separated in distances of micra or greater. The longitudinal profile is always used for the analysis. The Pamir detector, made of only lead and photosensitive films, was constructed to study long penetrating particles and to study the depths that neutrons begins its cascade. The results obtained show that there are hadrons, for instance neutrons, interacting in great depths of lead in cases that it could be misidentified as strangelet. To determine the features of cascades produced this way, we used the hadronic collision treatment recently implemented in Geant4. This is an important result because we showed that there is a probability of false identification of particles / Mestrado / Física / Mestra em Física

In the presented research we propose to improve on historically accepted radiobiological models via Monte Carlo simulation of radiation tracks passing through a cell nucleus modeled with up-to-date subnuclear structures. This is performed by generating a radiation track database using the Monte Carlo code, Geant4-DNA, that simulates radiation interactions at the nanometer scale of DNA. These tracks are called upon from the database and intersected with a cell nucleus model that incorporates DNA-containing structures. This allows for a Monte Carlo simulation of how DNA double strand breaks are produced by radiation. The results can be used to correlate to many experimentally observed biological endpoints, e.g. chromosome aberrations as well as cell death.

The increasing frequency of sporadic weather patterns in the last decade, especially major winter storms, demands improvements in current weather forecasting techniques. Recently, there are growing interests in stratospheric forecasting because of its potential enhancements of weather forecasts. The dominating factors of northern hemisphere wintertime variation of the general circulation in the stratosphere is a phenomenon called stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) events. It is shown in multiple studies that SSW and cosmic ray muon flux variations are strongly correlated with the effective atmospheric temperature changes, which suggests that cosmic ray detectors could be potentially used as meteorological applications, especially for monitoring SSW events. A method for determining the effective temperature with cosmic ray flux measurements is studied in this work by using statistical modeling techniques, such as k-fold cross validation and partial least square regression. This method requires the measurement of the vertical profile of the atmospheric temperature, typically measured by radiosonde, for training the model. In this study, cosmic ray flux measured in Atlanta and Yakutsk are chosen for demonstrating this novel technique. The results of this study show the possibility of realtime monitoring on effective temperature by simultaneous measurement of cosmic ray muon and neutron flux. This technique can also be used for studying the historical SSW events using the past world wide cosmic ray data.

The Digital Cherenkov Viewing Device (DCVD) is an instrument used by authority inspectors to assess irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies in wet storage for the purpose of nuclear safeguards. Originally developed to verify the presence of fuel assemblies with long cooling times and low burnup, the DCVD accuracy is sufficient for partial defect verification, where one verifies that part of an assembly has not been diverted. Much of the recent research regarding the DCVD has been focused on improving its partial defect detection capabilities. The partial-defect analysis procedure currently used relies on comparisons between a predicted Cherenkov light intensity and the intensity measured with the DCVD. Enhanced prediction capabilities may thus lead to enhanced verification capabilities. Since the currently used prediction model is based on rudimentary correlations between the Cherenkov light intensity and the burnup and cooling time of the fuel assembly, there are reasons to develop alternative models taking more details into account to more accurately predict the Cherenkov light intensity. This work aims at increasing our understanding of the physical processes leading to the Cherenkov light production in irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies in water. This has been investigated through simulations, which in the future are planned to be complemented with measurements. The simulations performed reveal that the Cherenkov light production depends on fuel rod dimensions, source distribution in the rod and initial decay energy in a complex way, and that all these factors should be modelled to accurately predict the light intensity. The simulations also reveal that for long-cooled fuel, Y-90 beta-decays may contribute noticeably to the Cherenkov light intensity, a contribution which has not been considered before. A prediction model has been developed in this work taking fuel irradiation history, fuel geometry and Y-90 beta-decay into account. These predictions are more detailed than the predictions based on the currently used prediction model. The predictions with the new model can be done quickly enough that the method can be used in the field. The new model has been used during one verification campaign, and showed superior performance to the currently used prediction model. Using the currently used model for this verification, the difference between measured and predicted intensity had a standard deviation of 15.4% of the measured value, and using the new model this was reduced to 8.4%.

La radiothérapie est l'une des techniques utilisées pour le traitement des tumeurs cancéreuses. Cette technique utilise un nombre varié de rayonnements, avec des avantages et inconvénients qui dépendent des caractéristiques physiques de ces derniers. La radiothérapie utilisant des faisceaux de protons d’énergie entre 50-250 MeV, appelée communément ‘‘protonthérapie’’, est une technique innovante et très prometteuse, elle permet de traiter efficacement des tumeurs cancéreuses tout en préservant le plus possible les tissus sains environnants. Elle a le grand avantage de pouvoir concentrer la dose de traitement de manière très efficace et très précise dans le volume tumoral, avec moins de dose aux tissus sains et aux organes radiosensibles proches de la tumeur ou traversés par le faisceau d'irradiation. Ainsi, on diminue de manière significative la récidive cancéreuse en donnant une dose létale à la tumeur, et également on évite des cancers radio-induits par l'administration d’une dose acceptable aux tissus sains du patient.Cependant, lors de leur traversée dans la matière (matériaux des installations d'un centre de protonthérapie ou les tissus du patient), les protons peuvent avoir des interactions nucléaires, et des rayonnements secondaires, tels que des neutrons très énergétiques jusqu’à l’énergie maximale des protons d'irradiation peuvent être créés. Pour atténuer le flux de particules secondaires ainsi créées et pour que les doses reçues par les personnes se trouvant aux alentours de l’installation soient les plus faibles possibles et en conformité avec la réglementation en matière de radioprotection, d’importants blindages doivent être construits dans les centres de protonthérapie. Avant leur construction, ces blindages sont d’abord simulés numériquement par des méthodes Monte Carlo de simulation avec des programmes tels que MCNPX, FLUKA, PHITS, GEANT4, etc.En outre, une fois que le centre de protonthérapie est opérationnel, malgré ces blindages de protection, des mesures sont régulièrement effectuées pour estimer la dose d'ambiance, ainsi que la dose reçue par le personnel. Des dosimètres tels que des MOSFETs sont utilisés pour la dosimétrie individuelle des neutrons. En ce qui concerne la dosimétrie d'ambiance, plusieurs techniques ont été développées. On peut citer l’exemple d’un compteur proportionnel appelé  ‘‘WENDI-2’’, qui possède une bonne sensibilité aux neutrons. Dans cette thèse, nous présentons les travaux que nous avons menés pour la validation avec des simulations Monte Carlo de GEANT4 de la réponse de ce détecteur en fonction de l'énergie des neutrons. La 1ère validation se focalise sur la comparaison de GEANT4 avec d'autres codes de la littérature. La fonction de réponse de WENDI-2 montre des variations lorsque différents modèles physiques (ou codes) sont utilisés dans les simulations. Ensuite, des mesures expérimentales ont été confrontées aux simulations de GEANT4, et les résultats ont été interprétés avec différents modèles physiques. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

A search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson decaying to two muons in proton-proton collisions with the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment is performed. Building on top of the success of previous CMS analyses (CMS Run I campaign), results are presented using 35.9 fb−1 of data collected over the course of 2016 (CMS Run II campaign) at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV. During the Long Shutdown 1 of the Large Hadron Collider, the CMS detector underwent substantial hardware changes. The second topic discusses the process of calibration of the CMS Hadron Forward Calorimeter in preparation for collisions after LS1. The final chapter discusses the process of building simulations of calorimeter systems. Walking through all the steps from geometry specification to readout definition the results for two standalone calorimeters are presented that have been proposed as potential replacements for respective CMS components.

A novel Y-90 liquid brachytherapy strategy is currently being studied for the treatment of osteosarcoma using a preclinical translational model in dogs to assess its potential efficacy and toxicity. In this study, dosimetry calculations are performed for Y-90 liquid brachytherapy in a dog with osteosarcoma using the Geant4 Monte Carlo code. A total of 611.83 MBq Y-90 radiopharmaceutical is administered via direct injections, and the in vivo distribution of Y-90 is assessed using a time-of-flight (TOF) PET/CT scanner. A patient-specific geometry is built using anatomical data obtained from CT images. The material properties of tumor and surrounding tissues are calculated based on a CT number - electron density calibration. The Y-90 distribution is sampled in Geant4 from PET images using a collapsing 3-D rejection technique to determine the decay sites. Dose distributions in the tumor bed and surrounding tissues are calculated demonstrating significant heterogeneity with multiple hot spots at the injection sites. Dose volume histograms show about 33.9 percent of bone and tumor and 70.2 percent of bone marrow and trabecular bone receive a total dose over 200 Gy; about 3.2 percent of bone and tumor and 31.0 percent of bone marrow and trabecular bone receive a total dose of over 1000 Gy. Y-90 liquid brachytherapy has the potential to be used as an adjuvant therapy or for palliation purposes. Future work includes evaluation of pharmacokinetics of the Y-90 radiopharmaceutical, calibration of PET/CT scanners for the direct quantitative assessment of Y-90 activity concentration, and assessment of efficacy of the Y-90 liquid brachytherapy strategy.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T23:17:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo9153_1.pdf: 3416020 bytes, checksum: 0fa3e4f7584eb1eaf27e22d315505687 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Os fantomas MAX06 e FAX06 foram desenvolvidos durante os últimos anos no Departamento de Energia Nuclear da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Eles são os primeiros fantomas tomográficos ou fantomas de voxel de adultos que possuem altura e peso, assim como, a massa dos órgãos e tecidos com base nas refêrencias anatômicas publicadas no relatório No. 89 da Comissão Internacional de Proteção Radiológica. Os dois fantomas foram conectados ao código Monte Carlo (MC) EGSnrc, para calcular as doses equivalentes nos órgãos e tecidos para exposições internas e externas relativas a fótons e elétrons. Para permitir a aplicação de outros tipos de radiação, este estudo tem o objetivo de conectar os fantomas FAX06 e MAX06 ao GEANT4, um código de MC que, além de fótons e elétrons, pode transportar outras partículas, como os nêutrons, prótons, íons, etc., através de meios arbitrários, e calcular doses equivalentes nos órgãos e tecidos radiossensíveis para a exposição externa aos fótons. O acoplamento dos fantomas ao GEANT4, para a realização dos cálculos, só foi possível de duas formas: após comprimir o volume de voxels em 97%, utilizando um método desenvolvido durante este estudo, e a classe de parametrização do GEANT4 G4PVParameterisation ; ou utilizando a nova classe de parametrização G4VPNestedParameterisation , para conectar todos os voxels. Exposições para fótons foram simuladas após desenvolver os algoritmos para fontes paralelas unidirecionais e rotacionais e para incidências isotrópicas. A dose equivalente nos órgãos e tecidos assim como a dose efetiva para exposições de fótons externos foram calculadas com os dois fantomas e os códigos MC GEANT4 e EGSnrc. A comparação entre os resultados demonstrou uma boa concordância com a margem definida pela soma dos erros estatísticos, evidenciando que os fantomas foram acoplados corretamente ao código MC GEANT4