14 - Charged Particles I

Charged-Particle Interactions in
Matter I
Types of Charged-Particle Coulomb-
Force Interactions
Stopping Power
Introduction
Charged particles lose their energy in a manner
that is distinctly different from that of uncharged
radiations (x- or -rays and neutrons)
An individual photon or neutron incident upon a
slab of matter may pass through it with no
interactions at all, and consequently no loss of
energy
Or it may interact and thus lose its energy in one
or a few catastrophic events
Introduction (cont.)
By contrast, a charged particle, being surrounded
by its Coulomb electric force field, interacts with
one or more electrons or with the nucleus of
practically every atom it passes
Most of these interactions individually transfer
only minute fractions of the incident particles
kinetic energy, and it is convenient to think of the
particle as losing its kinetic energy gradually in a
frictionlike process, often referred to as the
continuous slowing-down approximation
(CSDA)
Charged particles can be roughly characterized by
a common pathlength, traced out by most such
particles of a given type and energy in a specific
medium
Because of the multitude of interactions
undergone by each charged particle in slowing
down, its pathlength tends to approach the
expectation value that would be observed as a
mean for a very large population of identical
particles
That expectation value, called the range,
will be discussed in a later lecture
Note that because of scattering, all identical
charged particles do not follow the same
path, nor are the paths straight, especially
those of electrons because of their small
mass
Types of Charged-Particle
Coulomb-Force Interactions
Charged-particle Coulomb-force interactions can
be simply characterized in terms of the relative
size of the classical impact parameter b vs. the
atomic radius a, as shown in the following figure
The following three types of interactions become
dominant for b >> a, b ~ a, and b << a,
respectively:
Soft collisions
Hard (or knock-on) collisions
Coulomb-force interactions with the external nuclear
field
Important parameters in charged-particle collisions with atoms:
a is the classical atomic radius; b is the classical impact
parameter
Soft Collisions (b >> a)
When a charged particle passes an atom at a
considerable distance, the influence of the
particles Coulomb force field affects the atom as
a whole, thereby distorting it, exciting it to a
higher energy level, and sometimes ionizing it by
ejecting a valence electron
The net effect is the transfer of a very small
amount of energy (a few eV) to an atom of the
absorbing medium
Soft Collisions (cont.)
Because large values of b are clearly more
probable than are near hits on individual atoms,
soft collisions are by far the most numerous type
of charged-particle interaction, and they account
for roughly half of the energy transferred to the
absorbing medium
In condensed media (liquids and solids) the atomic
distortion mentioned above also gives rise to the
polarization (or density) effect, which will be
discussed later
Hard (or Knock-On) Collisions
(b ~ a)
When the impact parameter b is of the order of the
atomic dimensions, it becomes more likely that the
incident particle will interact primarily with a
single atomic electron, which is then ejected from
the atom with considerable kinetic energy and is
called a delta (o) ray
In the theoretical treatment of the knock-on
process, atomic binding energies have been
neglected and the atomic electrons treated as
free
Hard Collisions (cont.)
o-rays are of course energetic enough to
undergo additional Coulomb-force
interactions on their own
Thus a o-ray dissipates its kinetic energy
along a separate track (called a spur) from
that of the primary charged particle
The probability for hard collisions depends upon
quantum-mechanical spin and exchange effects,
thus involving the nature of the incident particle
Hence, as will be seen, the form of stopping-
power equations that include the effect of hard
collisions depend on the particle type, being
different especially for electrons vs. heavy
particles
Although hard collisions are few in number
compared to soft collisions, the fractions of the
primary particles energy that are spent by these
two processes are generally comparable
It should be noted that whenever an inner-shell
electron is ejected from an atom by a hard
collision, characteristic x rays and/or Auger
electrons will be emitted just as if the same
electron had been removed by a photon interaction
Thus some of the energy transferred to the
medium may be transported some distance away
from the primary particle track by these carriers as
well as by the o-rays
Coulomb-Force Interactions with the
External Nuclear Field (b << a)
When the impact parameter of a charged
particle is much smaller than the atomic
radius, the Coulomb-force interaction takes
place mainly with the nucleus
This kind of interaction is most important
for electrons (either + or -) in the present
context, so the discussion here will be
limited to that case

Interactions with the External
Nuclear Field (cont.)
In all but 2 3% of such encounters, the electron
is scattered elastically and does not emit an x-ray
photon or excite the nucleus
It loses just the insignificant amount of kinetic
energy necessary to satisfy conservation of
momentum for the collision
Hence this is not a mechanism for the transfer of
energy to the absorbing medium, but it is an
important means of deflecting electrons
It is the principle reason why electrons follow very
tortuous paths, especially in high-Z media, and
why electron backscattering increases with Z
In doing Monte Carlo calculations of electron
transport through matter, it is often assumed for
simplicity that the energy-loss interactions may be
treated separately from the scattering (i.e., change-
of-direction) interactions
The differential elastic-scattering cross
section per atom is proportional to Z
This means that a thin foil of high-Z
material may be used as a scatterer to
spread out an electron beam while
minimizing the energy lost by the
transmitted electrons in traversing a given
mass thickness of foil
In the other 2 3% of the cases in which the
electron passes near the nucleus, an inelastic
radiative interaction occurs in which an x-ray
photon is emitted
The electron is not only deflected in this process,
but gives a significant fraction (up to 100%) of its
kinetic energy to the photon, slowing down in the
process
Such x-rays are referred to as bremsstrahlung, the
German word for braking radiation
This interaction also has a differential atomic
cross section proportional to Z, as was the case
for nuclear elastic scattering
Moreover, it depends on the inverse square of the
mass of the particle, for a given particle velocity
Thus bremsstrahlung generation by charged
particles other than electrons is totally
insignificant
Although bremsstrahlung production is an important
means of energy dissipation by energetic electrons in high-
Z media, it is relatively insignificant in low-Z (tissue-like)
materials for electrons below 10 MeV
Not only is the production cross section low in that case,
but the resulting photons are penetrating enough so that
most of them can escape from objects several centimeters
in size
Thus they usually carry away their quantum energy rather
than expending it in the medium through a further
interaction
In addition to the foregoing three modes of kinetic
energy dissipation (soft, hard, and bremsstrahlung
interactions), a fourth channel is available only to
antimatter (i.e., positrons): in-flight annihilation
The average fraction of a positrons kinetic energy
that is spent in this type of radiative loss is said to
be comparable to the fraction going into
bremsstrahlung production
Nuclear Interactions by Heavy
Charged Particles
A heavy charged particle having sufficiently high
kinetic energy (~ 100 MeV) and an impact
parameter less than the nuclear radius may interact
inelastically with the nucleus
When one or more individual nucleons (protons or
neutrons) are struck, they may be driven out of the
nucleus in an intranuclear cascade process,
collimated strongly in the forward direction
Charged Particles (cont.)
The highly excited nucleus decays from its excited
state by emission of so-called evaporation
particles (mostly nucleons of relatively low
energy) and -rays
Thus the spatial distribution of absorbed dose is
changed when nuclear interactions are present,
since some of the kinetic energy that would
otherwise be deposited as local excitation and
ionization is carried away by neutrons and -rays
One special case where nuclear interactions by
heavy charged particles attain first-order
importance relative to Coulomb-force interactions
is that of t
-
mesons (negative pions)
These particles have a mass 273 times that of the
electron, or 15% of the proton mass
They interact by Coulomb forces to produce
excitation and ionization along their track in the
same way as any other charged particle, but they
also display some special characteristics
The effect of nuclear interactions is conventionally
not included in defining the stopping power or
range of charged particles
Nuclear interactions by heavy charged particles
are usually ignored in the context of radiological
physics and dosimetry
Internal nuclear interactions by electrons are
negligible in comparison with the production of
bremsstrahlung
Stopping Power
The expectation value of the rate of energy loss per unit of
path length x by a charged particle of type Y and kinetic
energy T, in a medium of atomic number Z, is called its
stopping power, (dT/dx)
Y,T,Z
The subscripts need not be explicitly stated where that
information is clear from the context
Stopping power is typically given in units of MeV/cm or
J/m
Dividing the stopping power by the density of the
absorbing medium results in a quantity called the mass
stopping power (dT/ dx), typically in MeV cm
2
/g or J
m
2
/kg
Stopping Power (cont.)
When one is interested in the fate of the energy
lost by the charged particle, stopping power may
be subdivided into collision stopping power and
radiative stopping power
The former is the rate of energy loss resulting
from the sum of the soft and hard collisions, which
are conventionally referred to as collision
interactions
Radiative stopping power is that owing to
radiative interactions
Unless otherwise specified, radiative stopping
power may be assumed to be based on
bremsstrahlung alone
The effect of in-flight annihilation, which is only
relevant for positrons, is accounted for separately
Energy spend in radiative collisions is carried
away from the charged particle track by the
photons, while that spent in collision interactions
produces ionization and excitation contributing to
the dose near the track
The mass collision stopping power can be written
as

where subscripts c indicate collision interactions, s
being soft and h hard
The terms on the right can be rewritten as

c
h
c
s
c
dx
dT
dx
dT
dx
dT
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
|
|
.
|
\
|
=
|
|
.
|
\
|

} }
'
'
' '
+
' '
=
|
|
.
|
\
| max
min
T
H
h
c
H
T
s
c
c
T d Q T T d Q T
dx
dT

1. T is the energy transferred to the atom or
electron in the interaction
2. H is the somewhat arbitrary energy
boundary between soft and hard collisions,
in terms of T
3. T
max
is the maximum energy that can be
transferred in a head-on collision with an
atomic electron, assumed unbound
For a heavy particle with kinetic energy less than
its rest-mass energy M
0
c
2
,

which for protons equals 20 keV for T = 10 MeV,
or 0.2 MeV for T = 100 MeV
For positrons incident, T
max
= T if annihilation
does not occur
For electrons, T
max
T/2

MeV
1
022 . 1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
0 max
|
|
.
|
\
|
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
~
'
|
|
|
|
c m T
4. T
max
is related to T
min
by

in which I is the mean excitation potential of the
struck atom, to be discussed later
5. Q
s
c
and Q
h
c
are the respective differential mass
collision coefficients for soft and hard collisions,
typically in units of cm
2
/g MeV or m
2
/kg J
( )
2
2 6
2
2 2
0
min
max
eV 10 022 . 1 2
|
|
.
|
\
|

=
|
|
.
|
\
|
~
'
'
I I
c m
T
T | |
The Soft-Collision Term
The soft-collision term was derived by Bethe, for either
electrons or heavy charged particles with z elementary
charges, on the basis of the Born approximation which
assumes that the particle velocity (v = |c) is much greater
than the maximum Bohr-orbit velocity (u) of the atomic
electrons
The fractional error in the assumption is of the order of
(u/v)
2
, and Bethes formula is valid for (u/v)
2
~ (Z/137|)
2

<< 1
This appears to be a rather severe restriction, but the
formula is found to be practically applicable even where
this inequality is not well satisfied
The Soft-Collision Term (cont.)
The Bethe soft-collision formula can be written as

where C t(N
A
Z/A)r
0
2
= 0.150Z/A cm
2
/g, in
which N
A
Z/A is the number of electrons per gram
of the stopping medium, and r
0
= e
2
/m
0
c
2
= 2.818
10
-13
cm is the classical electron radius
( )
(
|
|
.
|
\
|
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
2
2 2
2 2
0
2
2 2
0
1
2
ln
2
|
|
|
| I
H c m z c Cm
dx
dT
c
s
We can further simplify the factor outside the
bracket by defining it as

where m
0
c
2
= 0.511 MeV, the rest-mass energy of
an electron
The bracket factor is dimensionless, thus requiring
the quantities m
0
c
2
, H, and I occurring within it to
be expressed in the same energy units, usually eV
2 2
2
2
2 2
0
g/cm
MeV
1535 . 0
2
| | A
Zz z c Cm
k =
The mean excitation potential I is the geometric-
mean value of all the ionization and excitation
potentials of an atom of the absorbing medium
In general I for elements cannot be calculated
from atomic theory with useful accuracy, but must
instead be derived from stopping-power or range
measurements
Appendices B.1 and B.2 list some I-values
according to Berger and Seltzer
Since I only depends on the stopping medium, but
not on the type of charged particle, experimental
determinations have been done preferentially with
cyclotron-accelerated protons, because of their
availability with high |-values and the relatively
small effect of scattering as they pass through
layers of material
The paths of electrons are too crooked to allow
their use in accurate stopping power
determinations
The Hard-Collision Term for
Heavy Particles
The form of the hard-collision term depends on
whether the charged particle is an electron,
positron, or heavy particle
We will treat the case of heavy particles first,
having masses much greater than that of an
electron, and will assume that H << T
max

The hard-collision term may be written as

(

|
.
|
\
|
'
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
2
max
ln |
H
T
k
dx
dT
c
h
The Hard-Collision Term for
Heavy Particles (cont.)
The mass collision stopping power for combined soft and
hard collisions by heavy particles becomes:

which can be simplified further by substituting for T
max

( )
(
|
|
.
|
\
|
'
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
2
2 2
max
2 2
0
2
1
2
ln |
|
|
I
T c m
k
dx
dT
c
( )
(

|
|
.
|
\
|
+ =
(
|
|
.
|
\
|
'
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
I
A
Zz
I
T c m
k
dx
dT
c
ln
1
ln 8373 . 13 3071 . 0
1
2
ln 2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
max
2 2
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dependence on the Stopping

Medium
There are two expressions influencing this
dependence, and both decrease the mass collision
stopping power as Z is increased
The first is the factor Z/A outside the bracket,
which makes the formula proportional to the
number of electrons per unit mass of the medium
The second is the term ln I in the bracket, which
further decreases the stopping power as Z is
increased
Dependence on the Stopping
Medium (cont.)
The term ln I provides the stronger
variation with Z
The combined effect of the two Z-
dependent expressions is to make (dT/dx)
c

for Pb less than that for C by ~40-60 %
within the |-range 0.85-0.1, respectively
Dependence on Particle Velocity
The strongest dependence on velocity comes from
the inverse |
2
(outside of the bracket), which
rapidly decreases the stopping power as |
increases
That term loses its influence as | approaches a
constant value at unity, while the sum of the |
2

terms in the bracket continues to increase
The stopping power gradually flattens to a broad
minimum of 1-2 MeV cm
2
/g at T/M
0
c
2
~ 3, and
then slowly rises again with further increasing T
Mass collision stopping power for singly charged heavy
particles, as a function of | or of their kinetic energy T
Dependence on Particle Velocity
(cont.)
The factor 1/|
2
implies that the stopping power
increases in proportion to 1/T without limit as
particles slow down and approach zero velocity
Actually the validity of the stopping-power
formula breaks down for small |
However, the steep rise in stopping power that
does occur accounts for the Bragg peak
observed in the energy-loss density near the end of
the charged particles path
Dependence on Particle Charge
The factor z
2
means that a doubly charged particle
of a given velocity has 4 times the collision
stopping power as a singly charged particle of the
same velocity in the same medium
For example, an o-particle with | = 0.141 would
have a mass collision stopping power of 200 MeV
cm
2
/g, compared with the 50 MeV cm
2
/g shown in
the figure for a singly charged heavy particle in
water
Dependence on Particle Mass
There is none
All heavy charged particles of a given
velocity and z will have the same collision
stopping power
Relativistic Scaling
Considerations
For any particle, | = v/c is related to the kinetic
energy T by

The kinetic energy required by any particle to
reach a given velocity is proportional to its rest
energy, M
0
c
2
The rest energies of some heavy particles are
listed in the following table
( )
2 / 1
2
2
0
2
2
0
1 /
1
1 and 1
1
1
(
(
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
=
(
(
=
c M T
c M T |
|
Shell Correction
The Born approximation assumption, which
underlies the stopping-power equation, is not well
satisfied when the velocity of the passing particle
ceases to be much greater than that of the atomic
electrons in the stopping medium
Since K-shell electrons have the highest velocities,
they are the first to be affected by insufficient
particle velocity, the slower L-shell electrons are
next, and so on
The so-called shell correction is intended to
account for the resulting error in the stopping-
power equation
Shell Correction (cont.)
As the particle velocity is decreased toward that of
the K-shell electrons, those electrons gradually
decrease their participation in the collision
process, and the stopping power is thereby
decreased below the value given by the equation
When the particle velocity falls below that of the
K-shell electrons, they cease participating in the
collision stopping-power process
The equation underestimates the stopping power
because it contains too large an I-value
The proper I-value would ignore the K-shell
contribution
Bichsel estimated the combined effect of all i
shells into a single approximate correction C/Z, to
be subtracted from the bracketed terms
The corrected formula for the mass collision
stopping power for heavy particles then becomes

( )
(

|
|
.
|
\
|
+ =
(

|
|
.
|
\
|
'
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
Z
C
I
A
Zz
Z
C
I
T c m
k
dx
dT
c
ln
1
ln 8373 . 13 3071 . 0
1
2
ln 2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
max
2 2
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

The correction term C/Z is the same for all
charged particles of the same velocity |, including
electrons, and its size is a function of the medium
as well as the particle velocity
C/Z is shown in the following figure for protons in
several elements
A second correction term, o, to account for the
polarization or density effect in condensed media,
is sometimes included also
It is negligible for all heavy particles within the
energy range of interest in radiological physics
Semiempirical shell corrections of Bichsel for selected elements,
as a function of proton energy
Mass Collision Stopping Power
for Electrons and Positrons
The formulae for the mass collision stopping
power for electrons and positrons are gotten by
combining Bethes soft collision formula with a
hard-collision relation based on the Mller cross
section for electrons or the Bhabha cross section
for positrons
The resulting formula, common to both particles,
in terms of t T/m
0
c
2
, is

( )
( )
( )
(
(
+
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
=
|
|
.
|
\
|

Z
C
F
c m I
k
dx
dT
c
2
/ 2
2
ln
2
2
0
2
o t
t t
Mass Collision Stopping Power for

Electrons and Positrons (cont.)
For electrons,

and for positrons,

Here C/Z is the previously discussed shell
correction and o is the correction term for the
polarization or density effect
( )
( )
( )
2
2
2
1
2 ln 1 2 8 /
1
+
+
+
t
t t
| t F
( )
( ) ( )
)
`
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
3 2
2
2
4
2
10
2
14
23
12
2 ln 2
t t
t
|
t F

14 - Charged Particles I

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14 - Charged Particles I

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Charged-Particle Interactions in

Stopping Power (cont.)

Dependence on the Stopping

Shell Correction (cont.)

Mass Collision Stopping Power for

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