title: Technical note: improved implementation of Doppler broadening in MCNP5.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Incoherent scattering has a substantial effect on spectroscopic measurements and simulations. Many general-purpose Monte Carlo codes include models that account for the effects of bound electrons on incoherent scattering, including Doppler broadening (DB). This work investigates the DB model used in the Monte Carlo N-particle transport code (MCNP5).
  
  
  METHODS
  Simulations were run with three versions of MCNP5: v1.51, v1.60, and a modified form of v1.60 (v1.60m). All simulations used the MCPLIB04 photon data library, which presents the electron subshell data for incoherent scattering in the form of a probability density function. In v1.60m, the source code was altered to sample the electron subshell from a cumulative density function instead. Each version of the code was tested using an identical set of simulations that investigated DB in a slab of silicon at scattering angles of 15°, 30°, and 45°. For each angle, simulations were run for multiple energies between 200 keV and 800 keV. The spectrum of singly-scattered photons at the exit of the slab was scored. Spectra were analytically calculated for comparison.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In v1.51, DB was modeled for incident photon energies below 760 keV, 384 keV, and 260 keV at scattering angles of 15°, 30°, and 45°, respectively. Above these energy thresholds, v1.51 did not model DB. The spectra calculated using v1.60 and v1.60m exhibited DB for all energy-angle combinations; however, v1.60m, exhibited more energy broadening than did v1.60. The spectra calculated with v1.60m agreed with the analytical calculations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MCNP5 v1.51 and v1.60 model partial broadening when used with the MCPLIB04 data library. MCNP5 v1.60m models DB more accurately due to the form of the electron subshell data. In response to these results, Los Alamos National Laboratory has released a new photon data library, MCPLIB84, that presents the electron subshell data in cumulative distribution form. MCNP5 v1.60 should be used with this library when incoherent scattering has a significant impact on simulation results.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Medical Physics, Madison, WI, USA. ljplesha@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Bartol
authors.forename: Larry A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: DeWerd
mesh_terms: D004301:Doppler Effect; D004583:Electrons; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D017785:Photons; D012542:Scattering, Radiation