title: A stochastic cascade model for Auger-electron emitting radionuclides.
abstract: To benchmark a Monte Carlo model of the Auger cascade that has been developed at the Australian National University (ANU) against the literature data. The model is applicable to any Auger-electron emitting radionuclide with nuclear structure data in the format of the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF). Schönfeld's algorithms and the BrIcc code were incorporated to obtain initial vacancy distributions due to electron capture (EC) and internal conversion (IC), respectively. Atomic transition probabilities were adopted from the Evaluated Atomic Data Library (EADL) for elements with atomic number, Z = 1-100. Atomic transition energies were evaluated using a relativistic Dirac-Fock method. An energy-restriction protocol was implemented to eliminate energetically forbidden transitions from the simulations. Calculated initial vacancy distributions and average energy spectra of123I,124I, and125I were compared with the literature data. In addition, simulated kinetic energy spectra and frequency distributions of the number of emitted electrons and photons of the three iodine radionuclides are presented. Some examples of radiation spectra of individual decays are also given. Good agreement with the published data was achieved except for the outer-shell Auger and Coster-Kronig transitions. Nevertheless, the model needs to be compared with experimental data in a future study.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nuclear Physics , Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University , Canberra , Australia.
authors.forename: Boon Q
authors.initials: BQ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: b Department of Oncology-Pathology , Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Hooshang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nikjoo
authors.affiliation: c Materials Science and Applied Mathematics , Malmö University , Malmö , Sweden.
authors.forename: Jörgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ekman
authors.affiliation: c Materials Science and Applied Mathematics , Malmö University , Malmö , Sweden.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nuclear Physics , Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University , Canberra , Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Stuchbery
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nuclear Physics , Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University , Canberra , Australia.
authors.forename: Tibor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kibédi
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004583:Electrons; D008956:Models, Chemical; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013269:Stochastic Processes
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes
keywords: 123I; 124I; 125I; Auger cascade; Auger emitters