Influences of target geometry on the microdosimetry of alpha particles in water

Application of microdosimetric concepts to radiation exposure situations requires knowledge of the single-event density function, f1 (z) , where z denotes specific energy imparted to target matter. Multiple-event density functions are calculated by taking convolutions of f1(z) with itself with the overall specific energy density function is then found by employing a compound Poisson process involving single and multiple-event spectra. The fl(z), depends strongly on the geometric details of a the source, target, and all intermediate matter. While most past applications of microdosimetry have been represented targets as spheres, may be better modeled as prolate or oblate spheroids. Using a ray-tracing technique coupled with a continuous-slowing-down approximation, methods are developed and presented for calculating single-event density functions for spheroidal targets irradiated by alpha-emitting point sources. Computational methods are incorporated into a fortran computer code entitled SEROID (single-event density functions for spheroids), which is listed in this paper. This was used to generate several single-event density functions, along with related means and standard deviations in specific energy, for spheroidal targets irradiated by alpha particles. Targets of varying shapes and orientations are examined. Results for non-spherical targets are compared to spherical targets of equal volume in order to assess influences which target geometry has on single-event quantities. From these comparisons it is found that both target shape and orientation are important in adequately characterizing the quantities examined in this study; over-simplifying the target geometry can lead to substantial error