Innovative electron transport methods in EGS5

The initial formulation of a Monte Carlo scheme for the transport of high-energy (>≅ 100 keV) electrons was established by Berger in 1963. Calling his method the 'condensed history theory', Berger combined the theoretical results of the previous generation of research into developing approximate solutions of the Boltzmann transport equation with numerical algorithms for exploiting the power of computers to permit iterative, piece-wise solution of the transport equation in a computationally intensive but much less approximate fashion. The methods devised by Berger, with comparatively little modification, provide the foundation of all present day Monte Carlo electron transport simulation algorithms. Only in the last 15 years, beginning with the development and publication of the PRESTA algorithm, has there been a significant revisitation of the problem of simulating electron transport within the condensed history framework. Research in this area is ongoing, highly active, and far from complete. It presents an enormous challenge, demanding derivation of new analytical transport solutions based on underlying fundamental interaction mechanisms, intuitive insight in the development of computer algorithms, and state of the art computer science skills in order to permit deployment of these techniques in an efficient manner. The EGS5 project, a modern ground-up rewrite of the EGS4 code, is now in the design phase. EGS5 will take modern photon and electron transport algorithms and deploy them in an easy-to-maintain, modern computer language-ANSI-standard C ++. Moreover, the well-known difficulties of applying EGS4 to practical geometries (geometry code development, tally routine design) should be made easier and more intuitive through the use of a visual user interface being designed by Quantum Research, Inc., work that is presented elsewhere in this conference. This report commences with a historical review of electron transport models culminating with the proposal of a new, previously unpublished algorithm, for the EGS5 project. (author)