Is it possible to activate the Geant4-DNA “Physics for gold” models (for example see this link Processes & models) when irradiating the gold nanoparticles with protons? I know that the models are only supported for electrons and photons, what I’m interested in is getting the detailed track structure for the secondary electrons that are generated within the gold NP by the protons. So far I’ve had no luck implementing it (I am working with TOPAS for reference).
hi, maybe, you want to try with this example examples/extended/medical/dna/AuNP
Hello, could you run two separate simulations? One where you simulate the proton transport under traditional EM physics and score all secondary electrons (position, energy, momentum direction) that are created and use that as the source for your second run where you use -DNA physics? I’m not very familiar with the built-in topas scorers, but this should be achievable with a custom scorer if they do not provide one.
@afish58 I assume to do it properly I would have to make it so that the secondary electrons do not interact with the medium, then. I think something along these lines would work, the problem is I really do not have much if any experience with Geant4 and C++. Which is why I’m using TOPAS for now.
I’ve never written an extension for TOPAS so I would recommend their user forum for questions on how to implement a volume phase space scorer, perhaps this is an issue others have tackled before and they could provide guidance. I do believe that most built-in scorers have the option “OnlyIncludeParticlesNamed” where you could basically ignore dose, charge deposited, or what ever contribution you care about unless its from a proton, gamma, or whatever non-electrons you expect to see. Best of luck!