Electron Step-Size Artefacts and PRESTA

Abstract

For ten days at the end of September, 1987, a group of about 75 scientists from 21 different countries gathered in a restored monastery on a 750 meter high piece of rock jutting out of the Mediterranean Sea to discuss the simulation of the transport of electrons and photons using Monte Carlo techniques. When we first had the idea for this meeting, Ralph Nelson, who had organized a previous course at the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture, suggested that Erice would be the ideal place for such a meeting. Nahum, Nelson and Rogers became Co-Directors of the Course, with the help of Alessandro Rindi, the Director of the School of Radiation Damage and Protection, and Professor Antonino Zichichi, Director of the "Ettore Majorana" Centre. The course was an outstanding success, both scientifically and socially, and those at the meeting will carry the marks of having attended, both intellectually and on a personal level where many friendships were made. The scientific content of the course was at a very high caliber, both because of the hard work done by all the lecturers in preparing their lectures (e.g., complete copies of each lecture were available at the beginning of the course) and because of the high quality of the "students", many of whom were accomplished experts in the field. The outstanding facilities of the Centre contributed greatly to the success. This volume contains the formal record of the course lectures. The order has been rearranged to flow in terms of the content, and they have been revised by the authors, both in view of what each learned at the course, and in view of comments by the Technical Editors (Nahum and Rogers). The mammoth task of actually putting the book together, including getting all the lectures typeset in a uniform format, was undertaken by the General Editors (Jenkins, Nelson and Rindi). One of the major purposes of organizing the course was to produce a book which could be a reference book for those working in this field since the literature is very spread out. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the individual authors and editors, we believe we have succeeded in that goal. We also believe that this book demonstrates that Monte Carlo techniques for simulating electron and photon transport have become a reliable and valuable tool in many aspects of radiation dosimetry and medical physics in general. There is still much work to be done, but this book demonstrates that a solid foundation has been established.