PurposeTo commission an open source Monte Carlo (MC) dose engine, “MCsquare” for a synchrotron‐based proton machine, integrate it into our in‐house C++‐based I/O user interface and our web‐based software platform, expand its functionalities, and improve calculation efficiency for intensity‐modulated proton therapy (IMPT).MethodsWe commissioned MCsquare using a double Gaussian beam model based on in‐air lateral profiles, integrated depth dose of 97 beam energies, and measurements of various spread‐out Bragg peaks (SOBPs). Then we integrated MCsquare into our C++‐based dose calculation code and web‐based second check platform “DOSeCHECK.” We validated the commissioned MCsquare based on 12 different patient geometries and compared the dose calculation with a well‐benchmarked GPU‐accelerated MC (gMC) dose engine. We further improved the MCsquare efficiency by employing the computed tomography (CT) resampling approach. We also expanded its functionality by adding a linear energy transfer (LET)‐related model‐dependent biological dose calculation.ResultsDifferences between MCsquare calculations and SOBP measurements were <2.5% (<1.5% for ~85% of measurements) in water. The dose distributions calculated using MCsquare agreed well with the results calculated using gMC in patient geometries. The average 3D gamma analysis (2%/2 mm) passing rates comparing MCsquare and gMC calculations in the 12 patient geometries were 98.0 ± 1.0%. The computation time to calculate one IMPT plan in patients’ geometries using an inexpensive CPU workstation (Intel Xeon E5‐2680 2.50 GHz) was 2.3 ± 1.8 min after the variable resolution technique was adopted. All calculations except for one craniospinal patient were finished within 3.5 min.ConclusionsMCsquare was successfully commissioned for a synchrotron‐based proton beam therapy delivery system and integrated into our web‐based second check platform. After adopting CT resampling and implementing LET model‐dependent biological dose calculation capabilities, MCsquare will be sufficiently efficient and powerful to achieve Monte Carlo‐based and LET‐guided robust optimization in IMPT, which will be done in the future studies.

An accurate model for BDT prediction was achieved by using the experimentally determined proton beam therapy delivery parameters, which may be useful in modeling the interplay effect and patient throughput. The model may provide guidance on how to effectively reduce BDT and may be used to identifying deteriorating machine performance.

We study a class of supersymmetric models with non-universal gaugino masses that could arise from F -terms in a general combination of the singlet and adjoint representations of SU (5). We explore models that satisfy present Large Hadron Collider and other bounds, showing how the allowed parameter space is divided into distinct "continents". Regions of parameter space that ameliorate the supersymmetric little hierarchy problem with a small µ parameter include the usual focus point scenario, but also natural areas with much lighter squarks and sleptons. These models are continuously connected in parameter space to regions in which stau co-annihilation or Higgs exchange is mostly responsible for dark matter annihilation, and to models in which the thermal relic abundance is achieved by slepton-mediated annihilation, reviving the bulk region that is severely restricted in mSUGRA models. In hybrid or confluence regions, several mechanisms combine to give the requisite dark matter annihilation rate. In each case we study the prospects for direct detection of dark matter.We also comment briefly on the impact of recent hints for M h near 125 GeV from the LHC.

The lighter top squark in supersymmetry can live long enough to form hadronic bound states if it has no kinematically allowed two-body decays that conserve flavor. In this case, scalar stoponium may be observable through its diphoton decay mode at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, enabling a uniquely precise measurement of the top-squark mass. The viability of the signal depends crucially on the branching ratio to diphotons. We compute the next-to-leading order QCD radiative corrections to stoponium annihilation decays to hadrons, photons, and Higgs scalar bosons. We find that the effect of these corrections is to significantly decrease the predicted branching ratio to the important diphoton channel.We also find a greatly improved renormalization-scale dependence of the diphoton branching ratio prediction.