This Special Report presents a description of Geant4-DNA user applications dedicated to the simulation of track structures (TS) in liquid water and associated physical quantities (e.g., range, stopping power, mean free path…). These example applications are included in the Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit and are available in open access. Each application is described and comparisons to recent international recommendations are shown (e.g., ICRU, MIRD), when available. The influence of physics models available in Geant4-DNA for the simulation of electron interactions in liquid water is discussed. Thanks to these applications, the authors show that the most recent sets of physics models available in Geant4-DNA (the so-called "option4" and "option 6" sets) enable more accurate simulation of stopping powers, dose point kernels, and W-values in liquid water, than the default set of models ("option 2") initially provided in Geant4-DNA. They also serve as reference applications for Geant4-DNA users interested in TS simulations.

Ionising radiation induced DNA damage and subsequent biological responses to it depend on the radiation’s track-structure and its energy loss distribution pattern. To investigate the underlying biological mechanisms involved in such complex system, there is need of predicting biological response by integrated Monte Carlo (MC) simulations across physics, chemistry and biology. Hence, in this work, we have developed an application using the open source Geant4-DNA toolkit to propose a realistic “fully integrated” MC simulation to calculate both early DNA damage and subsequent biological responses with time. We had previously developed an application allowing simulations of radiation induced early DNA damage on a naked cell nucleus model. In the new version presented in this work, we have developed three additional important features: (1) modeling of a realistic cell geometry, (2) inclusion of a biological repair model, (3) refinement of DNA damage parameters for direct damage and indirect damage scoring. The simulation results are validated with experimental data in terms of Single Strand Break (SSB) yields for plasmid and Double Strand Break (DSB) yields for plasmid/human cell. In addition, the yields of indirect DSBs are compatible with the experimental scavengeable damage fraction. The simulation application also demonstrates agreement with experimental data of $$\gamma$$ γ -H2AX yields for gamma ray irradiation. Using this application, it is now possible to predict biological response along time through track-structure MC simulations.

The advancement of multidisciplinary research fields dealing with ionising radiation induced biological damage-radiobiology, radiation physics, radiation protection and, in particular, medical physics-requires a clear mechanistic understanding of how cellular damage is induced by ionising radiation. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations provide a promising approach for the mechanistic simulation of radiation transport and radiation chemistry, towards the in silico simulation of early biological damage. We have recently developed a fully integrated MC simulation that calculates early single strand breaks (SSBs) and double strand breaks (DSBs) in a fractal chromatin based human cell nucleus model. The results of this simulation are almost equivalent to past MC simulations when considering direct/indirect strand break fraction, DSB yields and fragment distribution. The simulation results agree with experimental data on DSB yields within 13.6% on average and fragment distributions agree within an average of 34.8%.

Using the KEPLER hydrodynamics code, 464 models of thermonuclear X-ray bursters were performed across a range of accretion rates and compositions. We present the library of simulated burst profiles from this sample, and examine variations in the simulated lightcurve for different model conditions. We find that the recurrence time varies as a power law against accretion rate, and measure its slope while mixed H/He burning is occurring for a range of metallicities, finding the power law gradient to vary from η = 1.1 to 1.24. We also identify the accretion rates at which mixed H/He burning stops and a transition occurs to different burning regimes. We also explore how varying the accretion rate and metallicity affects burst morphology in both the rise and tail. arXiv:1512.05769v1 [astro-ph.HE]

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