Computational techniques for studying interactions of radiation with matter and applications in radiotherapy physics

放射治疗通常用于治疗癌症。所有形式的放射治疗都旨在最大限度地杀死肿瘤细胞，同时限制健康组织的辐射暴露。尽管放射疗法广泛应用于治疗癌症，但有关放射与物质相互作用的基本问题仍然存在。此外，前瞻性放射治疗方法促进了新的研究领域。这项研究计划涉及开发和应用复杂的计算机代码，这些代码采用所谓的“蒙特卡罗”（MC）方法来模拟辐射穿过物质的通道。这些MC模拟可用于计算剂量，辐射在组织中沉积的能量，以及研究与放射治疗相关的一系列广泛问题。

Radiotherapy is commonly used as a treatment for cancer. All forms of radiotherapy aim to maximize tumour cell kill while limiting healthy tissue radiation exposure. Despite the widespread application of radiotherapy to treat cancer, fundamental questions relating to the interactions of radiation with matter remain. Further, prospective radiotherapy treatment methods prompt new areas of investigation. This research program involves the development and application of sophisticated computer codes which employ the so-called `Monte Carlo' (MC) method to model the passage of radiation through matter. These MC simulations can be used to compute dose, the energy deposited by radiation in tissue, as well as to study a wide array of issues relevant for radiotherapy treatments.