Stopping power and CSDA range calculations for incident electrons and positrons in breast and brain tissues

Abstract

The stopping power in some biological compounds for electrons and positrons was calculated over the energy range from 100 eV to 1 GeV. Total stopping power was obtained by summing the electronic (collisional) and radiative stopping power of the target materials and then employing the continuous slowing down approximation (CSDA) to calculate the path length of incident particles in the target. An effective charge approximation was used for the calculation of collisional stopping power, and an analytical expression for the radiation length was applied to obtain the radiative stopping power. Calculations of stopping power and CSDA range were based mostly on analytical expressions, to allow for an easy calculation of these parameters. The results were tabulated and compared with available data.