Simulations of didact experiments in medical physics with TOPAS MC

The teaching of medical physics evolves every year in Brazil. The need for didactic and interactive methods grows proportionally, aiming at greater motivation and better learning on the students’ behalf. In undergraduate courses in medical physics in Brazil, the discipline of radiation physics is fundamental for the student’s professional formation. The purpose of this work is to utilize the TOPAS Monte Carlo to simulate experiments that allow the discussion over covered contents on the discipline of radiation physics related to medical physics. The tool may be used by teachers to minister this discipline and by students that may want to deepen their knowledge and be introduced to the Monte Carlo method. Initially, it was done the code validation for the photon spectra used through the comparison with literature. Therefore, it was possible to elaborate the input archives and perform the output archives data analysis for different irradiation setups covered by the academic community in order to evince factors influence, such as: curves statistics by the number of histories; irradiation field size; homogeneous and heterogeneous medium; different incident beams natures. The obtained results show that the performed simulations allow a correct and dynamic analysis of the radiation interaction processes with matter approached in radiation physics.

Keywords:
Radiation physics; Monte Carlo; teaching physics; TOPAS; Medical Physics