EM DNA

The currently recommended Geant4-DNA physics lists are assembled in three constructors, G4EmDNAPhysics_option2, G4EmDNAPhysics_option4 and G4EmDNAPhysics_option6.

These physics lists handle the discrete electromagnetic interactions of: photons, electrons, protons, neutral hydrogen, alpha particles and their charged states and all ions. Upper energy limit is 300 MeV. If DNA process/models are not available for given energy, then standard models and processes are used.

Physical interactions for electrons are: ionisation, electronic excitation, elastic scattering, and, for G4EmDNAPhysics_option2, vibrational excitation and attachment. Different models are adopted in the three recommended constructors. For example, inelastic interactions are described by the dielectric function theory or by alternative semi-empirical approaches.

Physical interactions of protons, neutral hydrogen, alpha particles and their charged states, heavier ions, and photons are handled identically by all three constructors. They are nuclear scattering, electronic excitation, ionisation, electron capture and electron loss. For ions heavier than alpha particles, only the ionisation process is available.

All details including energy ranges of applicability and performance comparison are presented in the Geant4-DNA web site (http://geant4-dna.in2p3.fr/styled-3/styled-8/index.html) or in this publication: Med. Phys. 45 (2018) e722-e739 (https://doi.org/10.1002/mp.13048).

Other alternative constructors are available but we currently recommend the usage of the above constructors.