Nuclear reaction cross sections for proton therapy applications

Nuclear reactions of high-energy protons with treatment equipment, air, and patient tissue during proton therapy generate residual radioactivity and secondary particles including protons, deuterons, alphas, and neutrons. The most up-to-date versions of INCL++ (v5.2.9), TALYS (v1.8), EMPIRE (v3.2.2 Malta), and ALICE/ASH were used in this study to calculate the excitation functions of proton-induced reactions with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, aluminum, calcium, iron, nickel, copper, zinc, tin, tungsten, and lead nuclei. The cross sections of different nuclear reaction mechanisms, gamma particles, and residual radionuclides were calculated. The obtained results were compared with available experimental data and the ENDF/B-VII.1.