scholarly journals Converging Proton Minibeams with Magnetic Fields for Optimized Radiation Therapy: A Proof of Concept

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Marco Cavallone ◽  
Yolanda Prezado ◽  
Ludovic De Marzi

Proton MiniBeam Radiation Therapy (pMBRT) is a novel strategy that combines the benefits of minibeam radiation therapy with the more precise ballistics of protons to further optimize the dose distribution and reduce radiation side effects. The aim of this study is to investigate possible strategies to couple pMBRT with dipole magnetic fields to generate a converging minibeam pattern and increase the center-to-center distance between minibeams. Magnetic field optimization was performed so as to obtain the same transverse dose profile at the Bragg peak position as in a reference configuration with no magnetic field. Monte Carlo simulations reproducing realistic pencil beam scanning settings were used to compute the dose in a water phantom. We analyzed different minibeam generation techniques, such as the use of a static multislit collimator or a dynamic aperture, and different magnetic field positions, i.e., before or within the water phantom. The best results were obtained using a dynamic aperture coupled with a magnetic field within the water phantom. For a center-to-center distance increase from 4 mm to 6 mm, we obtained an increase of peak-to-valley dose ratio and decrease of valley dose above 50%. The results indicate that magnetic fields can be effectively used to improve the spatial modulation at shallow depth for enhanced healthy tissue sparing.

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 887-894
Author(s):  
Chengyong Liu ◽  
Erlong Li ◽  
Shiqiang Wang ◽  
Jianbo Wu ◽  
Hui Fang ◽  
...  

Magnetic Barkhausen Noise (MBN) detection technology shows great potential in the pipeline detection of stress, microstructure, and fatigue damage. However, in actual application, some pipes such as those near power plant are exposed to external magnetic fields or contain remanence. The presence of these magnetic fields will affect MBN features and then influence the testing results. To investigate the effect of DC magnetic field on MBN signal characteristics, theoretical analysis and experimental verification were carried out in this paper. It is found that the intensity and direction of the DC magnetic field have great effects on MBN signal characteristics, including the changes in the energy of MBN signal, the peak position and the shape of MBN signal profile.


1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 559-564
Author(s):  
P. Ambrož ◽  
J. Sýkora

AbstractWe were successful in observing the solar corona during five solar eclipses (1973-1991). For the eclipse days the coronal magnetic field was calculated by extrapolation from the photosphere. Comparison of the observed and calculated coronal structures is carried out and some peculiarities of this comparison, related to the different phases of the solar cycle, are presented.


1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 21-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. B. Gelfreikh

AbstractA review of methods of measuring magnetic fields in the solar corona using spectral-polarization observations at microwaves with high spatial resolution is presented. The methods are based on the theory of thermal bremsstrahlung, thermal cyclotron emission, propagation of radio waves in quasi-transverse magnetic field and Faraday rotation of the plane of polarization. The most explicit program of measurements of magnetic fields in the atmosphere of solar active regions has been carried out using radio observations performed on the large reflector radio telescope of the Russian Academy of Sciences — RATAN-600. This proved possible due to good wavelength coverage, multichannel spectrographs observations and high sensitivity to polarization of the instrument. Besides direct measurements of the strength of the magnetic fields in some cases the peculiar parameters of radio sources, such as very steep spectra and high brightness temperatures provide some information on a very complicated local structure of the coronal magnetic field. Of special interest are the results found from combined RATAN-600 and large antennas of aperture synthesis (VLA and WSRT), the latter giving more detailed information on twodimensional structure of radio sources. The bulk of the data obtained allows us to investigate themagnetospheresof the solar active regions as the space in the solar corona where the structures and physical processes are controlled both by the photospheric/underphotospheric currents and surrounding “quiet” corona.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 263-264
Author(s):  
K. Sundara Raman ◽  
K. B. Ramesh ◽  
R. Selvendran ◽  
P. S. M. Aleem ◽  
K. M. Hiremath

Extended AbstractWe have examined the morphological properties of a sigmoid associated with an SXR (soft X-ray) flare. The sigmoid is cospatial with the EUV (extreme ultra violet) images and in the optical part lies along an S-shaped Hαfilament. The photoheliogram shows flux emergence within an existingδtype sunspot which has caused the rotation of the umbrae giving rise to the sigmoidal brightening.It is now widely accepted that flares derive their energy from the magnetic fields of the active regions and coronal levels are considered to be the flare sites. But still a satisfactory understanding of the flare processes has not been achieved because of the difficulties encountered to predict and estimate the probability of flare eruptions. The convection flows and vortices below the photosphere transport and concentrate magnetic field, which subsequently appear as active regions in the photosphere (Rust & Kumar 1994 and the references therein). Successive emergence of magnetic flux, twist the field, creating flare productive magnetic shear and has been studied by many authors (Sundara Ramanet al.1998 and the references therein). Hence, it is considered that the flare is powered by the energy stored in the twisted magnetic flux tubes (Kurokawa 1996 and the references therein). Rust & Kumar (1996) named the S-shaped bright coronal loops that appear in soft X-rays as ‘Sigmoids’ and concluded that this S-shaped distortion is due to the twist developed in the magnetic field lines. These transient sigmoidal features tell a great deal about unstable coronal magnetic fields, as these regions are more likely to be eruptive (Canfieldet al.1999). As the magnetic fields of the active regions are deep rooted in the Sun, the twist developed in the subphotospheric flux tube penetrates the photosphere and extends in to the corona. Thus, it is essentially favourable for the subphotospheric twist to unwind the twist and transmit it through the photosphere to the corona. Therefore, it becomes essential to make complete observational descriptions of a flare from the magnetic field changes that are taking place in different atmospheric levels of the Sun, to pin down the energy storage and conversion process that trigger the flare phenomena.


1976 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 233-254
Author(s):  
H. M. Maitzen

Ap stars are peculiar in many aspects. During this century astronomers have been trying to collect data about these and have found a confusing variety of peculiar behaviour even from star to star that Struve stated in 1942 that at least we know that these phenomena are not supernatural. A real push to start deeper theoretical work on Ap stars was given by an additional observational evidence, namely the discovery of magnetic fields on these stars by Babcock (1947). This originated the concept that magnetic fields are the cause for spectroscopic and photometric peculiarities. Great leaps for the astronomical mankind were the Oblique Rotator model by Stibbs (1950) and Deutsch (1954), which by the way provided mathematical tools for the later handling pulsar geometries, anti the discovery of phase coincidence of the extrema of magnetic field, spectrum and photometric variations (e.g. Jarzebowski, 1960).


Author(s):  
Paul C. Lauterbur

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging can reach microscopic resolution, as was noted many years ago, but the first serious attempt to explore the limits of the possibilities was made by Hedges. Resolution is ultimately limited under most circumstances by the signal-to-noise ratio, which is greater for small radio receiver coils, high magnetic fields and long observation times. The strongest signals in biological applications are obtained from water protons; for the usual magnetic fields used in NMR experiments (2-14 tesla), receiver coils of one to several millimeters in diameter, and observation times of a number of minutes, the volume resolution will be limited to a few hundred or thousand cubic micrometers. The proportions of voxels may be freely chosen within wide limits by varying the details of the imaging procedure. For isotropic resolution, therefore, objects of the order of (10μm) may be distinguished.Because the spatial coordinates are encoded by magnetic field gradients, the NMR resonance frequency differences, which determine the potential spatial resolution, may be made very large. As noted above, however, the corresponding volumes may become too small to give useful signal-to-noise ratios. In the presence of magnetic field gradients there will also be a loss of signal strength and resolution because molecular diffusion causes the coherence of the NMR signal to decay more rapidly than it otherwise would. This phenomenon is especially important in microscopic imaging.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Florez ◽  
Elvira Martinez ◽  
Victoria Carbonell

The main objective of this study is to determine the effects of 125 mT and 250mT magnetic treatment on the germination and initial growth of triticale seeds. This objective has a practical application in agriculture science: early growth of triticale. An increase in the percentage and rate of germination of seeds and a stimulation of growth of seedlings as positive response to magnetic field treatment in rice, wheat, maize and barley seeds have been found in previous studies. Germination tests were carried out under laboratory conditions by exposing triticale seeds to magnetic field for different times. The effect was studied by exposure of seeds prior sowing. The mean germination time were reduced for all the magnetic treatments applied. Most significant differences were obtained for time of exposure of 1 and 24 hours and maximum reductions was 12%. Furthermore, seedlings from magnetically treated seeds grew taller than control. The longest mean total length was obtained from seedlings exposed to 125 and 250 mT for 24 hours. External magnetic fields are assumed to enhance seed vigor by influencing the biochemical processes by stimulating activity of proteins and enzymes. Numerous studies suggested that magnetic field increases ions uptake and consequently improves nutrition value.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Guccini ◽  
Sugam Kumar ◽  
Yulia Trushkina ◽  
Gergely Nagy ◽  
Christina Schütz ◽  
...  

The magnetic alignment of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and lepidocrocite nanorods (LpN), pristine and in hybrid suspensions has been investigated using contrast-matched small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) under in situ magnetic fields (0 – 6.8 T) and polarized optical microscopy. The pristine CNC (diamagnetic) and pristine LpN (paramagnetic) align perpendicular and parallel to the direction of field, respectively. The alignment of both the nanoparticles in their hybrid suspensions depends on the relative amount of the two components (CNC and LpN) and strength of the applied magnetic field. In the presence of 10 wt% LpN and fields < 1.0 T, the CNC align parallel to the field. In the hybrid containing lower amount of LpN (1 wt%), the ordering of CNC is partially frustrated in all range of magnetic field. At the same time, the LpN shows both perpendicular and parallel orientation, in the presence of CNC. This study highlights that the natural perpendicular ordering of CNC can be switched to parallel by weak magnetic fields and the incorporation of paramagnetic nanoparticle as LpN, as well it gives a method to influence the orientation of LpN.<br>


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S254) ◽  
pp. 95-96
Author(s):  
Arthur M. Wolfe ◽  
Regina A. Jorgenson ◽  
Timothy Robishaw ◽  
Carl Heiles ◽  
Jason X. Prochaska

AbstractThe magnetic field pervading our Galaxy is a crucial constituent of the interstellar medium: it mediates the dynamics of interstellar clouds, the energy density of cosmic rays, and the formation of stars (Beck 2005). The field associated with ionized interstellar gas has been determined through observations of pulsars in our Galaxy. Radio-frequency measurements of pulse dispersion and the rotation of the plane of linear polarization, i.e., Faraday rotation, yield an average value B ≈ 3 μG (Han et al. 2006). The possible detection of Faraday rotation of linearly polarized photons emitted by high-redshift quasars (Kronberg et al. 2008) suggests similar magnetic fields are present in foreground galaxies with redshifts z > 1. As Faraday rotation alone, however, determines neither the magnitude nor the redshift of the magnetic field, the strength of galactic magnetic fields at redshifts z > 0 remains uncertain.Here we report a measurement of a magnetic field of B ≈ 84 μG in a galaxy at z =0.692, using the same Zeeman-splitting technique that revealed an average value of B = 6 μG in the neutral interstellar gas of our Galaxy (Heiles et al. 2004). This is unexpected, as the leading theory of magnetic field generation, the mean-field dynamo model, predicts large-scale magnetic fields to be weaker in the past, rather than stronger (Parker 1970).The full text of this paper was published in Nature (Wolfe et al. 2008).


RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (25) ◽  
pp. 15422-15427
Author(s):  
Petr A. Chernavsky ◽  
Nellie V. Kim ◽  
Victor A. Andrianov ◽  
Yurii D. Perfiliev ◽  
Alla A. Novakova ◽  
...  

The kinetics of hydrogen reduction of magnetite was investigated in different magnetic fields.


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