Abstract
Auger-electron-emitting radioisotopes provide a unique tool that enables the targeted irradiation of a small volume in their immediate vicinity. Over the last forty years, Auger emission has been established as a promising form of molecular radiotherapy, and it has recently made the transition from the laboratory to the clinic. In this paper we review the physical processes of Auger emission in nuclear decay and present a new model being developed to evaluate the energy spectrum of Auger electrons from radioisotopes.
Highlights
Unstable atomic nuclei release excess energy through various radioactive decay processes by emitting radiation in the form of particles or electromagnetic radiation
When an inner-shell electron is removed from an atom, the vacancy will be filled by an electron from the outer shells and the excess energy will be released as an X-ray photon, or by the emission of an Auger electron
Such a vacancy can be created by electron capture (EC) or by the emission of internal conversion electrons (CE) after nuclear decay
Summary
Unstable atomic nuclei release excess energy through various radioactive decay processes by emitting radiation in the form of particles (neutrons, alpha and beta particles) or electromagnetic radiation (photons). When an inner-shell electron is removed from an atom, the vacancy will be filled by an electron from the outer shells and the excess energy will be released as an X-ray photon, or by the emission of an Auger electron. Referred to as atomic radiations, Xray and Auger-electron emission are competing processes. The full relaxation of an inner-shell vacancy is a multi step process, resulting in a cascade of atomic radiations. It is important to revisit the evaluation of the Auger cascade and build new computational models to calculate Auger-electron spectra based on up-to-date nuclear data. We propose a new approach to overcome the limitations of the previous computations of low-energy Auger emission from medical isotopes
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