Aim: The purpose of this work is to evaluate the precision with which the GEANT4 toolkit simulates the production of beta(+) emitters relevant for in-beam and real-time PET in proton therapy. Background: An important evolution in proton therapy is the implementation of in-beam and real-time verification of the range of protons by measuring the correlation between the activity of beta(+) and dose deposition. For that purpose, it is important that the simulation of the various beta(+) emitters be sufficiently realistic, in particular for the N-12 short-lived emitter that is required for efficient in-beam and real-time monitoring. Methods: The GEANT4 toolkit was used to simulate positron emitter production for a proton beam of 55 MeV in a cubic PMMA target and results are compared to experimental data. Results: The three beta(+) emitters with the highest production rates in the experimental data (C-11, O-15 and N-12) are also those with the highest production rate in the simulation. Production rates differ by 8% to 174%. For the N-12 isotope, the beta(+) spatial distribution in the simulation shows major deviations from the data. The effect of the long range (of the order of 20 mm) of the beta(+) originating from N-12 is also shown and discussed. Conclusions: At first order, the GEANT4 simulation of the beta(+) activity presents significant deviations from the data. The need for precise cross-section measurements versus energy below 30 MeV is of first priority in order to evaluate the feasibility of in-beam and real-time PET.

The NA60 experiment has studied low-mass muon pair production in proton–nucleus collisions with a system of Be, Cu, In, W, Pb and U targets, using a 400 GeV proton beam at the CERN SPS. The transverse momentum spectra of the $$\rho /\omega $$ and $$\phi $$ mesons are measured in the full $$p_{\mathrm {T}}$$ range accessible, from $$p_{\mathrm {T}}= 0$$ up to $$2 \, {\hbox {GeV/c}}$$ . The nuclear dependence of the production cross sections of the $$\eta $$ , $$\omega $$ and $$\phi $$ mesons has been found to be consistent with the power law $$\sigma _{\mathrm {pA}} \propto {\mathrm {A}}^\alpha $$ , with the $$\alpha $$ parameter increasing as a function of $$p_{\mathrm {T}}$$ for all the particles, and an approximate hierarchy $$\alpha _\eta \approx \alpha _\phi > \alpha _\omega $$ . The cross section ratios $$\sigma _\eta /\sigma _\omega $$ , $$\sigma _\rho /\sigma _\omega $$ and $$\sigma _\phi /\sigma _\omega $$ have been studied as a function of the size A of the production target, and an increase of the $$\eta $$ and $$\phi $$ yields relative to the $$\omega $$ is observed from p–Be to p–U collisions.

We present the first results obtained with a detector, called Large Area Pixelized Detector (LAPD), dedicated to the study the ballistic control of the beam delivered to the patient by in-beam and real time detection of secondary particles, emitted during its irradiation in the context of hadrontherapy. These particles are 511 keV gamma from the annihilation of a positron issued from the beta(+) emitters induced in the patient tissues along the beam path. The LAPD basic concepts are similar to a Conventional PET camera. The 511 keV gamma are detected and the reconstructed lines of response allow to measure the beta(+) activity distribution. Nevertheless, when trying to use gamma from positron annihilation for the ballistic control in hadrontherapy, the large prompt gamma background should be taken into account and properly rejected. First reconstruction results, obtained with a phantom filled with a high intensity FDG source at the cancer research centre of Clermont-Ferrand are shown. We also report results of measurements performed at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Centre with one third of the detector, using proton and carbon ion beams. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The construction and first proton beam tests of a demonstrator dedicated to the beam ballistic control in hadrontherapy cancer treatments are described. This cost-effective demonstrator, called large area pixelized detector, is a PET-like detector used for in-beam ballistic control. It was built to test the feasibility of monitoring in real time, during irradiation, the ion range in the patient through the measurement of the beam-induced $\beta^{+}$ activity distribution. Achieving this goal necessitates to overcome several challenges. One of them is the rejection of the beam-induced background. Another one is the definition of fast event selection and reconstruction techniques so that real time monitoring is possible. Strategies employed to tackle these problems are presented and tested with the 65 MeV Medicyc proton beam of the cancer treatment center in Nice, France. In particular, an original fast reconstruction technique is presented. First performances obtained during irradiation of polymethyl methacrylate targets are described.

ψ production is studied in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon incident momentum. Absolute cross-sections are measured and production rates are investigated as a function of the centrality of the collision. The results are compared with those obtained for lighter colliding systems and also for the J/ψ meson produced under identical conditions. Accepted for publication in European Physics Journal C 1 Universitá del Piemonte Orientale, Alessandria and INFN-Torino, Italy 2 LPC, Univ. Blaise Pascal and CNRS-IN2P3, Aubière, France 3 IFA, Bucharest, Romania 4 Università di Cagliari/INFN, Cagliari, Italy 5 CERN, Geneva, Switzerland 6 LIP, Lisbon, Portugal 7 INR, Moscow, Russia 8 IPN, Univ. de Paris-Sud and CNRS-IN2P3, Orsay, France 9 LLR, Ecole Polytechnique and CNRS-IN2P3, Palaiseau, France 10 Università di Torino/INFN, Torino, Italy 11 IPN, Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon-I and CNRS-IN2P3, Villeurbanne, France 12 YerPhI, Yerevan, Armenia a) also at IST, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal b) also at Faculty of Physics and Nuclear Techniques, AGH University of Science and Technology, Cracow, Poland c) on leave of absence of YerPhI, Yerevan, Armenia d) Deceased Dedicated to the memory of our colleagues Albert Romana and Jean René Pizzi, whose untimely death occurred while finalizing this article.

2012 is the penultimate year of financial support by the CPER 2007-2013 for ETOILE's research program, sustained by the PRRH at the University Claude Bernard. As with each edition we make the annual review of the research in this group, so active for over 12 years now. Over the difficulties in the decision-making process for the implementation of the ETOILE Center, towards which all our efforts are focussed, some themes (work packages) were strengthened, others have progressed, or have been dropped. This is the case of the eighth theme (technological developments), centered around the technology for rotative beam distribution heads (gantries) and, after being synchronized with the developments of ULICE's WP6, remained so by ceasing its activities, coinciding also with the retirement of its historic leader at IPNL, Marcel Bajard. Topic number 5 (In silico simulations) has suffered the departure of its leader, Benjamin Ribba, although the work has still been provided by Branka Bernard, a former postdoctoral fellow in Lyon Sud, and now back home in Croatia, still in contract with UCBL for the ULICE project. Aside from these two issues (and the fact that the theme Medico-economical simulations is now directly linked to the first one (Medical Project), the rest of the teams are growing, as evidenced by the publication statistics at the beginning of this report. This is obviously due to the financial support of our always faithful regional institutions, but also to the synergy that the previous years, the European projects, the arrival of the PRIMES LabEx, and the national France Hadron infrastructure have managed to impulse. The Rhone-Alpes hadron team, which naturally includes the researchers of LPC at Clermont, should also see its influence result in a strong presence in France Hadron's regional node, which is being organized. The future of this regional research is not yet fully guaranteed, especially in the still uncertain context of ETOILE, but the tracks are beginning to emerge to allow past and present efforts translate into a long future that we all want to see established. Each of the researchers in PRRH is aware that 2013 will be (and already is) the year of great challenge : for ETOILE, for the PRRH, for hadron therapy in France, for French hadrontherapy in Europe (after the opening and beginning of treatments in the German [HIT Heidelberg, Marburg], Italian [CNAO, Pavia] and Austrian [MedAustron, Wien Neuerstadt]) centers. Let us meet again in early 2014 for a comprehensive review of the past and a perspective for the future ...

Prompt secondary radiations such as gamma rays and protons can be used for ion-range monitoring during ion therapy either on an energy-slice basis or on a pencil-beam basis. We present a review of the ongoing activities in terms of detector developments, imaging, experimental and theoretical physics issues concerning the correlation between the physical dose and hadronic processes.

The NA60 experiment has studied J/ψ production in p–A collisions at 158 and 400 GeV, at the CERN SPS. Nuclear effects on the J/ψ yield have been estimated from the A-dependence of the production cross section ratios σJ/ψA/σJ/ψBe (A = Al, Cu, In, W, Pb, U). We observe a significant nuclear suppression of the J/ψ yield per nucleon–nucleon collision, with a larger effect at lower incident energy, and we compare this result with previous observations by other fixed-target experiments. An attempt to disentangle the different contributions to the observed suppression has been carried out by studying the dependence of nuclear effects on x2, the fraction of the nucleon momentum carried by the interacting parton in the target nucleus.

Light and heavy ions particle therapy, mainly by means of protons and carbon ions, represents an advantageous treatment modality for deep-seated and/or radioresistant tumours. An in-beam quality assurance principle is based on the detection of secondary particles induced by nuclear fragmentations between projectile and target nuclei. Three different strategies are currently under investigation: prompt γ rays imaging, proton interaction vertex imaging and in-beam positron emission tomography. Geant4 simulations have been performed first in order to assess the accuracy of some hadronic models to reproduce experimental data. Two different kinds of data have been considered: β+-emitting isotopes and prompt γ-ray production rates. On the one hand simulations reproduce experimental β+ emitting isotopes production rates to an accuracy of 24%. Moreover simulated β+ emitting nuclei production rate as a function of depth reproduce well the peak-to-plateau ratio of experimental data. On the other hand by tuning the tolerance factor of the photon evaporation model available in Geant4, we reduce significantly prompt γ-ray production rates until a very good agreement is reached with experimental data. Then we have estimated the total amount of induced annihilation photons and prompt γ rays for a simple treatment plan of ∼1 physical Gy in a homogenous equivalent soft tissue tumour (6 cm depth, 4 cm radius and 2 cm wide). The average annihilation photons emitted during a 45 s irradiation in a 4 π solid angle are ∼2 × 106 annihilation photon pairs and 108 single prompt γ whose energy ranges from a few keV to 10 MeV.

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied phi meson production in In-In collisions at 158 AGeV via both the K+K- and the mu(+)mu(-) decay channels. The yields and inverse slope parameters of the m(T) spectra observed in the two channels are compatible within errors, different from the large discrepancies seen in Pb-Pb collisions between the hadronic (NA49) and dimuon (NA50) decay channels. Possible physics implications are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS studied phi production in In–In collisions at 158 A GeV via muon and kaon decay channels. The yields and transverse mass spectra observed in the two channels are compatible within errors. The results are compared to the previous measurements in Pb–Pb collisions, where large discrepancies were observed between NA50 (muon pairs) and NA49 (kaon pairs).

The J/ψ azimuthal distribution relative to the reaction plane has been measured by the NA50 experiment in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon. Various physical mechanisms related to charmonium dissociation in the medium created in the heavy ion collision are expected to introduce an anisotropy in the azimuthal distribution of the observed J/ψ mesons at SPS energies. Hence, the measurement of J/ψ elliptic anisotropy, quantified by the Fourier coefficient v_2 of the J/ψ azimuthal distribution relative to the reaction plane, is an important tool to constrain theoretical models aimed at explaining the anomalous J/ψ suppression observed in Pb-Pb collisions. We present the measured J/ψ yields in different bins of azimuthal angle relative to the reaction plane, as well as the resulting values of the Fourier coefficient v_2 as a function of the collision centrality and of the J/ψ transverse momentum. The reaction plane has been estimated from the azimuthal distribution of the neutral transverse energy detected in an electromagnetic calorimeter. The analysis has been performed on a data sample of about 100 000 events, distributed in five centrality or p_ T sub-samples. The extracted v_2 values are significantly larger than zero for non-central collisions and are seen to increase with p_ T.

The yield of muon pairs in the invariant mass region 1 < M < 2.5 GeV/c (2) produced in heavy-ion collisions significantly exceeds the sum of the two expected contributions, Drell-Yan dimuons and muon pairs from the decays of D meson pairs. These sources properly account for the dimuons produced in proton-nucleus collisions. In this paper, we show that dimuons are also produced in excess in 158 A GeV In-In collisions. We furthermore observe, by tagging the dimuon vertices, that this excess is not due to enhanced D meson production, but made of prompt muon pairs, as expected from a source of thermal dimuons specific to high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. The yield of this excess increases significantly from peripheral to central collisions, both with respect to the Drell-Yan yield and to the number of nucleons participating in the collisions. Furthermore, the transverse mass distributions of the excess dimuons are well described by an exponential function, with inverse slope values around 190 MeV. The values are independent of mass and significantly lower than those found at masses below 1 GeV/c (2), rising there up to 250 MeV due to radial flow. This suggests the emission source of thermal dimuons above 1 GeV/c (2) to be of largely partonic origin, when radial flow has not yet built up.