Studies on effective atomic number, electron density and kerma for some fatty acids and carbohydrates

The effective atomic number, Z(eff), the effective electron density, N-el, and kerma have been calculated for some fatty acids and carbohydrates for photon interaction in the extended energy range from 1 keV to 100 GeV using an accurate database of photon-interaction cross sections and the WinXCom program.

The significant variation of Z(eff) and N-el is due to the variations in the dominance of different interaction processes in different energy regions. The maximum values of Z(eff) and N-el are found in the low-energy range, where photoelectric absorption is the main interaction process. The minimum values of Z(eff) and N-el are found at intermediate energies, typically 0.05 MeV

In this case, Z(eff) is equal to the mean atomic number of the bio-molecule. Wherever possible, the calculations are compared with experimental results. A comparison is also made with the single values of the Z(eff) and N-el provided by the program XMuDat. It is also observed that carbohydrates have a larger kerma than fatty acids in the low-energy region, where photoelectric absorption dominates.

In contrast, fatty acids have a larger kerma than carbohydrates in the MeV range, where Compton scattering is the main interaction process.