• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.9
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• pp.1393-1398
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• 2018

In conventional single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), only the photoelectric events in the detectors are used for image reconstruction. However, if the $^{131}I$ isotope, which emits high-energy radiations (364, 637, and 723 keV), is used in nuclear medicine, both photoelectric and Compton scattering events can be used for image reconstruction. The purpose of our work is to perform simulations for Compton SPECT by using the Geant4 application for tomographic emission (GATE). The performance of Compton SPECT is evaluated and compared with that of conventional SPECT. The Compton SPECT unit has an area of $12cm{\times}12cm$ with four gantry heads. Each head is composed of a 2-cm tungsten collimator and a $40{\times}40$ array of CdZnTe (CZT) crystals with a $3{\times}3mm^2$ area and a 6-mm thickness. Compton SPECT can use not only the photoelectric effect but also the Compton scattering effect for image reconstruction. The correct sequential order of the interactions used for image reconstruction is determined using the angular resolution measurement (ARM) method and the energies deposited in each detector. In all the results of simulations using spherical volume sources of various diameters, the reconstructed images of Compton SPECT show higher signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) without degradation of the image resolution when compared to those of conventional SPECT because the effective count for image reconstruction is higher. For a Derenzo-like phantom, the reconstructed images for different modalities are compared by visual inspection and by using their projected histograms in the X-direction of the reconstructed images.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.141-143
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• 2013

We propose jitter radiation and jitter self-Compton process in this work. We apply our model to the study of GRB prompt emission and GeV-emission. Our results can explain the multi-wavelength spectrum of GRB 100728A very well.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2011

While Compton imaging is recognized as a valuable 3-D technique in nuclear medicine, reconstructing an image from Compton scattered data has been of a difficult problem due to its computational complexity. The most complex and time-consuming computation in Compton camera reconstruction is to perform the conical projection and backprojection operations. To alleviate the computational burden imposed by these operations, we investigate a rebinning method which can convert conical projections into parallel projections. The use of parallel projections allows to directly apply the existing deterministic reconstruction methods, which have been useful for conventional emission tomography, to Compton camera reconstruction. To convert conical projections into parallel projections, a cone surface is sampled with a number of lines. Each line is projected onto an imaginary plane that is mostly perpendicular to the line. The projection data rebinned in each imaginary plane can then be treated as the standard parallel projection data. To validate the rebinning method, we tested with the representative deterministic algorithms, such as the filtered backprojection method and the algebraic reconstruction technique. Our experimental results indicate that the rebinning method can be useful when the direct application of existing deterministic methods is needed for Compton camera reconstruction.

• Biomedical Engineering Letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.383-392
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• 2018

For prompt gamma ray imaging for biomedical applications and environmental radiation monitoring, we propose herein a multiple-scattering Compton camera (MSCC). MSCC consists of three or more semiconductor layers with good energy resolution, and has potential for simultaneous detection and differentiation of multiple radio-isotopes based on the measured energies, as well as three-dimensional (3D) imaging of the radio-isotope distribution. In this study, we developed an analytic simulator and a 3D image generator for a MSCC, including the physical models of the radiation source emission and detection processes that can be utilized for geometry and performance prediction prior to the construction of a real system. The analytic simulator for a MSCC records coincidence detections of successive interactions in multiple detector layers. In the successive interaction processes, the emission direction of the incident gamma ray, the scattering angle, and the changed traveling path after the Compton scattering interaction in each detector, were determined by a conical surface uniform random number generator (RNG), and by a Klein-Nishina RNG. The 3D image generator has two functions: the recovery of the initial source energy spectrum and the 3D spatial distribution of the source. We evaluated the analytic simulator and image generator with two different energetic point radiation sources (Cs-137 and Co-60) and with an MSCC comprising three detector layers. The recovered initial energies of the incident radiations were well differentiated from the generated MSCC events. Correspondingly, we could obtain a multi-tracer image that combined the two differentiated images. The developed analytic simulator in this study emulated the randomness of the detection process of a multiple-scattering Compton camera, including the inherent degradation factors of the detectors, such as the limited spatial and energy resolutions. The Doppler-broadening effect owing to the momentum distribution of electrons in Compton scattering was not considered in the detection process because most interested isotopes for biomedical and environmental applications have high energies that are less sensitive to Doppler broadening. The analytic simulator and image generator for MSCC can be utilized to determine the optimal geometrical parameters, such as the distances between detectors and detector size, thus affecting the imaging performance of the Compton camera prior to the development of a real system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.592-597
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• 2017

Three plastic scintillators of 4.5 cm diameter and 2.5-cm length were fabricated for comparison with commercial plastic scintillators using polymerization of the styrene monomer 2.5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and 1,4-bis benzene (POPOP). Their maximum emission wavelengths were determined at 426.06 nm, 426.06 nm, and 425.00 nm with a standard error of 0.2% using a Varian spectrophotometer (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Compton edge spectra were measured using three gamma ray sources [i.e., cesium 137 ($^{137}Cs$), sodium 22 ($^{22}Na$), and cobalt 60 ($^{60}Co$)]. Energy was calibrated by analyzing the Compton edge spectra. The fabricated scintillators possessed more than 99.7% energy linearity. Light output was comparable to that of the BC-408 scintillator (Saint-Gobain, Paris, France). The fabricated scintillators showed a light output of approximately 59-64% of that of the BC-408 scintillator.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2009

Compton imaging is often recognized as a potentially more valuable 3-D technique in nuclear medicine than conventional emission tomography. Due to inherent computational limitations, however, it has been of a difficult problem to reconstruct images with good accuracy. In this work we show that the row-action maximum likelihood algorithm (RAMLA), which have proven useful for conventional tomographic reconstruction, can also be applied to the problem of 3-D reconstruction of cone-beam projections from Compton scattered data. The major advantage of RAMLA is that it converges to a true maximum likelihood solution at an order of magnitude faster than the standard expectation maximiation (EM) algorithm. For our simulations, we first model a Compton camera system consisting of the three pairs of scatterer and absorber detectors placed at x-, y- and z-axes, and generate conical projection data using a software phantom. We then compare the quantitative performance of RAMLA and EM reconstructions in terms of the percentage error. The net conclusion based on our experimental results is that the RAMLA applied to Compton camera reconstruction significantly outperforms the EM algorithm in convergence rate; while computational costs of one iteration of RAMLA and EM are about the same, one iteration of RAMLA performs as well as 128 iterations of EM.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.295-297
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• 2004

Observations with EUVE, ROSAT, and BeepoSAX have shown that some clusters of galaxies produce intense EUV emission. These findings have produced considerable interest; over 100 papers have been published on this topic in the refereed literature. A notable suggestion as to the source of this radiation is that it is a 'warm' (106 K) intracluster medium which, if present, would constitute the major baryonic component of the universe. A more recent variation of this theme is that this material is 'warm-hot' intergalactic material condensing onto clusters. Alternatively, inverse Compton scattering of low energy cosmic rays against cosmic microwave background photons has been proposed as the source of this emission. Various origins of these particles have been posited, including an old (${\~}$Giga year) population of cluster cosmic rays; particles associated with relativistic jets in the cluster; and cascading particles produced by shocks from sub-cluster merging. The observational situation has been quite uncertain with many reports of detections which have been subsequently contradicted by analyses carried out by other groups. Evidence supporting a thermal and a non-thermal origin has been reported. The existing EUV, FUV, and optical data will be briefly reviewed and clarified. Direct observational evidence from a number of different satellites now rules out a thermal origin for this radiation. A new examination of subtle details of the EUV data suggests a new source mechanism: inverse Compton scattered emission from secondary electrons in the cluster. This suggestion will be discussed in the context of the data.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.125-128
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• 2005

In this paper, we argue that the gigahertz peaked spectrum (GPS) quasars are special blazars, blazars in dense and dusty gas enviornment. The ROSAT detection rate of GPS quasars is similar to that of flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), suggesting that the relativistic jets in GPS quasars are oriented at small angle to the line of sight. Due to strong inverse Compton scattering off infrared photons from dense and dusty nuclear interstellar media in GPS quasars, most of them may have significant soft gamma-ray and X-ray emission, which is consistent with ASCA X-ray observations. Because Compton cooling in GPS quasars is stronger than that in FSRQs, synchrotron emission in GPS quasars may less dominate over thermal emission of the accretion disk and hot dust, hence most GPS quasars show low optical polarization and small variability, consistent with observations. We suggest that it is the significant radio emission of electron/positron pairs produced by the interaction of gamma-rays with the dense gas and dust grains in GPS quasars that makes GPS quasars show steep radio spectra, low radio polarization, and relatively faint VLBI/VLBA cores. Whether GPS quasars are special blazars can be tested by gamma-ray observations with GLAST in the near future, with the detection rate of GPS quasars being similar to that of FSRQs.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.517-525
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• 2004

We present an update on our proposal that during the 'quasar era' (1.5 $\le$ z $\le$ 3), powerful radio galaxies could have played a major role in the enhanced global star-formation, and in the widespread magnetization and metal pollution of the universe. A key ingredient of this proposal is our estimate that the true cosmological evolution of the radio galaxy population is likely to be even steeper than what has been inferred from flux-limited samples of radio sources with redshift data, when an allowance is made for the inverse Compton losses on the cosmic microwave background which were much greater at higher redshifts. We thus estimate that a large fraction of the clumps of proto-galactic material within the cosmic web of filaments was probably impacted by the expanding lobes of radio galaxies during the quasar era. Some recently published observational evidence and simulations which provide support for this picture are pointed out. We also show that the inverse Compton x-ray emission from the population of radio galaxies during the quasar era, which we inferred to be largely missing from the derived radio luminosity function, is still only a small fraction of the observed soft x-ray background (XRB) and hence the limit imposed on this scenario by the XRB is not violated.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.79-90
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• 1995

The unique compact radio source, Sgr $A^*$, at the Galactic center show many observational signs that it is powered by supermassive black hole. Recent observations also imply that it is surrounded by winds from nearby IR sources. So we explore the model in which multiwavelength spectrum from Sgr $A^*$ is due to the spherical accretion of these winds onto the central supermassive black hole. Improving upon the previous work, we allowed the possibility that ions and electrons have different temperatures, included the Compton effects and pair processes. Electrons radiate via cyclosynchrotron and bresstrahlung with comptoniztion. We find that ion approaches the virial temperature ${\sim}10^{13}K$ while electron temperature saturates at ${\sim}10^{10}K$. However, decoupling between ion and electron does not greatly affect the shape of the emission spectrum. When the mass of the black hole is ${\sim}10^6M_{\odot}$, radio, IR, X-ray, $\gamma$-ray band spectrum is reasonably explained by the model. Yet Compton effect which is neglected in previous works produces significant emission in IR band, which is marginally compatible with observations. Pair production is negligible and annihilation lines cannot be observed.