Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics ( Z A M P ) Vol.

40, July 1989

0044-2275/89/040608-05 $ 1.50+ 0.20 9 1989 Birkh~iuserVerlag, Basel

Exact analytic results for the solid angle in systems with axial symmetry
By V a l e r y A. Shelyuto, D. I. M e n d e l e e v Institute o f M e t r o l o g y , M o s k o v s k y p r o s p e c t 19, L e n i n g r a d 198005, U S S R

For radionuclide activity measurement by the method of limited solid angle it is necessary to know the ratio of number of particles which reach the detector to the number of particles emitted by the radionuclide source. For the point source this ratio which is called geometric factor (G) is evidently equal to f~/4n where f~ is the solid angle under which the detector surface (or diaphragm limiting radiation) is seen from the source. In the general case for the fiat source of finite radius which is coplanar to the diaphragm surface geometric factor is given by the following integral (see fig. 1)

(1)

where it is supposed that every infinitesimal surface element emits spherically symmetrical. Integration in eq. (1) goes over source surface So and diaphragm surface Z0; R is running distance between ds and de, where de is the infinitesimal diaphragm surface element; and h is distance between the source and diaphragm. The I/R 2 factor in eq. (1) corresponds to the inverse square law and the ratio h/R is equal to the cosine of the angle between vector R and normal to the diaphragm surface. The integrals similar to that in eq. (1) are typical for many problems in mathematical physics. For example, the z-component of the interaction force between two homogeneously charged plates is given up to numerical factor by eq. (1). Hence, all results obtained below for the geometrical factor (1) may be applied in this case as well as in many other problems. Widely used measurement system consists of circular source of radius a and coaxial circular diaphragm of radius b. In the cylindrical coordinate system one easily obtains for the geometrical factor (1) explicit expression

h [2~dr p ff drr f; dpp[h~+r 2 + p 2 - 2 r p G = ~oo jo

cos q~]-3/2,

(2)

where all conventions are evident. Type (2) integrals are usually calculated by expanding the integrand in the series with help of Legendre polynomes or some other functions respecting the symmetry of the problem (see i.e. ref. [ 1-3] and also many other papers). These series are well convergent when the distance h between the plates is much more than the characteristic sizes a and b of the plates. They are poorly convergent when the distance h is of the same order as the plates sizes. Moreover in the case of vanishing ratio h/a---,0 and a ~ b the integrals of type (2) can not be calculated, as is shown below, with the help of the integrands series expansion. This is connected with the nonanalytic (ln(h/a)) dependence of the integration result on the small parameter. Therefore, the exact result of the integration, which

Vol. 40, 1989

Exact analytic results for the solid angle

609

P Figure 1 Source--target configuration relevant to eq. (1). is valid at arbitrary values of the parameters and may be effectively used in numerical calculations, is poorly needed. Direct integration in eq. (2) leads to the elliptic integrals on the early stage, thus embarrassing following calculations. To circumvent this difficulty we introduce additional integration over new variable z removing thus the fractional power in the denominator in eq. (2):

G= -

~zSo Oh 2So Oh

dz dz

do dr 2

drr

dpp[z2 + h2 + r2 + p 2

2rpcoscp] -1

dp2[(z2 + h 2 + r 2 + p2)2 _ 4r2p2] 1/2

The integrand here depends only on the variables r 2 and p2 and the following calculation is straightforward. Integration over p2 gives

Z '~ G=~fo~fl

A+r2-b 2 dr2{1-x/(A+r2+bZ)Z_4b~},

(4)

where A = z 2 + h 2. This result is interesting in its own right, because it is possible to obtain the geometric factor Ga for the point source displaced from the axis on distance a from it. For this one has to make in eq. (4) the substitution

z~

jia dr2 So

1.

The following integration over z is easily performed with the help of tables [4] and the geometric factor for the displaced point source turns out to be

G~ = ~

2~

9 ~ - - ~ " K(q) + - ~ - ~ . II(n, q) ,

(5)

where K(q), H(n, q) are the complete elliptic integrals of the first and third kind [4],

610 respectively, and

V.A. Shelyuto

ZAMP

4ab q 2 _ h 2 + ( a + b ) 2'

(a + b) 2 n-h2+(a+b) 2'

(6)

Expression (5) leads to physically evident results when h --, 0 and other parameters have some specific values. In this case Ga = 1/2, when a < b because then the diaphragm fully covers the source and all radiation which is emitted in the upper half space reach it; Ga = 1/4, when a = b and the source is on the edge of the diaphragm; Ga = 0, when a > b and the source is extraneous to the diaphragm. To obtain these results we have used the following limit:

lim x / l _ n . H(n, q ) 7z a + b h~0 -2 l a - b I"

(7)

For the point source displaced from the axis on the distance equal to the diaphragm radius (a = b) one obtains from eq. (4) the ancient result [4] q' ' -. K(q), (8) G, = ~ - -2n where q' = ~/1 - q2 is the complement elliptic integral module. Consider now the general case of spread source in eq. (4). Integration over variable r 2 is trivial:

h f~dz{A+a G = ~ o o Jo A

+b2-

x/(A + a 2

bZ)2_4a2b2}.

(9)

Final integration here is similar to the one performed in eq. (5) and with the help of tables [4] we obtain

G=~o.

(a2 + b 2 ) - ( a - b ) 2 x / 1 - n

. II(n,q)-4abx/1-n

. D(q) ,

(I0)

where D(q) = (l/q 2) 9[K(q) - E(q)] is the linear combination of elliptic integrals of the first and second kind. Eq. (10) gives all previously known specific cases. Thus for large distance between the source and the diaphragm we obtain G ~-Y~o/4rchL When h goes to zero the limit depends on the relation between a and b: G ~ Z 0 / 2 S o if a > b and G ~ 1/2 if a < b. For the point source (a/b ~ 0) placed on the symmetry axis h Geometrical factor has the simplest form when the radii of the source and the diaphragm are equal:

G = 89

2q'
7E

D(q).

(ll)

Its asymptote is equal to (12) when h/a ~ 0 G ~ ! - ~ h -~2a ' ( l n h + 3 1 n 2 - 1 ) (12)

and contains the logarithmic term mentioned above and hence can not be obtained from eq. (2) by expanding the integrand in the series over the ratio h/a. It should be mentioned that this asymptote with rather good accuracy describes the behaviour of the

Vol. 40, 1989

Exact analytic results for the solid angle

6il

geometric factor for the small values of h/a. For example, already when h/a = 0.2 the values given by eqs. (11) and (12) differ by less than 0.1%. Integral representation (3) for G is very convenient and allows one to solve the more complicated problem of calculating the geometric factor G~ for coaxial system consisting of the circular diaphragm and the cylindrical radiation source. The radioactive substance is supposed to be homogeneously distributed over the volume of the source and the absorption is supposed to be absent. Integrating the right side of eq. (3) over variable h from the lower limit hi equal to the distance between the diaphragm to the nearest base of the cylinder up to the upper limit h 2 equal to the distance between the diaphragm and the distant base of the cylinder one obtains
Q = 99

d h a ( h ) = 5Voo"

(a2 + b2) - (a -

n
q2) .D(q) +

I-l(n, q)

1- n

9 D(q)

I
_ _

3Ixfi-~n

'[(1

E(q)]

~ h,

(13)

where V0 = So(h2 - h~) = So " H is the volume of the source. In the calculation leading to eq. (13) the formulae from [4] where exploited as well as the integral
f_qy _n dq II(n, q) = q Znq
_ _ .

II(n,q)

q K(q), n
,

(14)

which is absent in handbooks. The most concised form G~ has when radii of the diaphragm and the cylindrical source are equal
Gv

= 2-- ~
1

2
.

[A(h2) -- A(hl)],

(15)

where h I q " D(q) + Iq" " E(q)]. A(h) = ~r" (16)

In the case of infinitely thin source (h 2 ~ hi) the expressions (13) and (15) coincide with the expressions (10) and (11) respectively. The share of radiation (r/l) which goes through each of the cylinder bases is given by eq. (I 5) where hi = 0 and h 2 = H (H here is height of the cylindrical source)
rl~ = ~ - - ~ . q ' . D(q) + - . E(q) q' .

(17)

The share of radiation going through the cylinder sideways is equal to

q2= 1--2r/l =~ '

q'-D(q)+~.E(q)-

(18)

It is evident that ~/1~ 0 , th-~ 1 when a / H ~ O and 2 r h ~ 1, t/2~0 in the alternate case when H / a --, O. All expressions for geometric factor for different radiation sources obtained above are valid for arbitrary values of the parameters a, b, h and H. This presents the serious advantage of these formulae over the ones, which are given by the integrand's power expansion, if this expansion is at all possible. We should like to mention that the tricks used above for analytic calculation of integral in eq. (i) may be also applied in other cases. For example, we easily obtain the

612 value for the integral So ~-~o'R 3rcx/~.q3 [(l+2qZ-3n)'K(q)

V.A. Shelyuto

ZAMP

- (1 + q2 _ 3 n ) - E(q) + 3 ( 1 - n)(n - q2). n(n, q)l,

which corresponds to interaction energy of two homogeneously charged coaxial disks, The expression for the interaction force, which is proportional to eq. (1) is obtained from (19) by differentiating over the parameter h.

References

[1] A. H. Jaffey, Rev. Scient. lnstrum. 25, 349 (1954). [2] K. A. Petrzhak and M. A. Buck, Sov. Phys. JTP 25, 636 (1955) (in Russian). [3] P. M. Morse and H. Feshbach, Methods of Theoretical Physics, Part II. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York 1953. [4] I. S. Gradshteyn and I. M. Ryzhik, Table of Integrals, Series and Products (formulae 3.152.1, 3.157.2, 3.169.1,2). Academic Press, New York 1980.

Abstract

Exact analytical expressions for the solid angle subtended by a circular diaphragm are obtained in terms of complete elliptic integrals. Point, disk and cylindrical sources of radiation are considered. (Received: November .2, 1988)