Explicit modeling of timing characteristics in Compton camera simulation with Geant4

Abstract

In the present study, a Compton camera, including detailed timing characteristics of the component detectors and related data acquisition (DAQ) electronics, was modeled very accurately with Geant4. The results are very convincing the inclusion of the timing characteristics in the simulation reduced the imaging sensitivity discrepancy between the simulated and measured data to a negligible level (1-2%) for a Na-22 point source: this is a significant accuracy improvement compared with the results obtained previously without modeling the timing characteristics, for which the discrepancies were 30% and 6% for 511 and 1275 key, respectively. The imaging resolution accuracy was also significantly improved. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.