Evaluated Atomic Data: A Review of Their Validation

Abstract

The Evaluated Atomic, Electron and Photon Data Libraries (EADL, EEDL and EPDL, respectively) provide the grounds for the simulation of electromagnetic interactions in several Monte Carlo particle transport codes. The most recent of them, EPDL97, was released by the Livermore National Laboratory, USA twenty years ago; although they have been in use for a long time, they have been only partially validated through comparisons with experimental data. This presentation reviews the status of the validation of these data libraries; it summarizes the results reported in the literature and illustrates a few recent ones, which have not been published yet. It identifies the current gaps in the validation of the various components of the three data libraries and the shortage of experimental data in some areas, which hinders the validation. Furthermore, it highlights their position with respect to other calculations in view of determining the state of the art of electromagnetic cross sections and other atomic parameters. These results are relevant to most major Monte Carlo codes and provide guidelines for the next generation of data libraries currently in preparation.