An attempt to explore the production routes of Astatine radionuclides: Theoretical approach

TL;DR

This paper explores various theoretical production routes for Astatine radionuclides relevant to nuclear medicine, using nuclear reaction models to calculate excitation functions and analyze reaction mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive theoretical analysis of Astatine radionuclide production routes using multiple nuclear reaction models and compares results with experimental data.

Findings

Equilibrium reactions dominate the production process.

Calculated excitation functions align well with measured data.

Reaction mechanisms vary with energy and target type.

Abstract

In order to fulfil the recent thrust of Astatine radionuclides in the field of nuclear medicine various production routes have been explored in the present work. The possible production routes of $^{209-211}$At comprise both light and heavy ion induced reactions at the bombarding energy range starting from threshold to maximum 100 MeV energy. For this purpose, we have used the nuclear reaction model codes TALYS, ALICE91 and PACE-II. Excitation functions of those radionuclides, produced through various production routes, have been calculated using nuclear reaction model codes and compared with the available measured data. Contribution of various reaction mechanisms, like, direct, preequilibrium and equilibrium reactions, to the total reaction cross section has been studied using the codes. Result shows that equilibrium reaction mechanism dominates in all cases over other reaction mechanisms.