Improved Bremsstrahlung Cross Sections for Transport Calculations

The cross section for the emission of bremsstrahlung by electrons in the field of the atomic nucleus has been evaluated by the synthesis of various theoretical results. The synthesis has been carried out for the cross section differential in emitted photon energy, and is based on (a) results of exact phase-shift calculations by Pratt, Tseng, and collaborators; (b) analytical results derived by Davies, Bethe, Maximon and Olsen in the high-energy approximation; (c) the Coulomb correction factor of Elwert; and (d) the results for the high-frequency limit of Jabbur and Pratt. Cross sections are presented here for the bremsstrahlung produced in aluminum and gold by electrons with energies from 1 keV to 1000 MeV.