The concept of mass angular scattering power and its relation to the diffusion constant

An understanding of the scattering of high energy charged particle beams by tissue is required in radiotherapy since the particle trajectories determine the pattern of radiation dose deposition in patients. Numerical calculations of radiation dose often utilize energy dependent values of the angular scattering power. However, the physics literature is replete with confused interpretations of the concept of angular scattering power and its relation to the single scattering cross section for the medium or the diffusion constant in the diffusional limit. The purpose of this article is to clarify these notions.