A fluctuation problem in particle transport theory II

Abstract

A balance equation is formulated for the probability that a particle injected into an infinite, amorphous medium will have suffered N collisions and have given rise to n new particles in a given energy range at time t. The method of regeneration points has been employed and this leads, in the case of two particle production, to a non-linear, integro-differential equation for the probability generating function. This equation is solved for the case of foreign particles slowing down, in which case it becomes linear and results are obtained which include the effects of electronic stopping and absorption, thus generalizing the work in part I. In the cascade problem, a single particle gives rise to two new particles in every collision and it is shown, for a simple hard-sphere model with 1/v scattering and absorption, how the non-linear equation may be solved. The probability for the number of particles and the number of collisions suffered to absorption is obtained in the case of zero absorption, the probability law is shown to obey a Furry distribution. The limitations of the method described in part I for dealing with cascades are highlighted.