Radial energy distribution around ionizing-particle tracks in SiO2

Abstract

The radial energy distribution around ionizing particle tracks has been found to be important in several phenomena ranging from scintillation efficiency to radiobiological effects. The relevant phenomenological aspects of these experiments, together with the models proposed to explain them, have been reviewed and the dynamics of energy deposition discussed in detail. New data on low-energy electrons stopping power in SiO2 allow us to propose a calculation method of radial energy distribution that compares favourably with the former ones, due to the rejection of a restrictive hypothesis, as the orthogonal emission of δ-rays. Furthermore, our method is consistent with the experimental data on the stopping power of the incident particle.