A Track Physics Model of Radiation Action

A model of radiation action by energetic heavy ions, inspired by a study of particle tracks in electron sensitive emulsion, has been successfully applied to many radiation effects in condensed matter, yielding quantitative descriptions and occasional predictions. Radiation effects are attributed primarily to secondary electrons. Each detector is imagined to be a collection of targets whose radiosensitivity is represented parametrically. We avoid a mechanistic description of detector response so as to retain the global character of the model. Attention is focused on the structure of particle tracks, on the radial deposition of dose about an ion’s path by “δ-rays,” and on action cross sections.