Abstract
Charged particles (electrons, positrons, protons, helium nuclei, …) will ionize matter in a direct way, in contrast to neutral particles (neutrons, neutrinos, …) or short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation (X rays and γ rays), which will ionize only indirectly. Strictly speaking, radiation is never directly measured, rather it can only be detected via its interaction with matter. A large number of specific interaction processes exists. These interactions are characteristic for each of charged particles, neutrons, neutrinos, X rays, and γ radiation.
“A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement.”
Erwin Schrödinger
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© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Grupen, C. (2010). Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter. In: Introduction to Radiation Protection. Graduate Texts in Physics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02586-0_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02586-0_4
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02585-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02586-0
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