Monte-Carlo "step-by-step" simulation of the early stages of liquid water radiolysis: 3D visualization of the initial radiation track structure and its subsequent chemical development

Abstract

The understanding of radiation action on liquid water, an important constituent of cells and living organisms (∼85%), is a crucial prerequisite for the accurate description of the effects of radiation on more complex chemical and biological systems. Gel dosimeters, which are used to modelize the biological medium upon irradiation, also have an important water content (∼90%) and are another example that requires a detailed knowledge of the complex succession of events that follow absorption in water of ionizing radiation. In the calculations reported here, the complete sequence of all individual stochastic events that take place following the irradiation of water is modeled using our Monte-Carlo code IONLYS-SBS. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.