RadStat: An open-source statistical analysis tool for counts obtained by a GM counter

Abstract

The interaction of ionizing radiation with matter is a stochastic process and statistical analysis of such a process would be a crucial step in understanding radioactivity. Geiger–Müller (GM) counter is a widely used radiation detector used in nuclear radiation surveying, which produces counts upon exposure to a radioactive source. There are a variety of multi-purpose software that can be used to perform statistical analysis of measured counts from a GM counter. However, statistical analysis is a lengthy, error prone and time-consuming process, which gets more tedious when the number of measurements increases. In the present work, we have developed an open-source and easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) computer program named RadStat for statistical analysis of counts measured by a GM counter. RadStat has its own scripting syntaxes and bundled with gnuplot for quick visualization of output results. We believe the present open-source GUI program would be a useful tool for research and teaching of nuclear radiation physics.