Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 6, 2026

In Situ Detection and Single Cell Quantification of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Using Nuclear Microprobe Analysis
Published on: February 3, 2018
Bayesian analysis of nanodosimetric ionisation distributions due to alpha particles and protons
L De Nardo1, A Ferretti, P Colautti
1Physics Department of Padua University, Via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy. laura.denardo@unipd.it
Abstract:
Track-nanodosimetry has the objective to investigate the stochastic aspect of ionisation events in particle tracks, by evaluating the probability distribution of the number of ionisations produced in a nanometric target volume positioned at distance d from a particle track. Such kind of measurements makes use of electron (or ion) gas detectors with detecting efficiencies non-uniformly distributed inside the target volume. This fact makes the reconstruction of true ionisation distributions, which correspond to an ideal efficiency of 100%, non-trivial. Bayesian unfolding has been applied to ionisation distributions produced by 5.4 MeV alpha particles and 20 MeV protons in cylindrical volumes of propane of 20 nm equivalent size, positioned at different impact parameters with respect to the primary beam. It will be shown that a Bayesian analysis performed by subdividing the target volume in sub-regions of different detection efficiencies is able to provide a good reconstruction of the true nanodosimetric ionisation distributions.
Related Concept Videos
Biological Effects of Radiation
Subatomic Particles
Types of Radioactivity
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:
Radioactivity and Nuclear Equations
A nuclide of an element has a specific number of protons and...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Mass Analyzers: Common Types
