Resemblance of intratrack processes as a common starting point of radiation chemistry and positron, muon, and Mössbauer spectroscopies

Abstract

A comparison of the yields of final products (⁵⁷Fe²⁺, ¹¹⁹Sn²⁺) of the transformation of Mössbauer nuclei (⁵⁷Co, ¹¹⁹Sn) in frozen aqueous and alcoholic glassy solutions with the Ps, Ms, and radiolytic-hydrogen formation probabilities in the same liquid media subjected to irradiation with positrons, muons, and fast electrons, respectively shows that the yields of ⁵⁷Fe²⁺, ¹¹⁹Sn²⁺, Ps, Mu, and H₂ vary in similar manners with a change in the concentration of electron scavengers or the temperature of the medium. These correlations are a manifestation of a profound similarity between the primary processes occurring in ionizing-particle tracks. Obviously, the recombination of ion-electron pairs inside large swarms (blobs) involving H₂O⁺, e⁺, μ⁺, Fe³⁺, and ¹¹⁹Sn³⁺, respectively, is the most important process for understanding the formation of H₂, Ps, Mu, ⁵⁷Fe²⁺, and ¹¹⁹Sn²⁺.