Track-nanodosimetry of an alpha particle

Effects of radiation are primarily determined by what happens in individual small volumes representative of DNA segments. Such sites are so small that the interactions due to radiation are very few and it is necessary to consider the stochastic of the number and nature of primary interactions and of secondary processes in order to understand the subsequent biological effects. Track-nanodosimetry has the objective to investigate stochastic aspect of energy deposition in particle tracks, by measuring the ionisation distributions induced by a charged particle in nanometric volumes of tissue-equivalent matter, positioned at different distances from the track. This paper is concerned with measurements and Monte Carlo calculations of ionisation distributions produced in a site of about 20 nm by a 244Cm alpha particle