Analysis of low-energy electron track structure in liquid water

An implementation is presented of interaction cross sections for non-relativistic electron track structure simulations. The model, incorporating liquid-phase cross sections for inelastic interactions and improved algorithms for elastic scattering, is applied to Monte Carlo simulation of the track structure of low-energy electrons. Benchmark distributions and mean values are presented for several measures of penetration distances that characterize the general physical extent of the track structure. The results indicate that, except for the last approximately 500 eV of energy loss, electron tracks have a quasi-linear character; this suggests that a major part of an electron track may be reasonably described by a lineal-energy-like characterization. (C) 2004 by Radiation Research Society.