Primary chemical reactions induced by radioactive nuclear transformations

Abstract

A series of chemical reactions is suggested to describe primary chemical transformations induced by Auger electrons from radioactive nuclear decay in glassy and crystalline frozen aqueous media. The mechanism is based on Mössbauer emission spectroscopy data supplemented by data on reactions in the tracks of fast positrons and electrons in an aqueous medium. It is shown that variation of temperature, the degree of crystallinity, the concentration of electron acceptors, etc., results in correlated changes in the yields of the final reaction products—Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺ or Sn²⁺, Sn⁴⁺ ions, positronium atoms, and molecular radiolytic hydrogen. These correlations indicate the similarity of chemical processes in the nanometer vicinity of decayed ⁵⁷Co and ^119mSn nuclei and in the tracks of fast positrons and electrons. This similarity is caused by the same behavior of secondary intratrack electrons produced due to ionization losses of fast positrons, electrons, and Auger electrons.