Radiation damage to living tissues occurs not only by the high-energy incident particles of this radiation but also by low-energy secondary electrons that they produce. Two studies now demonstrate that a large fraction of these electrons are generated by a relatively unusual autoionization process known as intermolecular Coulombic decay.
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Märk, T., Scheier, P. Unexpected electrons. Nature Phys 6, 82–83 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1526
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1526
