Observation of Cerenkov-ring in water during irradiation of high-energy electron or X-ray beam
Abstract
It is commonly believed that when electron beams with energy of more than MeV scale are irradiated to water, a Cerenkov-ring is formed and observed in the forward direction of the beam. We tried to observe the Cerenkov-ring in water during irradiation of high-energy electrons or X-ray beams. We irradiated 1-cm-diameter electron beams to water with energy of 6 to 12 MeV from a linear accelerator (LINAC), and then we imaged the produced light with a translucent plate in water at the forward position. We also irradiated 0.5 x 0.5-cm 6-MV and 10-MV X-rays to water, and imaging was conducted with the same set-up. For all electron energies, the formed images did not have any ring shape but only a round shape with highest intensity at the center of the circles. Monte Carlo simulation also showed that no ring formed and that the distributions were similar to those of the experimental results. For X-ray irradiation, high intensity spots were observed at the center of the image, and no ring shape was observed. Our results indicate that electrons or X-ray beams do not produce any Cerenkov-ring in the forward direction with the beam energies we used for the experiments. This is because the scattered electrons produced Cerenkov-light not only in the forward direction but also in many directions, which made it impossible to observe the ring shape, in addition to the effect of the water’s luminescence having lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold.
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