Corona Threshold and the Range of Velocities of Pulse Spread in Geiger Counters

Abstract

By using the writer's expression for a self-sustaining burst pulse corona and Alder, Baldinger, Huber, and Metzger's expression for the propagation of a Geiger pulse along the anode wire in coaxial cylindrical counter geometry, the limits of the velocity of spread of counter pulses can clearly be delineated. The interpretations resulting clarify the significance of the previously assumed fictive average distance of spread. These relations are illustrated in terms of the observations of E. Huber on ${\mathrm{O}}_2$-${\mathrm{N}}_2$ mixtures.