On some fluctuation problems connected with the counting of impulses produced by a geiger-müller counter or ionisation chamber

Abstract

In the present article we shall deal with some quantities which are of importance in counting the kicks of a Geigercounter or ionisation chamber arising from some constant or decaying radioactive source. We will first derive the sensibility and the statistical fluctuations of the counting rate meter, using the direct method first indicated by Ornstein and a more classical method for one special case. We also wish to calculate some of these quantities for the case of a scaling set and a mechanical recorder with finite resolving powers. It is shown that in this case the fluctuations are greater (but not much) than in the case of infinite resolving powers.