ABSTRACT
In a number of ways detectors are more fundamental in expanding our knowledge of particle physics than accelerators are. After the collision of a particle beam with some target detection of what happens becomes the key task. When a charged particle moves through a medium it will interact with the fundamental constituents of that medium: its nuclei and electrons. It can lose energy via three basic means: ionization, coulomb scattering, and radiation. Its primary interactions are with the atomic electrons of the medium, and this forms the dominant mode of energy loss. The stopping power can be calculated for the different ways that the particle can lose energy. Electromagnetism, being long range, will tend to scatter incident charged particles from those in the medium. Charged particles radiate electromagnetic energy when they accelerate or decelerate.
