ABSTRACT
In Section 1.8.1, we introduced the concept of the MonteCarlo calculation as applied to the generation of the detector
response function. The approach has been very successful with the main proponents being David Joy [4] at the University of Tennessee, USA, Manfred Geretschlager [5] of Johannes Kepler University, Austria, and Ian Campbell [6]. The idea is to simulate the actual statistical process event by event, incorporating all the processes that are considered likely to influence the final spectral distribution. The results should always converge on a given form as the number of events simulated increases, hopefully indicating the origin of any features. It, of course, relies on some analytical expressions, probability distributions, and look-up tables for experimental values. Often, Monte-Carlo calculations are used as part of an analytical approach as, for example, done by Shunji Goto [7] of Fujitsu Ltd. in Japan, in describing the energy loss process of the photo and Auger electrons. Both the empirical approach and the Monte-Carlo approach rely on a good understanding and proper application of the all physical processes involved. Before discussing the results of such models, we will now look at these processes.
