The discussion revolves around estimating the energy loss of electrons before they reach a detector, specifically using the concept of stopping power in particle physics. The original poster expresses uncertainty about integrating the stopping power function to calculate energy loss.
Some participants provide clarifications on the integration process and the dependence of stopping power on various factors. There is an ongoing exploration of the mathematical formulation, but no explicit consensus has been reached regarding the solution.
Participants note that the stopping power is influenced by the energy of the particle and the medium it traverses, suggesting that a specific model may be necessary for a complete solution.
That is the stopping power, but for the energy loss, you've forgotten to write dx, to show what variable you are integrating over. And about the solution, the stopping power will depend on the energy of the particle, and the medium its going through, etc, so you'll need to use a particular model to find a solution. This might be useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopping_power_(particle_radiation )m3h said:Stopping power=-dE/dx
Energy loss=∫-dE/dx (I think)
m3h said:When you said I needed to add dx, did you mean I should write ∫(dE/dx)dx? Doesn't dx disappear then?
Shouldn't it be enough to solve the diff equation above?