Radioactive diffusion without complete signal annihilation

Abstract

The radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE) is a non-contact phenomenon in which cells undergo genetic mutations despite the lack of a direct radiation traversal. In traditional models of the effect, the radiation-carrying signals travel through a medium via random walks and are annihilated upon causing successful mutations. In this paper, we analyze the effect of removing immediate signal annihilation upon successful contact. We find that the removal of immediate signal annihilation is significant only when the initial dosage, the mean number of re-emitted signals, or the probability of mutations are high. Future researchers may take the result into consideration when building models of RIBE.