Radiation that has enough energy to ionize the atoms and thus dissipate energy in matter is referred to as ionizing radiation.
Indirectly ionizing radation is commonly stated as not directly producing ionization of atoms in the medium. BUT THEY CAN, they can cause ionization in single interactions producing charged
particles (e.g. electrons or positrons), which are the agents for causing futher ionizations and excitations in the medium. For instance, if we assume that in a Compton interaction a photon produces an electron of 1 MeV in air, this amounts to one ionization in air by the photon.
However, the 1 MeV electron goes on to produce (1,000,000/33.97) ionizations in air. So photons or neutrons are indirectly ionizing radiation.
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