The discharge mechanism of self-quenching Geiger-Mueller counters

the mechanism of the discharge propagation along the anode had never been clarified. I used a split counter with variable spacing between the cathodes to show that the propagation was caused by absorption of the photons emitted in the discharge. The photons were of sufficient energy to ionize the molecules of the quenching gas. This is a copy of my Ph.D. thesis as printed in Physical Review.