[quote] They don’t behave like light does. There is no such thing as a ‘camera’ (and our eye is a camera) that could focus these particles and form retinal images. [/quote]
Correct. HOWEVER. Not 100% true. There is a way that was used in very early accelerators, for example in the early fixed target experiments where the “beam” was of fairly low energy (by modern standards).
At many experimental sites at BNL (Brookhaven), you stand only a few feet from the particle beam, separated by a chain link fence. While not advisable for the last 30 or 40 years. Very early on, these fences weren’t in place and people would move the targets and equipment with the beam on.
They would locate the beam using their eyes. It wasn’t visible directly, but if you got your eyes directly in the beam, the charged particles would pass through the liquid in your eye with a velocity greater than the speed of light in the liquid. This resulted in Cerenkov radiation, which is light and which your eyeball’s rods and cones could detect.
According to some older scientists I was working with you saw sparks and glittering light, sort of like eyeball ‘floaters’ but glowing.
Now, I don’t think this was a good idea even at the time, and certainly a bad idea today, because you are literally shooting a beam of charged particles through your brain, and if that’s not going to cause cancer, I really don’t know what will.
But it is a way of “seeing” this sort of radiation directly.
Not happening here though, not in the book.
And do not try at home, assuming, like Sheldon Cooper, you can build your own home particle accelerator.