Photon pair production occurs when a gamma-ray photon passes near a nucleus or an electron and is converted into an electron-positron pair. This process is crucial for understanding high-energy phenomena in particle physics and is a manifestation of energy-matter equivalence in quantum mechanics.

Photon Pair Production

Gamma-ray photon

An electron-positron pair is a fundamental particle interaction where a photon decays into an electron and its antiparticle, the positron, conserving energy and momentum. This process is significant in quantum electrodynamics and is a key example of particle-antiparticle pair production in quantum physics.

Electron-positron Pair

High-energy phenomena

Particle physics is the branch of physics that studies the fundamental constituents of matter and the forces that govern their interactions. By exploring subatomic particles like quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons, it seeks to understand the underlying principles of the universe, often through high-energy experiments like those conducted in particle accelerators.

Particle Physics

Energy-matter equivalence

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that describes the physical properties of nature at the smallest scales, such as atoms and subatomic particles. It introduces concepts like wave-particle duality, uncertainty principle, and quantum entanglement, which challenge classical intuitions about the behavior of matter and energy.

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