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Hi all - just a bit confused about an answer in the AQA AS Physics textbook:
'Explain why a photon of energy 2MeV could produce an electron - positron pair, but not a proton - antiproton pair'
and the ANSWER is:
'The rest energy of an electron and a positron is less than 2MeV but not for a proton-antiproton pair, So pair production can happen for an electron and positron'
I don't understand the answer, so pair production can not happen if the rest energy of the particle-antiparticle pair is less than the minimum energy of the carrier photon? is this correct?
'Explain why a photon of energy 2MeV could produce an electron - positron pair, but not a proton - antiproton pair'
and the ANSWER is:
'The rest energy of an electron and a positron is less than 2MeV but not for a proton-antiproton pair, So pair production can happen for an electron and positron'
I don't understand the answer, so pair production can not happen if the rest energy of the particle-antiparticle pair is less than the minimum energy of the carrier photon? is this correct?