- #1
Gonzolo
Can 1 photon become 2 pairs? (Edited 17 Aug 2004)
Hi, what happens if the energy of a photon is more than that of an e- and an e+, can it create two pairs instead or will the 1st pair simply have more kinetic energy? Or are other types of particles involved?
Added August 17 2004 :
Yeah, yeah I won't forget now, you need 2 photons to make an e+ e- pair because of C. of Momentum. A stupid drawing in an otherwise good book shows one only becoming a pair and has remained in my head like the Smurf's theme song. I thus translate the question to :
Can 2 photons become 2 pairs?
Or more generally :
Is <number of photons> / <number of pairs> necessarily 1?
Or even more generally, what happens if the energy of a single photon is much more than (1/2)mc2, where m is the mass of an electron?
Hi, what happens if the energy of a photon is more than that of an e- and an e+, can it create two pairs instead or will the 1st pair simply have more kinetic energy? Or are other types of particles involved?
Added August 17 2004 :
Yeah, yeah I won't forget now, you need 2 photons to make an e+ e- pair because of C. of Momentum. A stupid drawing in an otherwise good book shows one only becoming a pair and has remained in my head like the Smurf's theme song. I thus translate the question to :
Can 2 photons become 2 pairs?
Or more generally :
Is <number of photons> / <number of pairs> necessarily 1?
Or even more generally, what happens if the energy of a single photon is much more than (1/2)mc2, where m is the mass of an electron?
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