Examples
- γ → e− + e+
In nuclear physics, this occurs when a high-energy photon interacts with a nucleus. The energy of this photon can be converted into mass through Einstein's equation E = m c2 where E is energy, m is mass and c is the speed of light. The photon must have enough energy to create the mass of an electron plus a positron. The mass of an electron is 9.11 × 10−31 kg, the same as a positron. Without a nucleus to absorb momentum, a photon decaying into electron-positron pair (or other pairs for that matter) can never conserve energy and momentum simultaneously.
Read more about this topic: Pair Production
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