Electromagnetic radiation with high energies and a typcial wavelength of less than 10 picometers.
Questions tagged [gamma-rays]
279 questions
58
votes
5 answers
Why did the gamma ray burst from GW170817 lag two seconds behind the gravitational wave?
The ABC, reporting on the announcement of gravitational wave GW170817, explained that for the first time we could identify the precise source of a gravitational wave because we also observed the event in the electromagnetic spectrum. It notes…
curiousdannii
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42
votes
7 answers
Do nuclei emit photons?
Generally in text books they say that when a electron goes from high energy state to a lower energy state it emits photons.
My question is, it is possible that a proton that goes from high energy state to a lower energy state emits photons too?
amilton moreira
- 535
42
votes
3 answers
Why does a mirror reflect visible light but not gamma rays?
Visible light (~500 THz) as well as gamma rays (~100 EHz) are electromagnetic radiation but we can reflect visible light using a glass mirror but not gamma rays. Why is that?
MrV
- 551
21
votes
6 answers
Why does matter/antimatter only produce gamma rays?
According to wikipedia, all antimatter annihilation produces gamma rays (along with potentially other elements).
Why specifically Gamma rays? Why not electromagnetic waves of other wavelength?
Charles Shiller
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21
votes
4 answers
How is Earth protected from the gamma rays generated by the Sun?
The Sun is generating energy by nuclear fusion. This nuclear fusion will emit energy in the form of gamma rays.
Normally, the earth's ozone layer filters the ultraviolet radiation while the earth's magnetic field deflects cosmic rays (charged…
sugunan
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19
votes
2 answers
What makes the thorium-229 nuclear transition special?
Thorium-229 has a famous isomer with an excitation energy of only about 7.8 eV. As I gather from the wikipedia page, this transition was discovered essentially by accident from gamma ray spectroscopy. It's gotten clock gurus all excited recently…
Yly
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16
votes
3 answers
Where do gamma ray photons come from?
I'm a layman interested in learning more about nuclear radiation.
Heavy elements like plutonium or uranium will eject protons and neutrons as alpha particles, electrons as beta particles, and photons as gamma radiation in an attempt to become more…
BasicMann
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11
votes
4 answers
Why we don't use gamma rays, x-rays or ultraviolet to transmit data?
The greater the frequency range of a transmission medium, the greater the number of bits per second it can transmit. In other words, the bigger the bandwidth in hertz available, the bigger the bandwidth in bits per second that can be…
user96769
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10
votes
1 answer
Can we excite a nucleus by means of very intense low energy gamma-photon irradiation?
The phenomenon of multi-photon ionization of atoms has been studied, both theoretically and experimentally, for several decades. Intense laser beam devices are the apparatuses used for the experimental study of this phenomenon.
QUESTION:
Would it…
JKL
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10
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3 answers
Is the direction of gamma-ray emission by a nucleus totally random?
Let's consider an excited nucleus emitting one gamma-ray (not cascade etc). Is the direction of gamma-ray emission completely random? In other words, is the probability to detect this gamma equal for any angle?
Will the answer change in case of…
Martino
- 988
8
votes
1 answer
What produces this 477 keV spectral line?
Question about a specific line on a gamma spectrum, here. Below is a background gamma spectrum observed by a Ge[li] detector.
I've been able to identify all the lines with mostly certainty, apart from one, highlighted, at 477 keV. I'm not sure…
Matt
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What's the difference between Hard X-rays and Gamma-rays?
So I'm aware of this and this, but the question is Are Hard X-rays and Gamma-rays the same thing?
If not, then what would be the key difference between them. Moreover, How much would the properties of each type differ from each other?
I'd appreciate…
DarkLumiere
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7
votes
1 answer
Why do we need to build photon colliders? Since electron-position colliders are very "clean"
What's the advantage of gamma-gamma colliders? What new physics can be done with it?
Reference: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/beamline/26/1/26-1-kim.pdf
Ballistics
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7
votes
2 answers
Puzzled by a new result on neutrino speeds
In a paper appearing today on arXiv, Wie et al. have used the close coincidence of the time of arrival of gamma rays from GRBs and the detection of single 3-30 TeV neutrinos at the IceCube observatory, to say that the velocity difference between…
ProfRob
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7
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2 answers
Do x-rays and gamma rays also contain photons like visible light does?
Do x-rays and gamma rays also contain photons like visible light does? If so, then what makes photons of visible light and other waves different?
The rest mass of a photon is zero, but as it moves at the speed of light, its mass is infinite. By…
syed_ali_mousvi
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