pair production

American  

noun

1. Physics. the simultaneous creation of a particle and its antiparticle by a nucleus or particle in an excited state, as when a photon is absorbed.

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pair production British  

noun

1. the production of an electron and a positron from a gamma-ray photon in a strong field as that passes close to an atomic nucleus

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pair production Scientific  

/ pâr /

1. The simultaneous creation of a subatomic particle and its antiparticle from some other particle or a field fluctuation. A high-energy gamma ray photon, for example, can spontaneously create an electron-positron pair in a strong electric field. Pair production is essential to theories of particle physics; pair production from gamma rays is used to detect such rays in pair production telescopes, since electrons and positrons are easily detected.

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Etymology

Origin of pair production

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

This increases the rate of pair production so that the process grows exponentially until the black hole is nuclear in size.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015