Title: pair production
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - pair production
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.P04398
Status: current

Definition
The simultaneous formation of an electron and a positron as a result of the interaction of a photon of sufficient energy (> \(1.02\ \rm{MeV}\)) with the field of a particle.

Related Terms
- electron: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/E01975
- particle: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/N04237
- photon: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04627
- positron: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04769

Source
- PAC, 1982, 54, 1533. 'Glossary of terms used in nuclear analytical chemistry (Provisional)' on page 1547 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198254081533)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04398/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04398/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04398/xml

Citation: Citation: 'pair production' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.P04398
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-19T20:02:58+00:00