- #1
FredMadison
- 47
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When an electron and a positron annihilate, they typically produce two gamma rays, each of energy mc^2 plus whatever kinetic energy available before annihilation. I was recently told that it is an experimental fact that the electrostatic energy between the electron and the positron does NOT contribute to the photon energies. The person who told me used this to argue that the extra, not accounted for, energy must be carried away by another medium.
I got curious and browsed around a bit, but I haven't found any mention of this effect.
Does anyone know what the experiments say about this? Is the Coulomb energy accounted for?
I got curious and browsed around a bit, but I haven't found any mention of this effect.
Does anyone know what the experiments say about this? Is the Coulomb energy accounted for?