Undergrad High Energy Photon Recieved as Lesser Energy Photons?

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High energy photons can indeed be received as multiple lower energy photons through processes like spontaneous parametric down-conversion, where a single photon is absorbed and re-emitted by non-linear materials. In high-energy scenarios, such as gamma rays, pair production may occur, but requires additional interactions, typically with nuclei for momentum conservation. This process often results in the creation of an electron-positron pair, which, upon annihilation, produces two photons of lower energy (511 keV each). The discussion highlights the complexities of photon behavior under different conditions, particularly in high-density environments like the early universe. Overall, the transformation of high energy photons into lesser energy forms is a well-documented phenomenon in quantum physics.
Chris Frisella
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Is it possible (and has it been observed) where a single high energy photon is emitted, but then is received as multiple lower energy photons?
 
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This can happen when the photon is absorbed and re-emitted through some "non-linear" materials. See Spontaneous parametric down-conversion.

I don't know if at high photon energies (gamma rays) in vacuum you could get pair production and then recombination producing different number of photons. Maybe someone else can answer that.
 
Pair production requires something in addition to the gamma ray. At high enough density (right after the big bang) it can be photon+photon.

On Earth pair production takes place by interacting with nuclei (necessary for momentum conservation). Typical result is production of electron-positron pair. The positron gets annihilated with an electron to produce two 511 kev photons, which is less than the original gamma ray (> 1022 kev).
 
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Thank you both!
 
Time reversal invariant Hamiltonians must satisfy ##[H,\Theta]=0## where ##\Theta## is time reversal operator. However, in some texts (for example see Many-body Quantum Theory in Condensed Matter Physics an introduction, HENRIK BRUUS and KARSTEN FLENSBERG, Corrected version: 14 January 2016, section 7.1.4) the time reversal invariant condition is introduced as ##H=H^*##. How these two conditions are identical?

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