Photodisintegration (also called phototransmutation, or a photonuclear reaction) is a nuclear process in which an

atomic nucleus The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford at the Department_of_Physics_and_Astronomy,_University_of_Manchester , University of Manchester ...

absorbs a high-energy

gamma ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol ), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from high energy interactions like the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei or astronomical events like solar flares. It consists o ...

, enters an excited state, and immediately decays by emitting a subatomic particle. The incoming gamma ray effectively knocks one or more

neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The Discovery of the neutron, neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nucle ...

proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...

s, or an

alpha particle Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay but may also be produce ...

out of the nucleus. The reactions are called (γ,n), (γ,p), and (γ,α), respectively. Photodisintegration is

endothermic An endothermic process is a chemical or physical process that absorbs heat from its surroundings. In terms of thermodynamics, it is a thermodynamic process with an increase in the enthalpy (or internal energy ) of the system.Oxtoby, D. W; Gillis, ...

(energy absorbing) for atomic nuclei lighter than

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and sometimes exothermic (energy releasing) for atomic nuclei heavier than

. Photodisintegration is responsible for the

nucleosynthesis Nucleosynthesis is the process that creates new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons (protons and neutrons) and nuclei. According to current theories, the first nuclei were formed a few minutes after the Big Bang, through nuclear reactions in ...

of at least some heavy, proton-rich elements via the p-process in

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

e of type Ib, Ic, or II. This causes the iron to further fuse into the heavier elements.

Photodisintegration of deuterium

A photon carrying 2.22 MeV or more energy can photodisintegrate an atom of

deuterium Deuterium (hydrogen-2, symbol H or D, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen; the other is protium, or hydrogen-1, H. The deuterium nucleus (deuteron) contains one proton and one neutron, whereas the far more c ...

: :

James Chadwick Sir James Chadwick (20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974) was an English nuclear physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935 for his discovery of the neutron. In 1941, he wrote the final draft of the MAUD Report, which inspired t ...

and Maurice Goldhaber used this reaction to measure the proton-neutron mass difference. This experiment proves that a neutron is not a bound state of a proton and an electron, as had been proposed by

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both Atomic physics, atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nu ...

Photodisintegration of beryllium

photon A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless particles that can ...

carrying 1.67 MeV or more energy can photodisintegrate an atom of beryllium-9 (100% of natural beryllium, its only stable isotope): : Antimony-124 is assembled with beryllium to make laboratory

neutron source A neutron source is any device that emits neutrons, irrespective of the mechanism used to produce the neutrons. Neutron sources are used in physics, engineering, medicine, nuclear weapons, petroleum exploration, biology, chemistry, and nuclear p ...

s and startup neutron sources. Antimony-124 (half-life 60.20 days) emits β− and 1.690 MeV gamma rays (also 0.602 MeV and 9 fainter emissions from 0.645 to 2.090 MeV), yielding stable tellurium-124. Gamma rays from antimony-124 split beryllium-9 into two alpha particles and a neutron with an average kinetic energy of 24 keV (a so-called intermediate neutron in terms of energy): : Other isotopes have higher thresholds for photoneutron production, as high as 18.72 MeV, for

carbon-12 Carbon-12 (12C) is the most abundant of the two stable isotopes of carbon ( carbon-13 being the other), amounting to 98.93% of element carbon on Earth; its abundance is due to the triple-alpha process by which it is created in stars. Carbon-1 ...

Hypernovae

In explosions of very large stars (250 or more

solar mass The solar mass () is a frequently used unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is approximately equal to the mass of the Sun. It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxie ...

es), photodisintegration is a major factor in the

event. As the star reaches the end of its life, it reaches temperatures and pressures where photodisintegration's energy-absorbing effects temporarily reduce pressure and temperature within the star's core. This causes the core to start to collapse as energy is taken away by photodisintegration, and the collapsing core leads to the formation of a

black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...

. A portion of mass escapes in the form of relativistic jets, which could have "sprayed" the first metals into the universe.

Photodisintegration in lightning

Terrestrial lightnings produce high-speed electrons that create bursts of gamma-rays as bremsstrahlung. The energy of these rays is sometimes sufficient to start photonuclear reactions resulting in emitted neutrons. One such reaction, (γ,n), is the only natural process other than those induced by

cosmic rays Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar ...

in which is produced on Earth. The unstable isotopes remaining from the reaction may subsequently emit positrons by β⁺ decay.

Photofission

Photofission is a similar but distinct process, in which a nucleus, after absorbing a gamma ray, undergoes

nuclear fission Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radioactiv ...

(splits into two fragments of nearly equal mass).

References