Abstract
SOME time ago we described a method1 for calculating rigorously (neglecting screening) the cross–section for production of electron–positron pairs in the field of a nucleus by a beam of γ–rays. This method also gave the energy distribution of the electrons or positrons. Results were given for lead, atomic number Ζ = 82, for γ–rays of energies ℏν = 5 mc2 and 3 mc2, and were in reasonably good agreement with experiments on pairs produced in thin foils. Calculations have now been made for Ζ = 54, ℏν = 5 mc2, to enable direct comparison to be made with Wilson chamber experiments on xenon and iodine. The final results contain about 20 per cent of (additive) extrapolated terms and should be accurate to about 10 per cent. The old calculation for lead has been extended and a small error corrected: the revised figures are given below.
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References
Jaeger and Hulme, Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 153, 443 (1936). See also; NATURE, 137, 781 (1936).
Bethe and Heitler, Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 146, 83 (1934).
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JAEGER, J. Production of Electron Pairs. Nature 148, 86 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148086b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148086b0
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