Beta decay

[gonelli]

I've been learning about radioactive decay recently, and was wondering about some of the particles given off in beta decay.

Do the neutrino or antineutrino, given off in positron emission and electron emission respectively, cause any noticable effects to surrounding matter?

Do the presence of these particles result in other forms of radiation being given off?

[Klaynos]

No, nutrinos are very very very uninteractive, which means the probability of them having a noticeable interaction with another particle they pass close to is very low.

 

To detect them we have created very complicated very large detectors under mountains to try and increase the likelyhood of a large interaction.

 

Depending on the definition of radiation you use they are radiation, but do not cause other decays as far as I know.

[gonelli]

Ok, i see.

 

Do you think that maybe you could have antineutrinos coming into contact with neutrinos or other normal matter (or vice versa), and matter being turned into energy? Or would that also be as unlikely and hard to detect?

[swansont]

There are papers discussing neutrino/antineutrino annihilation (you can Google on this), but I think the details depend on the exact nature of the neutrinos, which is still under investigation.

 

I don't think you'd get photons, because the interaction would be via the weak force, though you might get them via a higher-order interaction. I think you'd get electron and/or muon particle/antiparticle pairs.

[grifter]

The annihilation of neutrinos and antineutrinos results in the formation of (e+)(e-) pair Plasma.

 

if anyone would like me to post a little more (Okay so it's quite allot...) regarding the nature of the plasma produced as a result of the above: post below

[gonelli]

if you have the time, please do post "a little more"

[lakmilis]

if you have the time, please do post "a little more"

 

I concur ~~ isn't that some of the ideas which some Japanese researcher claimed helped his now disproven claims of cold fusion?

[imp]

I concur ~~ isn't that some of the ideas which some Japanese researcher claimed helped his now disproven claims of cold fusion?

 

There is always something new under the sun. Cold fusion is not one of them. imp

[grifter]

sorry, it's a bit late, but with the current work-load I'm faced with I'm suprised I havent premenantly bonded with the chair:

Anyway, without further ado I shal Impart some knowledge as to the nature of this resulting e+ e- plasma: (p.s. sorry if its a bit rushed and un-explaned but I've got some exam revision to do...)

 

In order to estimate the properties of the e+e- plasma, the following experiment was conducted (If my memory serves) a thermal energy of ~10^50 ergs was "put" into a 1.5 solar mass neutron star the stellar-evolution was then tracked: The efficiency of (e+)(e-) pair production was ~3% and the entropy of the plasma to be ~10^10 per baryon. This is a large value !!!

Therfore I expect the energy of the (e+)(e-) pair plasma to be in the region 10^51 to 10^52 ergs.

which for those of you who like to work in Joules ~ 1×10^46 joules

hope this helps