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The two types of beta decay are known as beta minus and beta plus.In beta minus (β −) decay, a neutron is converted to a proton, and the process creates an electron and an electron antineutrino; while in beta plus (β +) decay, a proton is converted to a neutron and the process creates a positron and an electron neutrino. β + decay is also known as positron emission.
Later, beta decay was understood to occur by the emission of a weak boson (W ±), sometimes called a charged weak current. Beta decay specifically involves the emission of a W − boson from one of the down quarks hidden within the neutron, thereby converting the down quark into an up quark and consequently the neutron into a proton. The ...
Decay of a W boson to other products can happen, with varying probabilities. [18] In the so-called beta decay of a neutron (see picture, above), a down quark within the neutron emits a virtual W − boson and is thereby converted into an up quark, converting the neutron into a proton.
In nuclear physics, neutron decay may refer to: Neutron emission by an atomic nucleus; Free neutron decay; Beta decay of a neutron inside an atomic nucleus;
There are 251 known so-called stable nuclides. Many of these in theory could decay through spontaneous fission, alpha decay, double beta decay, etc. with a very long half-life, but no radioactive decay has yet been observed. Thus, the number of stable nuclides is subject to change if some of these 251 are determined to be very long-lived ...
Fermi first introduced this coupling in his description of beta decay in 1933. [3] The Fermi interaction was the precursor to the theory for the weak interaction where the interaction between the proton–neutron and electron–antineutrino is mediated by a virtual W − boson, of which the Fermi theory is the low-energy effective field theory.
A beta particle, also called beta ray or beta radiation (symbol β), is a high-energy, high-speed electron or positron emitted by the radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus, known as beta decay. There are two forms of beta decay, β − decay and β + decay, which produce electrons and positrons, respectively.
Shortly after the discovery of the neutron in 1932, Enrico Fermi realized that certain rare beta-decay reactions immediately yield neutrons as an additional decay particle, so called beta-delayed neutron emission. Neutron emission usually happens from nuclei that are in an excited state, such as the excited 17 O* produced from the beta decay of ...