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Gamma rays, at the high-frequency end of the spectrum, have the highest photon energies and the shortest wavelengths—much smaller than an atomic nucleus. Gamma rays, X-rays, and extreme ultraviolet rays are called ionizing radiation because their high photon energy is able to ionize atoms, causing chemical reactions. Longer-wavelength ...
With frequencies above 30 exahertz (3 × 10 19 Hz) and wavelengths less than 10 picometers (1 × 10 −11 m), gamma ray photons have the highest photon energy of any form of electromagnetic radiation. Paul Villard, a French chemist and physicist, discovered gamma radiation in 1900 while studying radiation emitted by radium.
Ultra-high-energy gamma rays are gamma rays with photon energies higher than 100 TeV (0.1 PeV). They have a frequency higher than 2.42 × 10 28 Hz and a wavelength shorter than 1.24 × 10 −20 m. The existence of these rays was confirmed in 2019. [ 1 ]
Lower frequencies have longer wavelengths, and higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, and are associated with photons of higher energy. There is no fundamental limit known to these wavelengths or energies, at either end of the spectrum, although photons with energies near the Planck energy or exceeding it (far too high to have ever been ...
This is unlike cosmic rays which have their direction of travel scrambled by magnetic fields. Sources that produce cosmic rays will almost certainly produce gamma rays as well, as the cosmic ray particles interact with nuclei or electrons to produce photons or neutral pions which in turn decay to ultra-high-energy photons .
X-rays are electromagnetic waves with a wavelength less than about 10 −9 m (greater than 3 × 10 17 Hz and 1240 eV). A smaller wavelength corresponds to a higher energy according to the equation E = h c/λ. (E is Energy; h is the Planck constant; c is the speed of light; λ is wavelength.) When an X-ray photon collides with an atom, the atom ...
Gamma-ray astronomy is a subfield of astronomy where scientists observe and study celestial objects and phenomena in outer space which emit cosmic electromagnetic radiation in the form of gamma rays, [nb 1] i.e. photons with the highest energies (above 100 keV) at the very shortest wavelengths.
Gamma-ray bursts are very bright as observed from Earth despite their typically immense distances. An average long GRB has a bolometric flux comparable to a bright star of our galaxy despite a distance of billions of light years (compared to a few tens of light years for most visible stars). Most of this energy is released in gamma rays ...