Internal conversion is an atomic decay process where an excited nucleus interacts electromagnetically with one of the orbital electrons of an atom. This causes the electron to be emitted (ejected) from the atom.[1][2] Thus, in internal conversion (often abbreviated IC), a high-energy electron is emitted from the excited atom, but not from the nucleus. For this reason, the high-speed electrons resulting from internal conversion are not called beta particles, since the latter come from beta decay, where they are newly created in the nuclear decay process.
IC is possible whenever gamma decay is possible, except if the atom is fully ionized. In IC, the atomic number does not change, and thus there is no transmutation of one element to another. Also, neutrinos and the weak force are not involved in IC.
Since an electron is lost from the atom, a hole appears in an electron aura which is subsequently filled by other electrons that descend to the empty, yet lower energy level, and in the process emit characteristic X-ray(s), Auger electron(s), or both. The atom thus emits high-energy electrons and X-ray photons, none of which originate in that nucleus. The atom supplies the energy needed to eject the electron, which in turn causes the latter events and the other emissions.
Since primary electrons from IC carry a fixed (large) part of the characteristic decay energy, they have a discrete energy spectrum, rather than the spread (continuous) spectrum characteristic of beta particles. Whereas the energy spectrum of beta particles plots as a broad hump, the energy spectrum of internally converted electrons plots as a single sharp peak (see example below).
Mechanism
In the quantum model of the electron, there is non-zero probability of finding the electron within the nucleus. In internal conversion, the wavefunction of an inner shell electron (usually an s electron) penetrates the nucleus. When this happens, the electron may couple to an excited energy state of the nucleus and take the energy of the nuclear transition directly, without an intermediate gamma ray being first produced. The kinetic energy of the emitted electron is equal to the transition energy in the nucleus, minus the binding energy of the electron to the atom.
Most IC electrons come from the K shell (the 1s state), as these two electrons have the highest probability of being within the nucleus. However, the s states in the L, M, and N shells (i.e., the 2s, 3s, and 4s states) are also able to couple to the nuclear fields and cause IC electron ejections from those shells (called L or M or N internal conversion). Ratios of K-shell to other L, M, or N shell internal conversion probabilities for various nuclides have been prepared.[3]
An amount of energy exceeding the atomic binding energy of the s electron must be supplied to that electron in order to eject it from the atom to result in IC; that is to say, internal conversion cannot happen if the decay energy of the nucleus is less than a certain threshold.
Though s electrons are more likely for IC due to their superior nuclear penetration compared to electrons with greater orbital angular momentum, spectral studies show that p electrons (from shells L and higher) are occasionally ejected in the IC process. There are also a few radionuclides in which the decay energy is not sufficient to convert (eject) a 1s (K shell) electron, and these nuclides, to decay by internal conversion, must decay by ejecting electrons from the L or M or N shells (i.e., by ejecting 2s, 3s, or 4s electrons) as these binding energies are lower.
After the IC electron is emitted, the atom is left with a vacancy in one of its electron shells, usually an inner one. This hole will be filled with an electron from one of the higher shells, which causes another outer electron to fill its place in turn, causing a cascade. Consequently, one or more characteristic X-rays or Auger electrons will be emitted as the remaining electrons in the atom cascade down to fill the vacancies.
Example: decay of 203Hg
Decay scheme of HgElectron spectrum of Hg, according to Wapstra et al., Physica 20 (1954) 169
The decay scheme on the left shows that 203Hg produces a continuous beta spectrum with maximum energy 214 keV, that leads to an excited state of the daughter nucleus 203Tl. This state decays very quickly (within 2.8×10−10s) to the ground state of 203Tl, emitting a gamma quantum of 279keV.
The figure on the right shows the electron spectrum of 203Hg, measured by means of a magnetic spectrometer. It includes the continuous beta spectrum and K-, L-, and M-lines due to internal conversion. Since the binding energy of the K electrons in 203Tl is 85 keV, the K line has an energy of 279 − 85 = 194 keV. Due to lesser binding energies, the L- and M-lines have higher energies. Due to the finite energy resolution of the spectrometer, the "lines" have a Gaussian shape of finite width.
When the process is expected
Internal conversion is favored whenever the energy available for a gamma transition is small, and it is also the primary mode of de-excitation for 0+→0+ (i.e. E0) transitions. The 0+→0+ transitions occur where an excited nucleus has zero-spin and positive parity, and decays to a ground state which also has zero-spin and positive parity (such as all nuclides with even number of protons and neutrons). In such cases, de-excitation cannot take place by emission of a gamma ray, since this would violate conservation of angular momentum, hence other mechanisms like IC predominate. This also shows that internal conversion (contrary to its name) is not a two-step process where a gamma ray would be first emitted and then converted.
Internal Conversion Coefficient for E1 transitions for Z = 40, 60, and 80 according to the tables by Sliv and Band, as a function of the transition energy.
The competition between IC and gamma decay is quantified in the form of the internal conversion coefficient which is defined as where is the rate of conversion electrons and is the rate of gamma-ray emission observed from a decaying nucleus. For example, in the decay of the excited state at 35 keV of 125Te (which is produced by the decay of 125I), 7% of decays emit energy as a gamma ray, while 93% release energy as conversion electrons. Therefore, this excited state of 125 Te has an IC coefficient of .
For increasing atomic number (Z) and decreasing gamma-ray energy, IC coefficients increase. For example, calculated IC coefficients for electric dipole (E1) transitions, for Z = 40, 60, and 80, are shown in the figure.[4]
The energy of the emitted gamma ray is a precise measure of the difference in energy between the excited states of the decaying nucleus. In the case of conversion electrons, the binding energy must also be taken into account: The energy of a conversion electron is given as , where and are the energies of the nucleus in its initial and final states, respectively, while is the binding energy of the electron.
Similar processes
Nuclei with zero-spin and high excitation energies (more than about 1.022 MeV) also can't rid themselves of energy by (single) gamma emission due to the constraint imposed by conservation of momentum, but they do have enough decay energy to decay by pair production.[5] In this type of decay, an electron and positron are both emitted from the atom at the same time, and conservation of angular momentum is solved by having these two product particles spin in opposite directions.
IC should not be confused with the similar photoelectric effect. When a gamma ray emitted by the nucleus of an atom hits another atom, it may be absorbed producing a photoelectron of well-defined energy (this used to be called "external conversion"). In IC, however, the process happens within one atom, and without a real intermediate gamma ray.
Just as an atom may produce an IC electron instead of a gamma ray if energy is available from within the nucleus, so an atom may produce an Auger electron instead of an X-ray if an electron is missing from one of the low-lying electron shells. (The first process can even precipitate the second one.) Like IC electrons, Auger electrons have a discrete energy, resulting in a sharp energy peak in the spectrum.
Electron capture also involves an inner shell electron, which in this case is retained in the nucleus (changing the atomic number) and leaving the atom (not nucleus) in an excited state. The atom missing an inner electron can relax by a cascade of X-ray emissions as higher energy electrons in the atom fall to fill the vacancy left in the electron cloud by the captured electron. Such atoms also typically exhibit Auger electron emission. Electron capture, like beta decay, also typically results in excited atomic nuclei, which may then relax to a state of lowest nuclear energy by any of the methods permitted by spin constraints, including gamma decay and internal conversion decay.
Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished from each other by the number of protons that are in their atoms. For example, any atom that contains 11 protons is sodium, and any atom that contains 29 protons is copper. Atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons are called isotopes of the same element.
Alpha decay or α-decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle and thereby transforms or "decays" into a different atomic nucleus, with a mass number that is reduced by four and an atomic number that is reduced by two. An alpha particle is identical to the nucleus of a helium-4 atom, which consists of two protons and two neutrons. It has a charge of +2 e and a mass of 4 Da. For example, uranium-238 decays to form thorium-234.
The Auger effect or Auger−Meitner effect is a physical phenomenon in which the filling of an inner-shell vacancy of an atom is accompanied by the emission of an electron from the same atom. When a core electron is removed, leaving a vacancy, an electron from a higher energy level may fall into the vacancy, resulting in a release of energy. For light atoms (Z<12), this energy is most often transferred to a valence electron which is subsequently ejected from the atom. This second ejected electron is called an Auger electron. For heavier atomic nuclei, the release of the energy in the form of an emitted photon becomes gradually more probable.
In nuclear physics, beta decay (β-decay) is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits a beta particle, transforming into an isobar of that nuclide. For example, beta decay of a neutron transforms it into a proton by the emission of an electron accompanied by an antineutrino; or, conversely a proton is converted into a neutron by the emission of a positron with a neutrino in so-called positron emission. Neither the beta particle nor its associated (anti-)neutrino exist within the nucleus prior to beta decay, but are created in the decay process. By this process, unstable atoms obtain a more stable ratio of protons to neutrons. The probability of a nuclide decaying due to beta and other forms of decay is determined by its nuclear binding energy. The binding energies of all existing nuclides form what is called the nuclear band or valley of stability. For either electron or positron emission to be energetically possible, the energy release or Q value must be positive.
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Auger electron spectroscopy is a common analytical technique used specifically in the study of surfaces and, more generally, in the area of materials science. It is a form of electron spectroscopy that relies on the Auger effect, based on the analysis of energetic electrons emitted from an excited atom after a series of internal relaxation events. The Auger effect was discovered independently by both Lise Meitner and Pierre Auger in the 1920s. Though the discovery was made by Meitner and initially reported in the journal Zeitschrift für Physik in 1922, Auger is credited with the discovery in most of the scientific community. Until the early 1950s Auger transitions were considered nuisance effects by spectroscopists, not containing much relevant material information, but studied so as to explain anomalies in X-ray spectroscopy data. Since 1953 however, AES has become a practical and straightforward characterization technique for probing chemical and compositional surface environments and has found applications in metallurgy, gas-phase chemistry, and throughout the microelectronics industry.
A beta particle, also called beta ray or beta radiation, is a high-energy, high-speed electron or positron emitted by the radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus during the process of beta decay. There are two forms of beta decay, β− decay and β+ decay, which produce electrons and positrons respectively.
Electron capture is a process in which the proton-rich nucleus of an electrically neutral atom absorbs an inner atomic electron, usually from the K or L electron shells. This process thereby changes a nuclear proton to a neutron and simultaneously causes the emission of an electron neutrino.
A nuclear isomer is a metastable state of an atomic nucleus, in which one or more nucleons (protons or neutrons) occupy excited state (higher energy) levels. "Metastable" describes nuclei whose excited states have half-lives 100 to 1000 times longer than the half-lives of the excited nuclear states that decay with a "prompt" half life (ordinarily on the order of 10−12 seconds). The term "metastable" is usually restricted to isomers with half-lives of 10−9 seconds or longer. Some references recommend 5 × 10−9 seconds to distinguish the metastable half life from the normal "prompt" gamma-emission half-life. Occasionally the half-lives are far longer than this and can last minutes, hours, or years. For example, the 180m 73Ta nuclear isomer survives so long (at least 1015 years) that it has never been observed to decay spontaneously. The half-life of a nuclear isomer can even exceed that of the ground state of the same nuclide, as shown by 180m 73Ta as well as 186m 75Re , 192m2 77Ir , 210m 83Bi , 212m 84Po , 242m 95Am and multiple holmium isomers.
Radioactive decay is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Three of the most common types of decay are alpha, beta, and gamma decay. The weak force is the mechanism that is responsible for beta decay, while the other two are governed by the electromagnetism and nuclear force.
Positron emission, beta plus decay, or β+ decay is a subtype of radioactive decay called beta decay, in which a proton inside a radionuclide nucleus is converted into a neutron while releasing a positron and an electron neutrino. Positron emission is mediated by the weak force. The positron is a type of beta particle (β+), the other beta particle being the electron (β−) emitted from the β− decay of a nucleus.
In condensed matter physics, scintillation is the physical process where a material, called a scintillator, emits ultraviolet or visible light under excitation from high energy photons or energetic particles. See scintillator and scintillation counter for practical applications.
Double electron capture is a decay mode of an atomic nucleus. For a nuclide (A, Z) with a number of nucleons A and atomic number Z, double electron capture is only possible if the mass of the nuclide (A, Z−2) is lower.
Nuclear binding energy in experimental physics is the minimum energy that is required to disassemble the nucleus of an atom into its constituent protons and neutrons, known collectively as nucleons. The binding energy for stable nuclei is always a positive number, as the nucleus must gain energy for the nucleons to move apart from each other. Nucleons are attracted to each other by the strong nuclear force. In theoretical nuclear physics, the nuclear binding energy is considered a negative number. In this context it represents the energy of the nucleus relative to the energy of the constituent nucleons when they are infinitely far apart. Both the experimental and theoretical views are equivalent, with slightly different emphasis on what the binding energy means.
Iodine-125 (125I) is a radioisotope of iodine which has uses in biological assays, nuclear medicine imaging and in radiation therapy as brachytherapy to treat a number of conditions, including prostate cancer, uveal melanomas, and brain tumors. It is the second longest-lived radioisotope of iodine, after iodine-129.
In spectroscopy, a forbidden mechanism is a spectral line associated with absorption or emission of photons by atomic nuclei, atoms, or molecules which undergo a transition that is not allowed by a particular selection rule but is allowed if the approximation associated with that rule is not made. For example, in a situation where, according to usual approximations, the process cannot happen, but at a higher level of approximation the process is allowed but at a low rate.
A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ ), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically shorter than those of X-rays. With frequencies above 30 exahertz (3×1019 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. In 1903, Ernest Rutherford named this radiation gamma rays based on their relatively strong penetration of matter; in 1900, he had already named two less penetrating types of decay radiation (discovered by Henri Becquerel) alpha rays and beta rays in ascending order of penetrating power.
Characteristic X-rays are emitted when outer-shell electrons fill a vacancy in the inner shell of an atom, releasing X-rays in a pattern that is "characteristic" to each element. Characteristic X-rays were discovered by Charles Glover Barkla in 1909, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery in 1917.
Total absorption spectroscopy is a measurement technique that allows the measurement of the gamma radiation emitted in the different nuclear gamma transitions that may take place in the daughter nucleus after its unstable parent has decayed by means of the beta decay process. This technique can be used for beta decay studies related to beta feeding measurements within the full decay energy window for nuclei far from stability.
Conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) is a Mössbauer spectroscopy technique based on conversion electron.
↑ L. A. Sliv and I. M. Band, Table of Internal Conversion Coefficients, in: Alpha-, Beta- and Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy, ed. by Kai Siegbahn, North-Holland Publishing (1966), Vol. 2, Appendix
Krane, Kenneth S. (1988). Introductory Nuclear Physics. J. Wiley & Sons. ISBN0-471-80553-X.
Bertulani, Carlos A. (2007). Nuclear Physics in a Nutshell. Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0-691-12505-3.
L'Annunziata, Michael F.; etal. (2003). Handbook of Radioactivity Analysis. Academic Press. ISBN0-12-436603-1.
R.W.Howell, Radiation spectra for Auger-electron emitting radionuclides: Report No. 2 of AAPM Nuclear Medicine Task Group No. 6, 1992, Medical Physics 19(6), 1371–1383
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