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The term Bethe-Heitler process refers to a type of particle interaction modeled by Hans Bethe and Walter Heitler in the 1930s, which can be a kind of pair production (Bethe-Heitler pair production) occurring when a photon passes close to a nucleus, or can be the reverse (producing gamma rays from a the combination of an electron and positron) or can be bremsstrahlung. Bethe and Heitler produced a quantum-mechanical description and derived formulas for the relevant cross sections (Bethe-Heitler formula, Bethe-Heitler cross section). The cross sections are affected by the Coulomb force of the nucleus and by electron screening.
Such pair production has been theorized to occur in some astrophysical phenomena, such as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). It is also relevant to the modeling and measurement of air showers and scintillator-based detectors.