The emission of beta radiation provides evidence that neutrons and protons are made up of quarks. Beta (\(\beta^-\)) decay is the release of an electron by the change of a neutron to a proton.

without resulting in the emission of neutrinos, which is instead associated with standard double beta decay. The observation of neutrinoless double beta decay could have important implications for ...

After emitting an alpha or beta particle, the nucleus will often still be ‘excited’ and will need to lose energy. It does this by emitting a high energy electromagnetic wave called a gamma ray.