I wrote: This question seems to imply that a quantum of energy (the eventual mass > deficit to 4He) can be broken up into smaller pieces. It would be > interesting to look at other examples of this kind of thing. >
One thing that comes to mind right away is the transition from a metastable nucleus to a stable nucleus by way of the emission of a gamma-ray photon. Sometimes in a fusion you get one or more metastable states rather than a transition straight to the ground state. Each state corresponds to an isomer that has more energy than the ground state, and sometimes I believe there is more than one transition. Eric
