What is released in the process of an atom decaying from an excited level to a lower energy level?

answer: enthalpy

explanation:

for a exothermic reaction, the energy is released i.e. the energy of the products is lower than the energy of the reactants.

= enthaply

= energy of products

= energy of reactants

as , thus comes out to be negative. negative value of enthalpy shows that the reaction is exothermic.