If photons (zero rest mass) have no anti-particle, do Particle / Anti-Particle pairs necessarily have rest mass ? For example, that Anti-Neutrinos exist demands that Neutrinos have rest mass ??

Nope.

Photons do have an antiparticle. It is the photon.

Showing that a particle is massive implies that the corresponding antiparticle is also massive and moreover the masses are identical.

Thanks for the info.

 

Photons do have an antiparticle. It is the photon.

 

What would a "photon / (anti-)photon" annihilation reaction look like ? Is such essentially, and simply, some sort of "scattering", wherein the wavelengths of the (incident) photons are affected ?

 

 

 

Showing that a particle is massive implies that the corresponding antiparticle is also massive and moreover the masses are identical.

 

From something I saw on TV, could there possibly be some sort of "chiral analogy", between Anti-Matter & Matter, and Anti-Cyclones & Cyclones (in the weather of worlds, such as the storms of Gas Giants) ?

Edited May 24, 201015 yr by Widdekind
Consecutive posts merged.

What would a "photon / (anti-)photon" annihilation reaction look like ? Is such essentially, and simply, some sort of "scattering", wherein the wavelengths of the (incident) photons are affected ?

 

You can have [math]\gamma \rightarrow e^{+} + e^{-}[/math] in a background field, such as near a nucleus.

 

Also one can have in free space [math]\gamma + \gamma \rightarrow e^{+} + e^{-}[/math].

 

 

From something I saw on TV, could there possibly be some sort of "chiral analogy", between Anti-Matter & Matter, and Anti-Cyclones & Cyclones (in the weather of worlds, such as the storms of Gas Giants) ?

 

Maybe, both particles and antiparticles look the same up to "minus signs".

Neutrinos and antineutrinos have opposite handedness, but that's because they violate parity.

Photons are eigenstates of the Charge Conjugation © operator, with eigenvalue -1 (D.Griffiths. Intro. Elem. Part., pg. ~70). Might that mean, that turning a photon into an "anti-photon", involves a 180 degree phase shift ([math]e^{i \pi} = -1[/math]) ?? After all, particles annihilate their anti-particles, and light wave-trains shifted by 180 degrees deconstructively interfere.

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Also one can have in free space [math]\gamma + \gamma \rightarrow e^{+} + e^{-}[/math]...

 

Is it true, that photon "splitting", into pairs of particles/antiparticles, generally only happens near nuclei (and, presumably, there super-strong electromagnetic fields) ?? Cf. Vacuum Polarization*.

 

*

Gluons

can "split", into

quark-antiquark

pairs, when stretched far enough (

cf

.

link

). But, the

Color Force

increases with distance, so that such "splitting"

also

occurs in extreme "

Color Fields

". Maybe Gauge Bosons "split" in extreme fields ?? (Wouldn't that be where they'd have the highest energies, anyway, for potential pair production??)

Edited June 10, 201015 yr by Widdekind
Consecutive posts merged.