Tag: Antimatter
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Vacuum Fluctuations
Introduction Quantum mechanics introduces an intriguing concept: vacuum fluctuations. This principle suggests that even in a perfect vacuum, there are tiny, momentary changes in energy. Unlike classical physics, which describes a vacuum as an absolute emptiness, quantum physics sees it as a sea of transient particles and antiparticles that continuously form and annihilate. Vacuum State…
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Dirac Sea
Introduction The Dirac Sea is a theoretical model of the vacuum as an infinite sea of particles with negative energy. It was first postulated by the British physicist Paul Dirac in 1930 to explain the behavior of electrons in relation to his relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation, known as the Dirac equation. The Dirac Equation…
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Beta Decay
Introduction Beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atomic nucleus. Beta particles can be either an electron (in beta-minus decay) or a positron (in beta-plus decay), along with a corresponding antineutrino or neutrino, respectively. Beta Minus Decay In beta minus decay, a neutron in the…
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Antimatter
Introduction Antimatter is a term used in particle physics to describe particles that have the same mass as their corresponding matter particles but opposite electric charge and other particle properties. When a particle and its antiparticle meet, they annihilate each other, giving rise to other particles or energy in the form of photon radiation. Antiparticles…