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conner.ubert
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Is there such a thing as an anti-photon? and if it did exist what would happen if it collided with a normal photon?
space girl said:there is no anti photon ... some how if there is an anti photon and if they collide they end up in an explosion
Drakkith said:A photon is it's own antiparticle.
conner.ubert said:No I was not confusing photons with protons. Because I know that when a particle and an anti-particle collide (such as a proton and anti-proton) the immediately turn into energy such as photons and gamma radiation. And if photons are created during the collision then what would happen if they had a anti-particle collision.
Antiparticles do not have negative energy.cmb said:At the quantum level, if we have two photons ... each still has hv worth of energy. One cannot have '-hv' of energy!
Exactly, but what happens to the energy of two photons, if they act as each others anti-particles and 'annihilate'?tom.stoer said:Antiparticles do not have negative energy.
This perception is perhaps based on some formal arguments introduced by Dirac regarding the "negative-energy-solutions" of his famous equation. Look at positrons (antiparticles of electrons) in bubble chambers: they have positive mass, energy and momentum.
cmb said:Exactly, but what happens to the energy of two photons, if they act as each others anti-particles and 'annihilate'?
cmb said:So, what happens to the energy of the photons during destructive electromagnetic interference?
ZapperZ said:This thread has gone completely off-topic.
Zz.
cmb said:Please explain?
A particle and its anti-particle are a pair that annihilate. The question is therefore whether a photon and anti-phase photon can truly and instantaneously 'annihilate' and the energy then 'reappears' (as two 'more' photons, presumably?!), or whether there is no process of annihilation and actually their presence, in proximity to each other, is simply undetectable.
So please explain why you think it is off topic? What do you understand by an 'anti-particle'?
cmb said:Please explain?
A particle and its anti-particle are a pair that annihilate. The question is therefore whether a photon and anti-phase photon can truly and instantaneously 'annihilate' and the energy then 'reappears' (as two 'more' photons, presumably?!), or whether there is no process of annihilation and actually their presence, in proximity to each other, is simply undetectable.
So please explain why you think it is off topic? What do you understand by an 'anti-particle'?
ZapperZ said:The thread has gone into the question of destructive interference. This has nothing to do with photon and its antiparticle.
cmb said:The issue I asked/raised was whether a photon and a photon out of phase to it are each other's anti-particle - or, implicitly, if not then what 'sort' of photon is an 'anti-photon'?
It seems to me that you are drifting the thread with an unneccesary criticism, seeing as PAllen has just now provided a useful and seemingly complete response that has 'squared the circle' in regards what can happen when photons meet. (Thanks, PA, that hits the spot for me.) I don't understand what you think your additional post has added.
cmb said:OK, but I still don't see why it is in error to talk about the interactions that two particles have, once they have been described as each other's anti-particle.
If it is off topic to discuss what happens when photons meet, then I've failed to grasp how photons are the anti-particles of photons, from this thread.
ZapperZ said:It appears that you have not understood a single thing I said.
A photon, "meeting" another photon, is relevant to the thread. A photon interference, which is a SINGLE-PHOTON effect, isn't! (maybe a bold + capitalization might get through).
Zz.
cmb said:I'm not aware I discussed or at all raised a single-photon interference. I have been trying to ask what happens when a photon and an anti-phase photon intersect.
cmb said:So, what happens to the energy of the photons during destructive electromagnetic interference?
cmb said:I'm not aware I discussed or at all raised a single-photon interference. I have been trying to ask what happens when a photon and an anti-phase photon intersect.
cmb said:Thanks for the link.
Sorry, but it, and the further links from it, raise more [of the same] questions for me that are unanswered!
If photons can scatter off each other and they are anti-particles, then is that process of scattering always an annihilation-then-reemission of photons, or can they interact without annihilating, and if so what are the conditions when they do annihilate, and when they don't?
Oh, OK. I can see that, but does that mean that my question/definition above was not right?DrChinese said:So generally, there is no annihilation in the sense I just defined.
An anti-photon is a theoretical particle that is the antimatter counterpart of a photon. It is believed to have the same properties as a photon, such as zero mass and the ability to travel at the speed of light, but with opposite charge and spin.
An anti-photon can be created through a process called pair production, where a high-energy photon interacts with a strong electric field and produces an electron-positron pair. The positron, which is the antimatter counterpart of an electron, can then interact with a photon to produce an anti-photon.
There is currently no evidence that anti-photons exist in nature. However, some theories, such as supersymmetry, predict the existence of anti-photons in certain scenarios. More research and experiments are needed to confirm their existence.
Anti-photons could potentially have applications in fields such as quantum computing and high-energy physics. They could also help scientists better understand the properties of photons and their interactions with matter.
Anti-photons have the same properties as photons, such as zero mass and the ability to travel at the speed of light, but with opposite charge and spin. This means that they would interact differently with matter and could potentially have different effects on the environment.