Neutrinos and Anti-Particles: What's the Difference?

In summary: This is why I was curious about your question. In summary, neutrinos are not made of quarks and have almost no mass. They have an anti-particle, known as an anti-neutrino, and when they interact they produce a negatively-charged lepton. Anti-neutrinos produce positively-charged leptons when they interact. Antimatter is a classification for particles with opposite quantum numbers to those found in real life. Antimatter must be created using energy, and it has a high energy density that makes it useful for spacecraft. Neutrinos are not the only particle that is not made up of quarks and has no mass; photons also fit this criteria. Photons are their own antiparticle.
  • #1
En_lizard
76
0
i heard that neutrino isn't made of quarks, it almost has no mass but it has a anti matter. what is the difference between a neutrino and its anti particle? what parity is?:confused:

thanks in advance
 
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  • #2
When a neutrino interacts, it produces a neutrino or a negatively-charged lepton: e-, mu- or tau- depending on the "flavor" of the neutrino. For example,

[tex]\nu_e + n \rightarrow e^- + p[/tex]

When an antineutrino interacts, it produces an antineutrino or a positively-charged lepton: e+, mu+ or tau+. For example,

[tex]{\overline{\nu}}_e + p \rightarrow e^+ + n[/tex]
 
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  • #3
En_lizard said:
i heard that neutrino isn't made of quarks, it almost has no mass but it has a anti matter. what is the difference between a neutrino and its anti particle? what parity is?:confused:

thanks in advance

You seem to be missing the bigger picture here.

Anti-neutrino is a lepton. Lepton is a family that includes electrons, muons, taus, their neutrinos, and their anti-neutrinos. NONE of them are made up of quarks!

Zz.
 
  • #4
thanks jtbell!

:confused: :confused:
En_lizard said:
i heard that neutrino isn't made of quarks,

ZapperZ said:
You seem to be missing the bigger picture here.

Anti-neutrino is a lepton. Lepton is a family that includes electrons, muons, taus, their neutrinos, and their anti-neutrinos. NONE of them are made up of quarks!

Zz.
i already said that neutrinos aren't made up of quarks, so?
i guess there's no answer for my question and they just know about anti mattters from reactions.
 
  • #5
another one:
do we need to spend energy for making antimatter? and i heard that antimatter is the most powerful energy source to man? how it increases energy?
 
  • #6
En_lizard said:
i guess there's no answer for my question and they just know about anti mattters from reactions.
Antimatter is a classification for particles which have the opposite quantum numbers (like charge, lepton number, baryon number etc) to particles we commonly found in real life (electrons, protons etc).

For instance jtbell's reaction shows an electron and a neutrino being produced. We call that neutrino an 'antineutrino' because it needs to have a negative lepton number to cancel the positive lepton number the electron has because the proton originally had no lepton number and you have to conserve lepton numbers.

Antimatter was predicted by Dirac before it was observed. It arose from his development of quantum field theory (though initially his exact interpretation was different from the modern view, energy holes in the vacuum state).
En_lizard said:
another one:
do we need to spend energy for making antimatter? and i heard that antimatter is the most powerful energy source to man? how it increases energy?
Yes, antimatter isn't naturally occurring in large amounts. Pretty sophisticated machinery is needed to make antimatter, and you have to actually turn energy into the antimatter. It's like saying hydrogen fuel cells are an excellent power source. They are a storage method, because you make the hydrogen from methane or using electricity to split water. Antimatter has the largest useful energy density you could possibly have because you can use [tex]E=mc^{2}[/tex] to get all the energy locked up in it's mass. Petrol uses chemical energy, and losses only a tiny fraction of a percent of it's mass when you burn it.

It'd be good for spacecraft but only because you'd need a tiny amount of fuel, unless the thousands of tons needed at the moment. You'd still need to make the antimatter from some other power source.
 
  • #7
En_lizard said:
i already said that neutrinos aren't made up of quarks, so?
i guess there's no answer for my question and they just know about anti mattters from reactions.

No, my response was more in curiosity on why you "picked" on just neutrino specifically. If it's a criteria that it isn't made up of quarks, then you left out a bunch of other particles. If it's a criteria based on "no mass and no quark", then photons get left out.

So my querry was more on whether your question was a more general question on a family of things, or simply on neutrinos in particular. And ironically, a workshop on the next possible large neutrino project is going on right across the hall from my office. They're discussing the physics and feasibility of the Double Chooz experiment.

http://www.hep.anl.gov/dchooz/

Zz.
 
  • #8
thanx folks!

ZapperZ said:
No, my response was more in curiosity on why you "picked" on just neutrino specifically. If it's a criteria that it isn't made up of quarks, then you left out a bunch of other particles. If it's a criteria based on "no mass and no quark", then photons get left out.
do we have anti photons?
 
  • #9
En_lizard said:
thanx folks!


do we have anti photons?

Obviously, you chose to not answer my querry. Oh well...

Zz.
 
  • #10
ZapperZ said:
Obviously, you chose to not answer my querry. Oh well...

Zz.
i'd answered ur question. i didnt and still don't know if photon has anti particle, so that's the reason i picked up neutrino since it's the only chargeless massless particle with anti particle. but it seems it's you who choose to not answer me.:biggrin:
 
  • #11
En_lizard said:
i'd answered ur question. i didnt and still don't know if photon has anti particle, so that's the reason i picked up neutrino since it's the only chargeless massless particle with anti particle. but it seems it's you who choose to not answer me.:biggrin:

Photons are their own antiparticle; and, neutrinos are not massless.
 

1. What are neutrinos and anti-particles?

Neutrinos are subatomic particles that have no electric charge and very little mass. They are produced in nuclear reactions and can travel at almost the speed of light. Anti-particles are the mirror image of particles, with the same mass and opposite charge.

2. How do neutrinos and anti-particles differ?

The main difference between neutrinos and anti-particles is their charge. Neutrinos have no charge, whereas anti-particles have the opposite charge of their corresponding particles. Additionally, neutrinos have a very small mass compared to anti-particles.

3. How are neutrinos and anti-particles created?

Neutrinos are created in nuclear reactions, such as those that occur in the cores of stars. They can also be created in particle accelerators. Anti-particles are created when high-energy particles collide, producing matter and its corresponding anti-matter.

4. What is the significance of studying neutrinos and anti-particles?

Studying neutrinos and anti-particles can help us better understand the fundamental building blocks of the universe and how they interact with each other. It can also provide insight into the origins of the universe and the processes that govern it.

5. Can neutrinos and anti-particles be used for practical applications?

Neutrinos and anti-particles have been used in medical imaging and cancer treatment. They are also being studied for potential use in nuclear fusion, as they could potentially provide a nearly limitless source of energy.

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