Can Antiparticle Collisions Occur Without Charge Intervention?

[slow]

One sometimes gets excited about something and loses sight of essential details, which when taken into account derail the attempt. If in this case that happens, I beg you to let me know. Is the next.

Think of the mutual collision of a particle and its antiparticle. Before the collision there are two objects, both with $m_o \neq 0$. After the collision there are gamma photons and no product of the collision has $m_o \neq 0$. After the collision, everything is electromagnetic field. The energy $m_o C^2$ present before the collision, then belongs to the photons. 100% of $m_o C^2$ appears in the photons.

The particle and its antiparticle, both, can be electrically neutral. The conventional interpretation requires supposing that both are punctual entities, without volume or, rather, with volume equal to zero. This means that electrical neutrality can not be a consequence of the balance of charges of both signs in the internal structure of the particle, because without volume it is impossible.

How can photons, which are electromagnetic waves, appear in an event where no electrical charges intervene? The conventional response requires that pre-existing charges are not necessary, since in the environment there are always charges, even if the environment is a vacuum, as a consequence of the uncertainty principle.

Is it impossible to design a quantum sucker, to keep a vacuum totally devoid of charges inside a closed enclosure? Obviously, that amounts to avoiding the uncertainty principle. The conventional interpretation specifies that it is possible to avoid it, if the interval of the event does not exceed the allowed limit. If the collision interval does not exceed it, the quantum sucker could be designed. In that case, a collision could be tested in a vacuum that has no environmental charges. Without charges in the environment and with entities without internal structure, it would be impossible for any charge to intervene in the event. Could the collision produce photons without the intervention of any charge? The answer is no, as long as we accept the current physical laws.

If the experiment were possible, it would be crucial and clear-cut. All or nothing, without intermediate options. In case no photons appear, we could keep the idea of the punctual entities, without structure. If photons appear, the idea of punctual entities would be discarded. And the idea of an internal structure with own charges would be established.

 

[jtbell]

The particle and its antiparticle, both, can be electrically neutral.

Annihilation to photons is an electromagnetic process, so charged particles must be involved somehow.

Neutrons and antineutrons are composite particles, made up of charged quarks. So are $\pi^0$, $\Lambda^0$, etc. The only non-composite neutral particles that I can think of are photons, neutrinos, $Z^0$ and gluons. Neutrinos interact only via the weak interaction, not electromagnetic, so neutrino-antineutrino annihilation would certainly not produce photons, but probably $Z^0$ if they have enough energy (lots of it!). Someone who knows more about the strong interaction than I do can address gluons.

 

[slow]

Hello jtbell. Correct me if I'm wrong. I have always believed when particle and antiparticle annihilate each other, the only possible product are gamma photons, in all cases, regardless of the type of pair that is annihilated. In that case, all that is needed is a particle with its antiparticle, both neutral and of the class that is supposed to have no internal structure.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Correct me if I'm wrong. I have always believed when particle and antiparticle annihilate each other, the only possible product are gamma photons,

OK, you're wrong.

That's not so.

 

[jtbell]

In that case, all that is needed is a particle with its antiparticle, both neutral and of the class that is supposed to have no internal structure.

In that case, it's not possible for them to annihilate to photons, as far as I know. At least not "directly." If you include multistep virtual processes, lots of things are possible but so improbable as to not be worth looking for. To take my case of neutrino + antineutrino, I think you could have, in principle, something like $\nu \bar \nu \rightarrow Z^0 \rightarrow e^- e^+ \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$, with the intermediate steps proceeding via virtual particles. But that would surely be an extremely low-probability process, because the first two steps would be weak interactions.

[added] Now I see V50's post. $e^+ e^- \rightarrow Z^0$ (reversing one of my steps) is one way to produce the $Z^0$, and was done in the Large Electron-Positron (LEP) collider at CERN.

 

[Vanadium 50]

No, you can have, e.g. a proton and antiproton annihilate into a bunch of pions.

 

[slow]

It seems that there is no door at the end of the corridor. Thank you for clarifying the essential details. Best regards.