Clarifying the Misconception: Do Positrons Really Travel Backward in Time?

[stevenytc]

[URL]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Feynman_EP_Annihilation.svg[/URL]

this is a standard electron-positron collision. but if positrons can be interpreted as electrons going backward in time (as suggested by Feynman and Wheeler), then can this diagram be interpreted as the electron, originally moving forward in time, releases 2 photons and go backward in time. or, in other words, it "time travels" to the past?

hmm... have i missed out something?

 

[Bill_K]

You often see it stated that positrons travel backwards in time, but it's a misinterpretation. The fact is, the Dirac equation describes two different types of particles, positrons and electrons, and they both travel forward in time!