Potential energy and annihilation

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the potential energy of an electron and an anti-electron in a gravitational field and the implications of their annihilation. When these particles annihilate, the resulting photons will exhibit gravitational redshift, which indicates a decrease in energy as observed from a reference point at infinity. The conversation concludes that the daughter particles, or photons, inherit the potential energy of their parent particles, affirming the conservation of total energy in this process.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of basic particle physics concepts, specifically electron and anti-electron interactions.
  • Knowledge of gravitational fields and their effects on energy and momentum.
  • Familiarity with the principles of energy conservation in particle annihilation.
  • Concept of gravitational redshift and its implications in physics.
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the principles of gravitational redshift and its mathematical formulation.
  • Explore the conservation of energy in particle physics, focusing on annihilation events.
  • Study the behavior of photons in gravitational fields and their potential energy characteristics.
  • Investigate the implications of particle-antiparticle interactions in quantum field theory.
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, students of particle physics, and anyone interested in the principles of energy conservation and gravitational effects on particles.

Guywithquestions
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Let's assume an electron and an anti-electron are in a gravitational field so they both have potential energy.
What will become of this energy if they annihilate?
Will the momentum of the photons after the annihilation will increase so the total energy will be conserved?

Thanks for answering!
 
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Guywithquestions said:
Will the momentum of the photons after the annihilation will increase so the total energy will be conserved?
Yes*. This is known as gravitational redshift.

*With the usual conventions (reference point “at infinity”) it is a decrease rather than an increase
 
Doesn't light have potential energy?

If it has, then it sounds very intuitive that daughter particles would inherit the potential energy of the parents.
 

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