I Violation of spin conservation in pion annihilation

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In pion annihilation, the reaction of a pion and its antiparticle results in two photons, which have spin-1. Although the initial total spin of the pions is 0, the photons can still conserve total angular momentum by having antiparallel spins, maintaining a net angular momentum of zero. The discussion clarifies that the conservation of angular momentum applies to both pions and protons in similar annihilation reactions. Misunderstandings about spin conservation are addressed, emphasizing that total spin does not need to remain constant in these processes. The key takeaway is that while spin values may change, angular momentum conservation is upheld in particle annihilation events.
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##\pi^\pm## are mutual particle-antiparticle pairs, while ##\pi^0## is it's own antiparticle. All has a spin of 0.
In any annihilation reaction of a particle ##x##, the equation is
$$x+\bar{x}\to \gamma+\gamma$$
Photons have no charge but a spin 1. I can see charges are conserved but spin is not since the total spin before the reaction is 0 while after the reaction is 2. Is there a solution to this or am I just wrong?
Sorry the LaTeX here behaves differently from the one on my computer.
 
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Trollfaz said:
Is there a solution to this or am I just wrong?
What's conserved in these reactions is the total angular momentum. For spin-0 pions in the center-of-mass frame, the reaction ##\pi+\bar{\pi}\rightarrow\gamma+\gamma## results in two spin-1 photons travelling in opposite directions with their spins antiparallel, so the total angular-momentum is zero both before and after the reaction.
 
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So p is your symbol for pion? The general symbol for pion is ##\pi## p represents proton
 
Trollfaz said:
So p is your symbol for pion? The general symbol for pion is ##\pi## p represents proton
Yes, and I've edited post #2 to reflect that notation. But same conservation reasoning also applies to protons and antiprotons: two spin-##\frac{1}{2}## particles annihilate to two spin-1 photons with antiparallel spins.
 
Trollfaz said:
In any annihilation reaction of a particle , the equation is
False.
Trollfaz said:
total spin before the reaction is 0 while after the reaction is 2.
False.
 
Theoretical physicist C.N. Yang died at the age of 103 years on October 18, 2025. He is the Yang in Yang-Mills theory, which he and his collaborators devised in 1953, which is a generic quantum field theory that is used by scientists to study amplitudes (i.e. vector probabilities) that are foundational in all Standard Model processes and most quantum gravity theories. He also won a Nobel prize in 1957 for his work on CP violation. (I didn't see the post in General Discussions at PF on his...

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