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Matter-Antimatter and its Potential Applications

Article · August 2020

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Samir Hamouda
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Department of Physics, University of Benghazi, Libya

Email: [email protected]

Abstract:

Quantum physics is a science of prediction for the future. Antimatter has been an element of quantum physics;
antimatter exists, and can be made at very small quantities. The nature of antimatter is examined in the context
that the notion of antimatter is more general than that of antiparticles. Properly stated, then, antimatter is not
matter made up of antiparticles, rather, antiparticles are particles made up of antimatter. In this paper the
concept of matter and antimatter is presented. Production and storing of antimatter are outlined. Annihilation of
particle and its antiparticle is described and some applications are reviewed.

Keywords: Dirac equation, Antimatter, Antimatter Annihilation, Big Band, medicine, biology, Industry.

Introduction

Antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of
antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles. For example, an antielectron (a
positron, an electron with a positive charge) and an antiproton (a proton with a negative charge) could form an
anti-hydrogen atom in the same way that an electron and a proton form a normal matter hydrogen atom (see
figure1). Furthermore, mixing matter and antimatter would lead to the annihilation of both in the same way that
mixing antiparticles and particles does, thus giving rise to high-energy photons (gamma rays) or other particle–
antiparticle pairs [1].

Figure 1: Description of hydrogen and antihydrogen atom. [2]

Antimatter nucleus negative charge comes from antiproton´s negative charge (matter´s positive charge comes
from protons´ positive charge). Antiproton´s negative charge is product of it‟s up and down quarks´ opposite
elementary charge to protons (proton is made of two up-quarks (charge +⅔) and one down quark (charge -⅓)).
Anti-up-quark has -⅔ and anti-down-quark has +⅓. [3]. It should be emphasized that each of these particles has
a corresponding antiparticle. Antiparticles are like particles, having the same mass - but they have the opposite
electric charge.

However, there is a considerable speculation as to why the observable universe is apparently almost entirely
matter, whether there exist other places that are almost entirely antimatter instead, and what might be possible if
antimatter could be harnessed, but at this time the apparent asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the visible
universe is one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics. The process by which this asymmetry between
particles and antiparticles developed is called baryogenesis [1].

In particle physics, antimatter is commonly produced by particle accelerators. Accelerators use acceleration
cavities which are powered with electromagnetic waves to speed up protons. First protons are accelerated to
collide with the metal. Some of the energy released in the collide transforms into matter (protons) and
antimatter (antiprotons). Positrons are produced in pair production, for example irradiation matter by gamma-
rays. Positrons are also produced naturally in β+ decay. To store antimatter devices called “traps” which keeps
antimatter away from ordinary matter (see figure 2) are used. Usually traps use electric and magnetic forces
which keep antimatter in the center whiteout touching walls. Neutral antiatoms are stored only with magnetic
trap.[3]

Figure 2: Production and Storing of Antimatter [4].

Annihilation
When a particle collides with its antiparticle, (see figure 3), both of the particles get annihilated – they both
disappear. However, the energy and momentum the particles possessed must be conserved and all the mass of
the annihilated particles is converted into energy (as shown by Einstein‟s equation E = mc2), and then all of the
energy and momentum the particles had is given to new particles – usually photons, the particles from which
light is composed. [2]

Figure 3: The annihilation process of particles with antiparticles counterparts [2].

The annihilation of subatomic particles with their anti-matter counterparts has the highest energy per unit mass
of any reaction known in physics. The energy released from proton antiproton annihilation (4.3 x 1013 Cal per
gram of anti-protons) is 1010 times greater than oxygen hydrogen combustion and 100 times more energetic
than fission or fusion. Matter reacting with antimatter is the ultimate source of energy which might be available
to power space travel beyond the Solar System. As a result, numerous conceptual studies have examined
antimatter as a fuel for extra-solar space-craft. At present studies focus on how to manufacture, store, or
manipulate large quantities of antimatter. The current cost of a gram of antimatter is roughly estimated at about
a trillion US dollars [4]

History
The first theories of antimatter were presented in the 1880„s. Arthur Schuster was the first who used the term
antimatter and antiatoms. Paul Dirac presented the modern theory of antimatter in 1928. It was the first theory
which predicted the existence of antimatter. He explained it with a theory called Dirac Sea. Dirac supposed that
there could be particles which have negative energy. These particles could construct antimatter. Afterwards,
Dirac Sea theory has been forgotten. However, in 1932, Carl Anderson was the first person who found an
antiparticle. He studied the masses of different particles, using a mist chamber and magnetic fields. Every time a
particle went through the chamber it left small mark of its trajectory. Anderson noticed that there should be
particle which has the same mass as an electron but an opposite electric charge. He called it a positron. Over
twenty years later in 1955, Emilio Serge and Owen Chanberlain found the next piece of antimatter. Their team
discovered antiprotons. A year later in 1956, an antineutron was found in the same place. Antineutrons have no
charge, but their properties were opposite in comparison with a neutron. This is caused by quarks inside the
neutron. After the 1960‟s new antimatter particles were found. New theories have been shown and some of
these have been proved. In the year 1965, they were able to construct anti-deuteron atoms at CERN. They
successfully combined antineutrons and antiprotons [3]

The Dirac equation:

The equation was discovered in the late 1920s by physicist Paul Dirac. It remains highly influential. It brought
together two of the most important ideas in science: quantum mechanics, which describes the behaviour of tiny
objects; and Einstein's special theory of relativity, which describes the behaviour of fast-moving objects. As a
result, Dirac's equation describes how particles like electrons behave when they travel close to the speed of light

The Schrӧdinger equation and the operator method built around it have a serious flaw: there is no recognition of
the principles of special relativity. The energy of a particle is taken to be

E – V = p2/2m (1)

Particles of low energy such as electrons in an atom can well be described by equation (1). But highly energetic
particles, such as the electrons produced by accelerators (with MeV energy), no longer conform to the
description of energy given by equation (1). The description of electrons in the frame of relativistic behavior
(when they travel close to the speed of light) is given as:

(E – V) 2 = c2p2 + m02c4 (2)

Where m0 is the electron‟s rest mass. Transformation of equation (2) to a differential form, with the operator
Ȇ = iħ∂/∂t and ̂ 2 = -ħ2 ∇2 , leads to

(iħ∂/∂t –V)2 Ψ = -ħ2c2∇2 Ψ + m02c4Ψ (3)

A relativistic version of quantum physics, in which equation (3) is correctly interpreted, was invented in 1928
by Paul Dirac. His method of handling the relativistic energy equation (2) is based on working toward a suitable
Hamiltonian operator. Solving equation (2) for the total energy:

E -V = ± c √ (4)
It can be seen from equations (1) and (4) that classical physics can make no sense of negative kinetic energy,
but quantum physics admits negative values for kinetic energy. The result of equation (4) implies that there are
two kinds of energies: they are called negative and positive energy states, referring to the negative and positive
kinetic parts of the energy. [5]

If the electron wave function is described as:

Ψ (x,t) = sin (px – t) (5)

Dirac equation stated that:

( - ) Ψ+ = ( ) Ψ- (6a)

And ( - ) Ψ- = ( ) Ψ+ (6b)

The Ψ+ and Ψ- , referring to the negative and positive kinetic parts of the energy of the electron wave function.

Manipulating equations (6a) and (6b), the Dirac equation is written as:

(∂/∂x2 - ∂/t2) Ψ± = ( ) Ψ± (7)

When equation (5) is applied in equation (7), we have the relativistic version of quantum physics for the
momentum and energy of the electron:

P2 – (1/c2) E2 = m2c2 (8)

The relativistic version of quantum physics for the electron energy, derived by Dirac, implies that the electron
can have positive and negative energy. Those with negative energy are called antielectrons. This is the new
interpretation for the concept of antimatter [6]. Dirac proposed that all of the negative energy solutions still
exist, but are in fact all occupied. By the Pauli Exclusion Principle then, an electron in a positive energy state
could not drop below zero and occupy one of these states because they are already filled. By virtue of his
theory, all positive energies are greater than mc2 and all negative energies are less than −mc2 and an energy gap
between the two is 2mc2. It seems possible, then, that a negative energy electron could absorb a photon of
energy greater than 2mc2 and make a jump to a positive energy state. A hole is then left in the previously
occupied negative energy “sea” of electrons. At first Dirac believed this hole to be a proton, but it was later
shown that it would need to have all of the same properties of an electron but with positive charge. It was this
view that would lead Dirac to make one of the most exciting and surprising theoretical discoveries of all time
[7].

Thunderstorms hurling antimatter into space

Scientists think that thunderstorms make antimatter particle beams in a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF). A
brief burst produced inside thunderstorms is believed to be associated with lightning. It is estimated that about
500 TGFs occur daily worldwide, but most go undetected. Scientists long have suspected TGFs arise from the
strong electric fields near the tops of thunderstorms. Under the right conditions, they say, the field becomes
strong enough that it drives an upward avalanche of electrons. Reaching speeds nearly as fast as light, the high-
energy electrons give off gamma rays when they're deflected by air molecules “bremsstrahlung”. These gamma
rays, when interact with atoms in the atmosphere, they transform into a pair of particles: an electron and a
positron being ejected from the atmosphere [8]. On Dec. 14, 2009 Scientists using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray
Space Telescope, have detected beams of antimatter produced above thunderstorms on Earth (see figure 4), a
phenomenon never seen before.

Figure 4: shows how thunderstorms launch particles into space [8].

Figure (4a) shows how the electric field near the top of the storm creates an upward-moving avalanche of
electrons. When these electrons in their paths are deflected by molecules in the air, they emit gamma-ray, the
highest –energy from light. Figure (4b) shows when gamma-ray energy collides with electrons; they accelerate
to near the speed of light. Some gamma-ray passes near the nuclei of atoms. When this happens, the gamma-ray
transforms into an electron and its antiparticle, a positron. Figure (4c) shows a terrestrial gamma-ray flash
(TGF) of 1.98 milliseconds old, and it‟s electron/positron beam is reaching altitudes where it may intercept
spacecraft, such as NASA‟s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope [8].

The Problem of Big Bang

The so-called Big Bang is generally deemed, and reasonably so, that the Big Bang had to be largely
symmetrical and exhibit a smooth spherical uniformity in the pattern of particles, energy, and radiation emitted
outward in all directions from the singularity source. That would also apply to the emitted particles versus their
antiparticles and would imply that the Big Bang should have resulted in equal amounts of matter and antimatter,
for which the expectation would be their complete and almost instantaneous mutual annihilation. On the other
hand, because a total mutual annihilation did not take place, as evidenced by our universe's existence, the
general cosmological position currently favored holds that the original symmetry was slightly skewed in favor
of matter, that the universe is now all matter, all original antimatter having been annihilated with an equal
amount of original matter. That skewed balance conflicts with a purely symmetrical Big Bang [9].

Contemporary physics‟ position that there is now in the universe no antimatter from the Big Bang derives from
the following reasoning. If there are in the universe regions of antimatter as well as regions of matter, then at the
boundaries between the two different type regions antimatter should come in contact with the matter. That
should result in major amounts of mutual annihilations and the production of major amounts of gamma photons.
Such major amounts of gamma photons not having been detected it is presumed that there are no antimatter
regions of space. An alternative explanation of such major amounts of gamma photons not having been detected
would be that the mutual annihilations are not occurring in significant amounts. Of interest here, however, is the
case of the interstellar medium. It is the interstellar medium that must be examined because it is the natural
boundary between regions of matter and regions of antimatter; where, if they are to occur, the anticipated matter
/ antimatter annihilations should be occurring and yielding gamma ray flux. In the interstellar [and intergalactic]
medium the particles and antiparticles start from being significantly separated, residing in the vacuum of
interstellar space. These are not devoid of competing particles because they have a much lower particle density
than the original Big Bang. They do not suffer of being in a dense milieu of particles and antiparticles whose
Coulomb attractions tend to cancel out their effects. And they all move with significant velocities [9].

Table 1, summarizes the particle [and antiparticle where applicable] content of interstellar space. The density of
the particles and their related mean distance apart are shown. Excepting solar wind, which is local to star‟s
nearby environment; most of the interstellar medium is Hydrogen atoms, not ions. Gravitation can be ignored
here, it being decades of orders of magnitude weaker than Coulomb attraction [9].

Table 1: The Interstellar Medium [9]

The most likely indication of our detection of cosmic matter / antimatter annihilations is Gamma Ray Bursts
[GRB‟s]. GRB‟s are the most luminous events known in the universe since the Big Bang. They are flashes of
gamma rays coming from seemingly random places in deep space at random times. GRB‟s last from
milliseconds to minutes, and are often followed by "afterglow" emission at longer wavelengths. Gamma-ray
bursts are detected by orbiting [Swift] satellites about two to three times a week, as of 2007, though their actual
rate of occurrence may be higher. All known GRB‟s come from outside our own galaxy. Most GRB‟s come
from billions of light years away [9].

An understanding of the asymmetry problem requires both knowledge of the physical nature of the Big Bang
and a precise definition of matter. A consistent definition of the terms matter and antimatter is the following:
matter is built of elementary matter particles and antimatter is built of elementary antimatter antiparticles.
Unfortunately, knowledge of the physical nature of the Big Bang is currently far from complete and matter has
not been defined precisely within the framework of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics [10]. One basic
hydrogen atom, by far the most common primordial element, has one proton and one electron. Both matter and
antimatter have hydrogen atoms. The ubiquitous matter hydrogen has its proton positively charged, and its
electron carries a negative charge. With antimatter atoms the charges are reversed, giving a negatively charged
proton, and a positively charged electron. Therefore, whenever one antimatter hydrogen atom and one matter
hydrogen atom interact they will destroy each other, as each charge neutralizes its opposite. Where have all the
antimatter atoms and molecules gone, if they all started out statistically in equal numbers [11]. The origin of
matter remains one of the great mysteries in physics. Observationally, we can be almost certain that the present-
day universe contains no significant amounts of (baryonic) antimatter, and the baryons are the remnant of a
small matter–antimatter asymmetry in the early universe. This asymmetry cannot be explained within the SM of
particle physics and cosmology [12]

Applications:
In medicine: Antimatter is used to treat cancer. Positrons are beamed through a tissue in such velocity that
they do not annihilate until they encounter with cancer cells. Formed gamma rays damage the cancer tissue.
Nowadays antimatter is used in positron emission tomography (PET). The PET-device produces a three-
dimensional picture of the functional processes in the body. It detects pair of gamma rays emitted by electron-
positron annihilation [3].
In Industry: Positrons have been used extensively to study materials. One important example is the
characterization of low dielectric constant insulators that are key components in high speed electronics and chip
manufacture. An important focus of recent work in the materials area is the development of pulsed, trap-based
positron beams that offer improved methods to make a variety of measurements. In a recent advance,
commercial prototypes of these positron beam systems are now being developed [13].

Energy source: Matter antimatter interaction produces more energy per unit mass than any other means of
energy production. This energy is released by simple contact of antimatter with matter so that, in principle, no
ignition energy is required to start the reaction. It is therefore not surprising that the concept of using antimatter
as an energy source has been in scientific literature for decades [14]. In the future it might be possible to use
antimatter particles as an energy source because in accordance with Einstein‟s famous equation of mass-energy
equivalence, a small amount of antimatter mass can be converted into a huge amount of energy. Currently we
have problems producing and storing antimatter and it‟s also difficult to utilize the released energy. Matter-
antimatter annihilation could be used as a fuel for example interplanetary travel if scientist solve the problems
someday [3].
An antimatter rocket is a proposed class of rockets that uses antimatter as their power source. There are several
designs that attempt to accomplish this goal. The advantage to this class of rocket is that a large fraction of the
rest mass of a matter/antimatter mixture may be converted to energy, allowing antimatter rockets to have a far
higher energy density and specific impulse than any other proposed class of rocket. Antimatter rockets can be
divided into three types: those that directly use the products of antimatter annihilation for propulsion, those that
heat a working fluid which is then used for propulsion, and those that heat a working fluid to generate electricity
for some form of electric spacecraft propulsion sys-tem.[4]. The annihilation of subatomic particles with their
antimatter counterparts has the highest energy per unit mass of any reaction known in physics. The energy
released from pro-ton antiproton annihilation (4.3 x 1013 cal per gram of antiprotons) is 1010 times greater than
oxygen hydrogen combustion and 100 times more energetic than fission or fusion. That is, one gram of anti-
hydrogen reacted with the same amount of normal hydrogen produces a total energy equivalent to that delivered
by 23 Shuttle External Tanks (ET) [4].

In Research: Antiprotons, antineutrons and positrons can combine to form antinuclei, antiatoms,
antimolecules. Annihilation occurs when the two kinds of matter come sufficiently close to one other. Even at
some distance, a neutral atom and a neutral antiatom will attract each other by van der Waals forces [14]. As a
consequence, storage of antiatoms in a container made of matter is impossible in general. However, there may
exist metastable states of antiprotons in normal matter, and antiprotons may possibly be stored in superfluid
helium. A speculation encouraged by the fact that helium is the only atom which, theoretically, cannot capture a
low energy antiproton [14]. It‟s known that antimatter have the same kind of mass than antimatter, but how does
the gravity influence between matter and antimatter? If we could have an apple made of antimatter and drop it
here on earth, would the apple go up? At the time world-class scientist are trying to find funding to a project
where they are trying to cool antimatter molecules near the absolute zero by lasers to research how gravity
affects to antimatter. Nowadays it‟s very hard to produce anti-hydrogen, but some day it might be possible to
create anti-diamonds or anti-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)? It‟s much easier to control charged anti-particles
because them can be controlled by magnetic fields, but soon as we are producing antiatoms with no charge,
things get complicated because those antiatoms start to annihilate with matter. It would take many years to
develop the technology for producing complicated anti-atoms. Finding an anti-star which produces heavier
elements would be easier to use in a research but might be impossible to find [3]. When a positron is injected
into a solid, gamma rays and/or a variety of particles can be ejected. These particles include reemitted, reflected
or diffracted positrons, positronium atoms, secondary electrons, Auger electrons and ions. The gamma-ray
photons result from either the direct annihilation of the positrons or from the annihilation of positronium atoms
formed within the sample. Each of these exiting projectiles can be analyzed to provide useful information about
the system, including the composition of the surface of a bulk material, crystal structure and orientation, surface
adsorbed layers, porosity, pore interconnectivity, and the distribution and concentration of vacancy defects [13].
In Biology: One area that has blossomed in recent years is the study of the interaction of low-energy positrons
with matter. The cold positron beam described above18 has now been used to study a range of positron
interactions with atoms and molecules, including measurements in a low-energy regime previously inaccessible
to experiment. This cold beam was also used to make the first energy-resolved studies of positron annihilation
in molecules at energies below the threshold for Ps formation. These experiments resolved a four decade old
mystery regarding anomalously large annihilation rates observed in hydrocarbon molecules and provided the
first direct evidence that positrons bind to ordinary neutral matter. Positron annihilation on large molecules has
also been used to selectively create ions for mass spectrometry. This technique has the potential to provide
structural information about biological molecules. These positron atomic-physics experiments can be regarded
as establishing important elements of a quantitative chemistry of matter and antimatter[13]

Conclusion:

Antimatter has been an element of quantum physics. After this great discovery, Dirac's equation was seen to be
verified and the importance of his work realized. Much of his work would lead to revolutions in quantum
electrodynamics, which to this day explains a large amount of physics to incredible precision. Throughout the
years other antiparticles were observed and Dirac will always be remembered for his revolutionary work on
quantum mechanics, and his precise mathematical elegance. However, the limited capacity and very low
efficiency of present-day antiproton production methods suggest that antimatter may be too costly to consider
for near-term applications, more specifically, in future energy sector. The current assumption that the Big Bang
had to be smoothly spherically symmetrical in its particles of both, matter and antimatter, its energy, and its
radiation emitted outward from the origin is difficult to justify. It therefore merits consideration and acceptance
in place of the skewed balance concept.

References:

1. https://phys.org/tags/antimatter
2. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/outreach/resources/factsheets/antimatter.pdf
3. https://www.miklu.fi/Tiedekoulu/TASS4/Student_papers_files/ANTIMATTER.pdf
4. Nikhil Balkrishna Bole., (2014),“Antimatter Rockets”, International Journal of Scientific &
Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 1,pp 691-696
5. William H. Cropper., “The quantum Physicists”,(1970), by Oxford University Press, Inc.
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKU-wSBJh2E
7. http://multimidia.ufrgs.br/conteudo/frontdaciencia/dirac%20antimatter%20paper.pdf
8. https://phys.org/news/2011-01-thunderstorms-hurling-antimatter-space-caught.html
9. https://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0007/0007058.pdf
10. Brian Albert Robson., (2018),” The Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry Problem”, Journal of High Energy
Physics, Gravitation and Cosmology, 2018, 4, 166-178
11. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://astronomy-links.net/Antimatter.pdf
12. Laurent Canetti, Marco Drewes and Mikhail Shaposhnikov., (2012), „Matter and antimatter in the
universe‟, New Journal of Physics 14,pp1-20
13. C. M. Surkob and R. G. Greavesc., (2004), „Emerging science and technology of antimatter plasmasand
trap-based beams‟, PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, Vol. 11, No. 5 , pp 2333-2348
14. Andre Gsponer and JeanPierre Hurni., (2006), „Antimatter induced fusion and thermonuclear
explosions‟, Independent Scientific Research Institute, pp 1-10
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/74f4/085845f5574077572ff2e9dd4d46be4d997e.pdf

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