Posted: Mar 10, 2017 8:35 am
LjSpike wrote:Calilasseia wrote:More rigorously, the creation and annihilation operators for particles in Hilbert space are, in the most general case, complex-valued operators of the form x+iy and x-iy (they are complex conjugates of each other). So, if x+iy is the creation operator for a particle, then x-iy is the creation operator for an antiparticle. (They are also the annihilation operators for the vice-versa entities).
However, if y=0, then the creation and annihilation operators are identical (and real), and the resulting particles become their own antiparticles.
The spin-statistics theorem, which divides particles into fermions and bosons on the basis of their spin angular momentum quantum numbers, implies that bosons are particles for which y=0 above.
Thats an interesting definition.twistor59 wrote:
Coz annihilation would turn them into energy and they already are energy.
So they needn't bother...
Well all matter is energy, but come to think of it, when a light beam ends and is absorbed by a surface would that be the annihilation of a photon with itself? It disappears from existence leaving behind its equivalent energy in another form.
No. A photon is energy. It cannot be annihilated with itself. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only change forms. Photons interact with particles that have non-0 charge, such as electrons and excite them to a different energy level. (That is a simplification, because the photon must carry the required energy for the electron to change energy levels.)
But the main thing is that you cannot create nor destroy energy. Only change its form.