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The '''positron''' or '''antielectron''' is the [[antiparticle]] or the [[antimatter]] counterpart of the [[electron]]. The positron has an [[electric charge]] of +1e, a [[spin (physics)|spin]] of ½, and has the same mass as an electron. When a low-energy positron collides with a low-energy electron, [[annihilation]] occurs, resulting in the production of two or more [[gamma ray]] [[photon]]s (see [[electron–positron annihilation]]).
The '''positron''' or '''antielectron''' is the [[antiparticle]] or the [[antimatter]] counterpart of the [[negatron]]. The positron has an [[electric charge]] of +1e, a [[spin (physics)|spin]] of ½, and has the same mass as an electron. When a low-energy positron collides with a low-energy electron, [[annihilation]] occurs, resulting in the production of two or more [[gamma ray]] [[photon]]s (see [[electron–positron annihilation]]).


Positrons may be generated by [[positron emission]] radioactive decay (through [[weak interaction]]s), or by [[pair production]] from a sufficiently energetic [[photon]].
Positrons may be generated by [[positron emission]] radioactive decay (through [[weak interaction]]s), or by [[pair production]] from a sufficiently energetic [[photon]].

Revision as of 17:15, 28 October 2014

For other uses, see Positron (disambiguation).
Positron (antielectron)
Cloud chamber photograph by C. D. Anderson of the first positron ever identified. A 6 mm lead plate separates the upper and lower halves of the chamber. The deflection and direction of the particle's ion trail indicate the particle is a positron (see below).
CompositionElementary particle
StatisticsFermionic
FamilyLepton
GenerationFirst
InteractionsGravity, Electromagnetic, Weak
Symbol
β+
,
e+
AntiparticleElectron
TheorizedPaul Dirac (1928)
DiscoveredCarl D. Anderson (1932)
Mass9.10938291(40)×10−31 kg[1]

5.4857990946(22)×10−4 u[1]
[1822.8884845(14)]−1 u[note 1]

0.510998928(11) MeV/c2[1]
Electric charge+1 e
1.602176565(35)×10−19 C[1]
Spin1⁄2

The positron or antielectron is the antiparticle or the antimatter counterpart of the negatron. The positron has an electric charge of +1e, a spin of ½, and has the same mass as an electron. When a low-energy positron collides with a low-energy electron, annihilation occurs, resulting in the production of two or more gamma ray photons (see electron–positron annihilation).

Positrons may be generated by positron emission radioactive decay (through weak interactions), or by pair production from a sufficiently energetic photon.

History

Theory

In 1928, Paul Dirac published a paper[2] proposing that electrons can have both a positive charge and negative energy. This paper introduced the Dirac equation, a unification of quantum mechanics, special relativity, and the then-new concept of electron spin to explain the Zeeman effect. The paper did not explicitly predict a new particle, but did allow for electrons having either positive or negative energy as solutions. The positive-energy solution explained experimental results, but Dirac was puzzled by the equally valid negative-energy solution that the mathematical model allowed. Quantum mechanics did not allow the negative energy solution to simply be ignored, as classical mechanics often did in such equations; the dual solution implied the possibility of an electron spontaneously jumping between positive and negative energy states. However, no such transition had yet been observed experimentally. He referred to the issues raised by this conflict between theory and observation as "difficulties" that were "unresolved".

Dirac wrote a follow-up paper in December 1929[3] that attempted to explain the unavoidable negative-energy solution for the relativistic electron. He argued that "... an electron with negative energy moves in an external [electromagnetic] field as though it carries a positive charge." He further asserted that all of space could be regarded as a "sea" of negative energy states that were filled, so as to prevent electrons jumping between positive energy states (negative electric charge) and negative energy states (positive charge). The paper also explored the possibility of the proton being an island in this sea, and that it might actually be a negative-energy electron. Dirac acknowledged that the proton having a much greater mass than the electron was a problem, but expressed "hope" that a future theory would resolve the issue.

Robert Oppenheimer argued strongly against the proton being the negative-energy electron solution to Dirac's equation. He asserted that if it were, the hydrogen atom would rapidly self-destruct.[4] Persuaded by Oppenheimer's argument, Dirac published a paper in 1931 that predicted the existence of an as-yet unobserved particle that he called an "anti-electron" that would have the same mass as an electron and that would mutually annihilate upon contact with an electron.[5]

Feynman, and earlier Stueckelberg, proposed an interpretation of the positron as an electron moving backward in time,[6] reinterpreting the negative-energy solutions of the Dirac equation. Electrons moving backward in time would have a positive electric charge. Wheeler invoked this concept to explain the identical properties shared by all electrons, suggesting that "they are all the same electron" with a complex, self-intersecting worldline.[7] Yoichiro Nambu later applied it to all production and annihilation of particle-antiparticle pairs, stating that "the eventual creation and annihilation of pairs that may occur now and then is no creation or annihilation, but only a change of direction of moving particles, from past to future, or from future to past."[8] The backwards in time point of view is nowadays accepted as completely equivalent to other pictures, but it does not have anything to do with the macroscopic terms "cause" and "effect", which do not appear in a microscopic physical description.

Experimental clues and discovery

Antimatter
A Feynman diagram showing the annihilation of an electron and a positron (antielectron), creating a photon that later decays into an new electron–positron pair.
Antiparticles

Onia

Concepts and phenomena
Devices
Uses
People and bodies

Dmitri Skobeltsyn first observed the positron in 1929.[9][10] While using a Wilson cloud chamber[11] to try to detect gamma radiation in cosmic rays, Skobeltsyn detected particles that acted like electrons but curved in the opposite direction in an applied magnetic field.[10]

Likewise, in 1929 Chung-Yao Chao, a graduate student at Caltech, noticed some anomalous results that indicated particles behaving like electrons, but with a positive charge, though the results were inconclusive and the phenomenon was not pursued.[12]

Carl D. Anderson discovered the positron on August 2, 1932,[13] for which he won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1936.[14] Anderson did not coin the term positron, but allowed it at the suggestion of the Physical Review journal editor to which he submitted his discovery paper in late 1932. The positron was the first evidence of antimatter and was discovered when Anderson allowed cosmic rays to pass through a cloud chamber and a lead plate. A magnet surrounded this apparatus, causing particles to bend in different directions based on their electric charge. The ion trail left by each positron appeared on the photographic plate with a curvature matching the mass-to-charge ratio of an electron, but in a direction that showed its charge was positive.[15]

Anderson wrote in retrospect that the positron could have been discovered earlier based on Chung-Yao Chao's work, if only it had been followed up.[12] Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie in Paris had evidence of positrons in old photographs when Anderson's results came out, but they had dismissed them as protons.[15]

Production

New research has dramatically increased the quantity of positrons that experimentalists can produce. Physicists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have used a short, ultra-intense laser to irradiate a millimetre-thick gold target and produce more than 100 billion positrons.[16][17]

Applications

Certain kinds of particle accelerator experiments involve colliding positrons and electrons at relativistic speeds. The high impact energy and the mutual annihilation of these matter/antimatter opposites create a fountain of diverse subatomic particles. Physicists study the results of these collisions to test theoretical predictions and to search for new kinds of particles.

Gamma rays, emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide (tracer), are detected in positron emission tomography (PET) scanners used in hospitals. PET scanners create detailed three-dimensional images of metabolic activity within the human body.[18]

An experimental tool called positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) is used in materials research to detect variations in density, defects, displacements, or even voids, within a solid material.[19]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ The fractional version's denominator is the inverse of the decimal value (along with its relative standard uncertainty of 4.2×10−10).

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d The original source for CODATA is:
    Mohr, P.J.; Taylor, B.N.; Newell, D.B. (2006). "CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants". Reviews of Modern Physics. 80 (2): 633–730. arXiv:0801.0028. Bibcode:2008RvMP...80..633M. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.80.633.
    Individual physical constants from the CODATA are available at:
    "The NIST Reference on Constants, Units and Uncertainty". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
  2. ^ P. A. M. Dirac. "The quantum theory of the electron" (PDF).
  3. ^ P. A. M. Dirac. "A Theory of Electrons and Protons" (PDF).
  4. ^ Frank Close (2009). Antimatter. Oxford University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-19-955016-6.
  5. ^ P. A. M. Dirac (1931). "Quantised Singularities in the Quantum Field". Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A. 133 (821): 2–3. Bibcode:1931RSPSA.133...60D. doi:10.1098/rspa.1931.0130.
  6. ^ Feynman, Richard (1949). "The Theory of Positrons". Physical Review. 76 (76): 749. Bibcode:1949PhRv...76..749F. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.76.749.
  7. ^ Feynman, Richard (1965-12-11). The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics (Speech). Nobel Lecture. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
  8. ^ Nambu, Yoichiro (1950). "The Use of the Proper Time in Quantum Electrodynamics I". Progress in Theoretical Physics. 5 (5): 82. Bibcode:1950PThPh...5...82N. doi:10.1143/PTP.5.82.
  9. ^ Frank Close. Antimatter. Oxford University Press. pp. 50–52. ISBN 978-0-19-955016-6.
  10. ^ a b general chemistry. Taylor & Francis. 1943. p. 660. GGKEY:0PYLHBL5D4L. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  11. ^ Cowan, Eugene (1982). "The Picture That Was Not Reversed". Engineering & Science. 46 (2): 6–28.
  12. ^ a b Jagdish Mehra, Helmut Rechenberg (2000). The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, Volume 6: The Completion of. Quantum Mechanics 1926–1941. Springer. p. 804. ISBN 978-0-387-95175-1.
  13. ^ Anderson, Carl D. (1933). "The Positive Electron". Physical Review. 43 (6): 491–494. Bibcode:1933PhRv...43..491A. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.43.491.
  14. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1936". Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  15. ^ a b GILMER, PENNY J. (19 July 2011). "IRÈNE JOLIOT-CURIE, A NOBEL LAUREATE IN ARTIFICIAL RADIOACTIVITY" (PDF). p. 8. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  16. ^ Bland, E. (1 December 2008). "Laser technique produces bevy of antimatter". MSNBC. Retrieved 2009-07-16. The LLNL scientists created the positrons by shooting the lab's high-powered Titan laser onto a one-millimeter-thick piece of gold.
  17. ^ "Laser creates billions of antimatter particles". Cosmos Online.
  18. ^ Phelps, Michael E. (2006). PET: physics, instrumentation, and scanners. Springer. pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-387-32302-3.
  19. ^ "Introduction to Positron Research". St. Olaf College.
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