Electron and Positron Question

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Golden Boar - 20 May 2005 19:35 GMT

"For each kind of particle, there is an associated antiparticle with
the same mass but opposite electromagnetic, weak, and strong charges,
as well as spin." from wiki.

Electrons and positrons can have a spin of +1/2 or -1/2, so if an
electron and positron both have the same spin, they are not
anti-particles of each other.

Is my statement correct?
Is the above definition wrong?
I am I missing something?

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Jim Heckman - 21 May 2005 01:09 GMT

> "For each kind of particle, there is an associated antiparticle with
> the same mass but opposite electromagnetic, weak, and strong charges,
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Is the above definition wrong?
> I am I missing something?

The above definition is incorrect, or at least very poorly worded. A
particle and its antiparticle have the same spin.

I'm also not sure how useful it is to say that particles and
antiparticles have opposite weak and strong charges, since these forces
are mediated by non-abelian gauge forces, unlike electromagnetism
whose gauge force is abelian. In non-abelian forces the gauge bosons
carry gauge-field charge and so interacting leptons and quarks are
constantly changing their weak and strong charges via exchange of real
or virtual W and Z bosons and gluons.

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Jim Heckman

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Natural Science Forum / Physics / Particle Physics / May 2005

Electron and Positron Question