antiparticle
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
antiparticle (plural antiparticles)
- (physics) A subatomic particle corresponding to another particle with the same mass, spin and mean lifetime but with charge, parity, strangeness and other quantum numbers flipped in sign; a particle that has a reversed world line to another.
- 1988, Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, page 75:
- There could be whole antiworlds and antipeople made out of antiparticles. However, if you meet your antiself, don't shake hands!
- 2010 November 19, Alok Jha, “We can't see antimatter but it really does matter”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- Particles of matter and antimatter are identical, except for an opposite electrical charge. An electron has a negative charge whereas its antiparticle, the positron, has a positive charge, and both have an identical mass.
Usage notes
- The symbol for an antiparticle is the symbol for the normal particle plus "bar" (e.g. pbar) or with a bar above the symbol.
Derived terms
Translations
a subatomic particle
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