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On Electron Pair Creation and Annihilation
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On Electron Pair Creation and Annihilation
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RTCPhysics
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On Electron Pair Creation and Annihilation
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22/08/2017 09:31:40 »
“As far as we can tell, electrons and quarks are made of nothing.”
The science of ‘particle physics’ is a complex area of multiple particles and their anti-particles, which come into existence and go out of existence again. Two illustrative phenomena of particle transformations from one state to another, are the conversion of an electron-positron pair into gamma ray photons and the reverse process, by which gamma ray photons create electron-positron pairs from their interaction with the force field of an atomic nucleus.
The objective of this article is to derive a ‘quantum mechanical’ explanation for these two electron-photon and photon-electron transformations, but to do so, requires a departure from the traditional way in which the photon, the electron and a magnetic field ring are perceived.
The photon is able to transfer its inherent energy over long distances through the vacuum of space that exists between galaxies. Remarkably, they do so at a constant speed, irrespective of their wavelength.
Because photons cannot be accelerated or decelerated, only deflected, they are categorised as being ‘massless’ particles. The consequence of having ‘no mass’, but having a ‘constant velocity’ over the execution of each wavelength, is that the quantum of kinetic energy carried by each ‘photon’ is exactly the same, regardless of wavelength.
If short wavelength photons carried more kinetic energy than long wavelength photons, then the short wavelength photons would travel at a faster speed than the long wavelength photons, which we know is not the case.
However, over a set ‘interval of time’, a constant stream of short wavelength photons will transfer more kinetic energy than an equivalent stream of long wavelength photons, the amount being inversely proportional to their wavelength.
As it travels through space at the speed of light, the photon maintains its quantum of kinetic energy by circling the energy around continuously, with the diameter of the circle determining the photon’s wavelength. As a consequence of this circling with ‘forward motion’, the quantum of kinetic energy traces out the sinusoidal wave form of the photon.
The kinetic energy of photons enables them to expel electrons from their locations in the atoms of ‘photo emissive’ materials, but it depends entirely upon the photon’s wavelength matching the wavelength of the electrons that reside in the differing orbital energy bands of the atom.
This ‘matching’ of wavelengths, explains why only the longer wavelengths centred upon the ‘visible’ section of the Spectrum of Light, are able to interact with the electrons of atoms, whilst the shorter wavelengths centred upon the gamma-ray section of the Spectrum of Light, can interact with the nucleus of the atom.
It is this ability of gamma rays to interact with the nucleus of the atom that enables them to create an ‘electron pair’.
Contrary to the photon, the electrons and positrons can be accelerated and decelerated or held in suspension and as such, they are categorised as being particles with mass.
The conversion process of the electron and positron particles into gamma rays by ‘pair annihilation’ and then back again into existence through ‘pair creation’, points to the conclusion that the mass of the electron pair and the ‘kinetic energy’ of the gamma rays are one and the ‘same entity’, just existing physically in different states.
The state of having circulating ‘kinetic energy’ that moves through space at the speed of light, is the ‘massless state’ of the photon. But if a short wavelength gamma ray photon is to convert into the ‘mass state’ as an electron or positron particle, it requires the ability to ‘retain’ its forward speed of movement after it undergoes this ‘transformation’, such that it can revert back again into its massless state as a gamma ray photon.
As ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed’, the circulating kinetic energy of the massless photon converts its ‘forward motion’ at the speed of light, into ‘rotational spin’ also at the speed of light and this gives the electron particle its spin characteristic.
With its loss of forward movement but acquired rotational spin, the photon has been transformed into its ‘mass state’ as a particle, which can be contained within force fields and is able undergo acceleration or deceleration as a particle with mass.
The difference between the electron and the positron particles is simply their direction of spin rotation. If the direction of rotation of its kinetic energy’ is clockwise, it functions as an electron and if it is ‘anti-clockwise’, it functions as a positron, although ‘anti-electron’ is perhaps the better terminology.
When a free ‘anti-electron’ and a free ‘electron’ come into head-on contact, their opposing spin states create the ‘repelling traction’ that they both require to revert their particle spin speeds back into the forward motion of a photon, moving away from each other at the ‘speed of light’ in opposite directions and tracing out their characteristic sinusoidal waveform.
The ‘reverse’ process that leads to the creation of an electron and anti-electron pair, is the outcome of the interaction of the gamma ray photon with the external force field of the nucleus of an atom.
Traditionally, the atomic nucleus has two external force fields, one is electric and the other magnetic, but they are commonly referred to as being an ‘electromagnetic’ field. However, both these two fields have very different characteristics.
The ‘positive’ electric field that is associated with the individual protons in the nucleus, is viewed as generating a ‘continuous’ stream of ‘force carrying’ massless particles, which spread out in all directions around the proton and have an ‘infinite’ reach. These particles could be perceived as being ‘virtual’, as together their field lines act as a continuum and cannot be individually traced.
By contrast, the magnetic fields that exist around ‘both’ the protons and the neutrons of an atomic nucleus, have ‘discrete’ field rings, each of which has a ‘finite’ diameter that could be traced, if a small enough compass existed.
The discreteness and finite diameter of magnetic field rings, gives magnetic field theory its compatibility with ‘quantum mechanics’, whereas electric field theory, with its conceptual ability to generate a continuum of ‘perpetual’ energy with an ‘infinite’ reach, fails to conform to the principles of ‘quantum mechanics’.
The nucleus of the gold atom, which is commonly used in electron pair production in the lab, contains 197 protons and neutrons, each of which has its own magnetic field. The individual magnetic fields of the protons and neutrons align themselves alongside each other, in what we would traditionally term their ‘north-south’ direction, with all their magnetic field lines rotating around the nucleus in the same direction along its ‘north to south’ magnetic axis. This is the same process that 197 bar magnets would undergo if brought together in the vacuum of space, free from the influence of any gravitational force.
The ‘magnetic field rings’ created around an atomic nucleus, are exactly the same magnetic field rings that are observed around a bar magnet or around a current carrying wire, except that they have much smaller diameters. The number of magnetic field rings circling around and through an atomic nucleus, defines its field strength, which increases with the size of its atomic mass.
The capability of magnetic field rings to physically ‘orientate’ a scattering of iron filings into lines lying along their discrete circular pathways, tells us that magnetic field rings themselves are constructed from circulating ‘kinetic energy’. Without the exchange of kinetic energy between the magnetic field ring and the iron filings, there would be no applied force to move the iron filings from the position in which they fell, into the circular pathway of the magnetic field lines.
Each magnetic field ring carries the same quantum of ‘kinetic energy’. If this were not the case, then an ‘even scattering’ of iron filings would be clustered along the field lines of those which have the greatest content of kinetic energy, creating a pattern of darker and lighter lines across the field.
What actually happens is that the smaller diameter rings form first, as their kinetic energy completes its circle most quickly, but then ceases to attract more filings, once all the filings within their reach have been re-orientated into the direction of their circulating kinetic energy. The larger diameter rings follow the same process and if the filings are evenly spread, the density of filings upon each ring becomes the same.
With this perception of the ‘composite’ magnetic field of the atomic nucleus, an explanation of electron ‘pair creation’ can be developed. This involves the quantum of ‘kinetic energy’ of the incident gamma ray interacting with the quantum of kinetic energy circulating around the ‘magnetic field rings’ of the atomic nucleus.
But to explain this ‘interaction’ of the ‘kinetic energy’ of the gamma ray with the kinetic energy of the ‘magnetic field rings’ of the nucleus, requires another departure from the traditional perception of the nature of magnetic field rings.
The concept of a circulating ‘kinetic energy’ particle within a magnetic field ring explains their ability to generate photons in the radio-wave segment of the Spectrum of Light, which occurs when the magnetic field around a current carrying wire is subjected to a rapid alternation of the current flow in the wire.
This ability of magnetic field rings to convert into photons moving away at light speed, implies that the kinetic energy particle of a magnetic field ring also circulates at the ‘speed of light’.
Every magnetic ring, circulating in the same direction, attracts each other, such that the circular diameter of the magnetic field around an atomic nucleus such as gold, are wrapped closely around the nucleus, with diameters measured in picometers, which corresponds with the wavelengths of photons from the gamma ray region of the Spectrum of Light.
This joint perception of the photon and a magnetic field ring, as being constructed from the same quantum of kinetic energy’ that circulates at the speed of light, is the key to a quantum mechanical explanation for the mechanism behind electron-positron pair creation.
The shape of the magnetic field around the atomic nucleus is spherical, with the field lines circulating all around its magnetic north-south axis.
The circulating kinetic energy of the incident gamma ray impinging upon the circulating kinetic energy of one of the ‘outer’ magnetic field rings of the atomic nucleus will interact together, but only if they have the same wavelength.
The outcome of this interaction depends upon whether the outer magnetic field ring is circulating in the same or opposite direction to that of the incident gamma ray. If they meet circulating in opposite directions, they will repel each other, which deflects the gamma ray around the nucleus and back onto its original path. But if the two rings meet circulating in the same direction, they will to be attracted to each other and drawn together.
However, magnetic field rings obey ‘Pauli’s exclusion principle’, in the sense that two magnetic field rings of the same diameter cannot occupy the same location in a magnetic field.
The imparted kinetic energy from the ‘forward motion’ of the incoming gamma ray is enough to expel the ring from its magnetic field, but in turn, it is replaced by the incoming magnetic ring of the gamma ray, leaving the energy and structure of the nucleus unchanged.
But the process of exchanging magnetic field rings affects the nuclear particle that generated the expelled magnetic ring. If the expelled magnetic ring was generated by a neutron in the nucleus, then the neutron undergoes ‘beta minus decay’ changing into a proton with the release of an electron and an electron antineutrino.
But the immediate ‘replacement’ of the expelled magnetic field ring by the incident gamma ray ring, reverses this process, with the input of its ‘forward motion’ kinetic energy causing the same proton to undergo ‘beta plus decay’, recreating the neutron and releasing an anti-electron and an electron neutrino almost simultaneously with the electron and anti-electron neutrino.
This explanation of ‘electron pair’ creation and annihilation has required a departure from the terminology and perceptions that have been developed over time for the electron, the photon and the magnetic field ring. But perhaps the most significant is the role that magnetic field theory has taken over electric field theory, in the quantum mechanical process that leads to 'electron pair' creation.
But this concept of a massless ‘kinetic energy’ particle that provides a common building block for the photon, the electron and a magnetic field ring, does give us an explanation for at least part of the statement that introduced the article.
“As far as we can tell, electrons and quarks are made of nothing.”
At least, nothing with mass.
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Last Edit: 22/08/2017 12:44:36 by
RTCPhysics
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