Chronicles of Antimatter: Why does Everything Exist? (Part 1)
Fundamental Concepts of The Standard Model ⚛
Why are we alive if antimatter exists!? Don’t you know it will annihilate anything it comes into contact with? We need to capture it! Help me find the antimatter, I can’t find it!
Uh, Carlos! Everyone is reading this, you know! Calm down!
Oh… 😅 Hey, everyone! Sorry if I startled you!
You may not understand this right now, but for now, I want you to pick up an object that is close to you. It could be your computer, your pillow, your lunch, anything (Make sure to keep hold of that object, because you will need it for later!). That object that you are holding/touching is composed form elementary subatomic particles, otherwise known as “matter”. But for every particle of matter, there must always be an opposite counterpart, and that’s where matter’s “evil twin” comes in, and its name is “antimatter”.
However, antimatter’s properties are not that different from matter. Some similarities are the magnitude of the particle’s electric charge, the mass of the subatomic particles, just to name a few. But for the differences, there are fundamental distinctions between matter and antimatter. Firstly, if a particle of matter and antimatter collide with each other, they will annihilate, leaving behind pure energy (100%) in the form of photons. They disappear just as fast as they appear.
But what's so important about antimatter, Carlos? What’s the matter with it?
You’re right, I’m getting way ahead of myself! You’ll have a good understanding of it soon! But first…
The Complete Standard Model
This is the Standard Model, in all of its glory! Now, this may be intimidating to see, but don’t worry! Let’s kick it off!
Fermions
Quarks & Anti-Quarks
Remember when I told you to hold on to your object at the beginning of the article? All things are made of elementary subatomic particles, but the object that you are holding is composed of the elementary particles known as quarks. However, if you look at the Standard Model, there are 6 different quarks! To separate them, we use a term called “flavor”. The flavors of the quarks are known as “up”, “down”, and “charm”, “strange”, “top”, and “bottom”.
But that looks messy, Carlos! Fix that!
Thankfully, The Standard Model has us covered! These quarks are classified into three distinct “generations” of quarks:
- First Generation: Up and Down Quarks
- Second Generation: Charm and Strange Quarks
- Third Generation: Top and Bottom Quarks
But what type of quarks make up the object that I am holding?
Everything that you can touch is made out of the First Generation of Quarks, The Up and Down Quarks! But hold on, though! Quarks make up the protons and the neutrons that make up your body!
A proton consists of 2 Up Quarks and 1 Down Quark, while a neutron consists of 2 Down Quarks and 1 Up Quark. The reason for this is because of the electrical charges of the quarks. An Up Quark has a charge of +2/3, while a Down Quark has a charge of -1/3.
If we add the Up and Down Quarks for a proton (+2/3 (+) +2/3 (+) -1/3), we end up with an overall charge of +1. This means that the proton has a charge of +1.
If we add the Down and Up Quarks for a neutron (-1/3 (+) -1/3 (+) +2/3), we end up with an overall charge of 0. This means that the neutron has a charge of 0, or neutral.
But wait! For every quark of matter, there must be an antiquark!
As I mentioned earlier, matter and antimatter have the same magnitude of electric charge and mass, and the same applies to Quarks and Antiquarks. But Quarks and Anti-Quarks can be distinguished by their electric charge. If an Up Quark has a charge of +2/3, then our Anti-Up Quark has a charge of -2/3. If our Down Quark has a charge of -1/3, then our Anti-Down Quark has a charge of +1/3.
Our Anti-Proton still has the same mass as a Quark, but its electric charge is -1, while our Neutron, unfortunately, still has an electric charge of 0, or neutral.
Leptons & Anti-Leptons
The second classification of particles with mass is the Leptons. Leptons are the most fundamental particles in The Standard Model, meaning that they are not composed of smaller elementary particles.
If you look more closely, you notice how the generations of leptons are nicely classified! The common “Electron” is our lightest Lepton of them all, with a rest mass of 9.11 × 10^–31 kg and its neutral-charge counterpart, the “Electron Neutrino”. Following behind the electron is the “Muon” and the “Muon Neutrino”, and last but not least, the “Tau” and “Tau Neutrino”.
Similar to quarks, Leptons can have a magnitude of the charge of 1 or be neutral (charge of 0). But for leptons, the electric charges are either -1 or 0. The electron, muon, and tau particles all have a charge of -1, while their massless neutral counterparts, the electron neutrino, muon neutrino, and tau neutrino, have a charge of 0. So a lepton can never have a negative electric charge… unless they are Anti-Leptons!
- If an Electron Particle has a charge of -1, then our Anti-Electron, better known as a Positron, has a charge of +1.
- If our Muon Particle has a charge of -1, then our Anti-Muon has a charge of +1.
- If our Tau Particle has a charge of -1, our Anti-Tau has a charge of +1.
Uh, Carlos, I think you forgot something…
Oh yeah, you’re right! Our massless neutrinos! Each Lepton and Anti-Lepton has its own neutrino or anti-neutrino! But wait, a neutrino has no electric charge and no mass, so how can they have a counterpart? The reason is because of its helicity (the projection of the spin onto the direction) and Radioactive Decay, or Double Beta Decay to be more specific. During Double Beta Decay, a nucleus will decay into a new nucleus but will emit two electrons and two anti-neutrinos. This happens so that the lepton number of the electron is conserved and does not violate lepton number conservation.
Bosons + Higgs Field
Bosons are the forces that are being carried by force-carrier particles that govern the universe, and why you exist because without them, everything would not be bonded together. Particles of matter transfer distinct amounts of energy by exchanging the unique bosons between each other.
But what are the forces that govern the world? Which forces are holding me together?
- The Strong Force is carried by the gluon (binds quarks & the atomic nucleus together)
- The Electromagnetic Force is carried by the photon (binds atoms and molecules together, interacts with leptons)
- The Weak Force is carried by the W and Z bosons (governs the decay of unstable subatomic particles, specifically quarks & leptons)
However, we do not have a force-carrying particle for gravity! The so-called “graviton” has yet to be discovered, but if there is such a thing as a “graviton”, it could finally end the arguments between not being able to unite Einstein’s general relativity and quantum mechanics!
But wait! What about the Higgs Boson?!
Ah, you’re right! The Higgs Field is what gives all of the subatomic particles we know of mass! But in order to do that, they must pass through the Higgs Field, and once they do, they interact with The Higgs Boson! Without The Higgs Field, there would be no Higgs Boson, and without the Higgs Boson, the world would not exist, because there would be no mass for the subatomic particles!
So, what’s the point of all this, Carlos? 🤔
Remember my rant at the beginning of this article? Without The Standard Model, nothing would exist, and no life would be possible. But an even worse scenario is that there was more antimatter! Imagine that!… But we don’t have to! Antimatter exists in your home!
Well, I have to go study for finals now, but hopefully, you learned something new, reader! Stay safe! 👋🏽
Wait, Carlos, what do you mean about Anti-Matter in my house!? Carlos!?
