annihilaation

Annihilation is a term used in physics to describe the process where a subatomic particle collides with its corresponding antiparticle. When a particle and its antiparticle meet, they annihilate each other, converting their entire mass into energy. This energy is typically released in the form of photons, which are packets of electromagnetic radiation. For example, an electron colliding with a positron, its antiparticle, will result in the production of two or more gamma-ray photons. The total energy of the emitted photons is equal to the combined rest mass energy of the original particle and antiparticle, plus any kinetic energy they possessed before the collision. This process is a direct consequence of Einstein's famous equation E=mc², which states that mass and energy are interchangeable. Annihilation is a fundamental process in quantum field theory and has important implications in various areas of physics, including particle physics research and astrophysics. It is also a phenomenon exploited in medical imaging techniques such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans.