antifermio

Antifermio is a term that may be used in some contexts to denote the antiparticle of a fermion, or a class of such antiparticles. In mainstream physics, the standard term is antifermion. AntifermiOs are envisioned as the fermionic partners with opposite quantum numbers, mirroring the relationship between matter particles and their antiparticles.

Properties of an antifermio would include half-integer spin and identical mass to its fermion partner, but opposite conserved quantities such as electric charge, lepton number, or baryon number. Like fermions, antifermiOs are described by relativistic quantum field theory and follow Fermi-Dirac statistics. Unless a fermion is a Majorana particle, its antifermio is distinct from the fermion itself.

Interactions and production of antifermiOs follow the same principles that govern fermions: they can be created or annihilated in processes that conserve quantum numbers. An antifermio can annihilate with its corresponding fermion, often producing energy in the form of photons or other gauge bosons. Experimental evidence of antiparticles exists across the spectrum, from positrons to anti-quarks and anti-neutrinos, illustrating the real-world basis for the concept.

In theoretical or fictional contexts, antifermio may be used to explore ideas of symmetry, matter–antimatter balance, or alternative interaction schemes. In prevailing scientific literature, however, antifermion is the conventional term, and antifermio appears mainly as a neologism in nonstandard discussions or imaginative worlds.