I read that a particle will meet its antiparticle and annihilate to generate a photon. Is it important for the pairs to be of the same type? What will happen when for example a neutron meets an antiproton or a proton meets a positron? Are there any rules to determine what happens when such particles meet?
Antimatter – Do Particle and Antiparticle Have to Be of the Same Type for Annihilation?
antimatter
Best Answer
Yes, there are rules that depend on the quantum numbers carried by the particles under question and the energy available for the interaction.
In general we label as annihilation when particle meets antiparticle because all the characterising quantum numbers are equal and opposite in sign and add and become 0, allowing for the decay into two photons, two because you need momentum conservation.
A positron meeting a proton will be repulsed by the electromagnetic interaction, unless it has very high energy and can interact with the quarks inside the proton, according to the rules of the standard model interactions.
When a neutron meets an antiproton the only quantum number that is not equal and opposite is the charge, so we cannot have annihilation to just photons, but the constituent antiquarks of the antiproton will annihilate with some of the quarks in the neutron there will no longer be any baryons, just mesons and photons, and all these interactions are given by the rules and crossections of the standard model.