Posting here because I saw it on reddit and had interesting thoughts and questions about it and I can't post there - isn't antimatter like a positron just oppositely charged form of all particles (or opposite in all forces I guess).

They annihilate because they have anti-mass, but since anti-mass is hypothetical at this point, if mass turned out to be an absolute property of the higgs field, antimatter and matter colliding could result in these massive particles that can no longer possibly interact with anything. Isn't that what Dark Matter is? Seems we have a lot of that stuff floating around.

I thought about the paradox of why matter. If any of the cyclical universe theories turned out to be correct then in that situation it would SEEM obvious the next universe would be antimatter right. Just swinging back and forth through the singularity like a pendulum. Infinite conservation of energy forever, and we happen to be in the matter part.

This weirdo theory would imply information being maintained through a singularity though, is that a thing? but if every particle is a singularity anyway can't they just chill together.

I saw another unhinged amateur theory a few weeks ago also on reddit that Dark Matter was the next universe moving backward through time.

I want to hear what the people way smarter than me did to absolutely tear this apart because I'm sure it's been picked apart to death. Did you guys ever touch on antimatter in your physics classes? It's a lot of fun.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 4 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

isn’t antimatter like a positron just oppositely charged form of all particles (or opposite in all forces I guess)

They annihilate because they have anti-mass

Antimatter has opposite charge, same forces, same mass. They experience and exert all the same forces in all the same ways, including gravity.

antimatter and matter colliding could result in these massive particles that can no longer possibly interact with anything. Isn’t that what Dark Matter is? Seems we have a lot of that stuff floating around.

No, during annihilation, especially in low-energy collisions, you usually just get two gamma ray photons out. At higher-energy collisions, you do get massive particles (as in particles that have mass, not big huge particles), but they're perfectly ordinary (well, relatively ordinary, anyway). Wikipedia has a pretty good overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilation

I saw another unhinged amateur theory a few weeks ago also on reddit that Dark Matter was the next universe moving backward through time.

No, dark matter is also relatively ordinary matter as far as we know, except for the fact that it doesn't really interact with other matter or energy except gravity. Technically it's also hypothetical, because there isn't any nearby for us to get a good look at or take a sample, but it's our working theory. Because it appears to interact normally with gravity (i.e. dark matter gravitates toward other matter and bends light as expected) it's almost certainly not a mirror universe doing something funky. Plus, the dark/normal matter ratio in the observable universe is 85/15%, so if it was a mirror universe, wouldn't it be 50/50?

[–] Simon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 weeks ago

Here's another one for you. If our Galaxy is full of Dark Matter that doesn't interact with anything wouldn't a whole bunch of it end up in the middle of our planet and every star? Thus making them way heavier and invalidating the paradox we see?

[–] Simon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 weeks ago

Thanks! It's so weird the commonly understood kind of antimatter in sci-fi is totally different from reality.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 3 points 4 weeks ago

Antimatter does not have antimass. A positron is the same as an electron but with a positive charge. That's all. They have nothing to do with dark matter. When they annihilate their mass is converted to energy. This has been measured and confirmed.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Can neutrons decay into anti protons?

[–] Simon@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Not sure exactly but neutrons are* a proton and an electron getting intimate with each other so yes? Not decay, what you're describing would be separating DARK MATTER in this stupid unproven head-theory I wrote out.

In the real world only cosmic rays smashing particles in space like nature's particle accelerator can produce anti-protons

*Obviously the star because hadrons are way more complicated than that

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 2 points 4 weeks ago

neutrons are* a proton and an electron getting intimate with each other

No, neutrons are normal particles in their own right, just with net zero charge.