an·ti·par·ti·cle

(ăn′tē-pär′tĭ-kəl, ăn′tī-)

A subatomic particle, such as a positron or antiproton, having the same spin, magnitude of electric charge, magnitude of magnetic moment, mass, and mean lifetime as the particle to which it corresponds, but the opposite sign of charge, opposite direction of magnetic moment, and opposite intrinsic parity.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

antiparticle

(ˈæntɪˌpɑːtɪkəl)

(Atomic Physics) any of a group of elementary particles that have the same mass and spin as their corresponding particle but have opposite values for all other nonzero quantum numbers. When a particle collides with its antiparticle, mutual annihilation occurs

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

an•ti•par•ti•cle

(ˈæn tiˌpɑr tɪ kəl, ˈæn taɪ-)

n.

a particle whose properties are identical in magnitude to those of a specific elementary particle but are of opposite sign.

[1930–35]

an·ti·par·ti·cle

(ăn′tē-pär′tĭ-kəl, ăn′tī-pär′tĭ-kəl)

A particle of antimatter that corresponds to an electron or proton but has an opposite charge.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

antiparticle - a particle that has the same mass as another particle but has opposite values for its other properties; interaction of a particle and its antiparticle results in annihilation and the production of radiant energy

elementary particle, fundamental particle - (physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter

antimatter - matter consisting of elementary particles that are the antiparticles of those making up normal substances

Translations

antipartícula

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Every particle of matter has a corresponding antiparticle, identical in every way, but with an opposite charge.

Why Matter Dominates Universe

But, as part of the right Physics topic, you could hook into the scientific definition of the term: the collision of a particle and its antiparticle. What are antiparticles?

CINEMA SCIENCE: The Dangerous Biology of Annihilation: A thought-provoking, high-concept sci-fi thriller, Alex Garlands film touches on real-world phenomena such as Hox genes, the Hayflick limit and the Mandelbrot set. While its science is complex and its subject matter can be intense, the film provides many excellent opportunities for discussions about biology in senior secondary classrooms, as DAVE CREWE describes

Cui's team looked at data collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which collects particle (and antiparticle) data from aboard the International Space Station.

The origin of the Milky Way's mysterious gamma rays

An experiment proposed by Stanford theorists finds evidence for the Majorana fermion, a particle that's its own antiparticle. StanfordNews Service, 20 July 2017, http://news.stanford.edu/press/view/15528

Discovered "Angel Particle", which is Both Matter and Antimatter, as a New Experimental Proof of Unmatter

Positrons, as antiparticle of the electron, are described as electrons moving backwards in time.

Adrian Wuthrich: The Genesis of Feynman Diagrams

Like Feynman, Krauss also relishes the quirky surprises that science sometimes throws at researchers, recalling his own thrill when first seeing that Feynman's Nobel work "explained how an antiparticle could be thought of as a particle going backward in time." That's right, backward and forward in time, with just the bouncy perspective Feynman personified.

Life of Feynman: Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science

These virtual particles, albeit short-lived, behave very violently, colliding with each other and annihilating each other in a burst of energy when particle and antiparticle collide.

Creatio ex nihilo, number theory, quantum vacuum, and the big bang

I rather like the physics definition of annihilation, and I would like to see it applied to the battlefield: the phenomenon in which a particle or antiparticle (call that a philosophy, idea, or doctrine) as an electron and a positron (call those warriors), disappears with a resultant loss of energy approximately equal to the sum of their masses.

Praising (mostly) "In Praise of Attrition"

It was the antiparticle to the electron, later called the positron.

MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND THE REAL FACE OF GOD