Making matter from light (IMAGE)

DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory

Making matter from light

Caption

Making matter from light: Two gold (Au) ions (red) move in opposite direction at 99.995% of the speed of light (v, for velocity, = approximately c, the speed of light). As the ions pass one another without colliding, two photons (γ) from the electromagnetic cloud surrounding the ions can interact with each other to create a matter-antimatter pair: an electron (e-) and positron (e+).

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Brookhaven Natioinal Laboratory

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