Anti-matter travels backwards through time

[Guest]

I read somewhere that anti-matter traveling forward through space time is the equivalent of matter traveling backwards through space time. If you can direct me in the way of any articles that have something to do with this plz help me out! thanks!

 

[Guest]

Hi...I think what you're referring to is that anti-matter can be regarded as matter that is travelling backward in time.
Let's take the example of a pair of opposing particles, an Electron (matter, with a negative charge) and a Positron (anti-matter, with a positive charge). The Positron can be interpreted as being an Electron that is travelling backward in time, hence it appears to have a reversed charge.
I think this idea came from representing particles in Feynman diagrams, which are used to simplify particle interactions...
Hope this is useful.

 

[ProgBoy1]

NO nO no No NO! A positron cannot be interpreted as an electron travelling backwards. I think that you have confused Feynman's advanced waves with antimatter. All a positron is, is an electron with a reversed charge; it does not 'time-travel' or the like. Charge has nothing to do with it. If you want a really good explanation on antimatter and advanced waves, try this super book I found, called 'Faster Than Light' by Nick Herbert, Ph.D. Anyhow, hope that clears up the time-travelling confusion. See ya!

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[Guest]

Thanks for the book recommendation ProgBoy. You seemed so upset with my posting I felt the need to reply:
On the subject of the Feynman diagrams, I was referring to something that I read years ago saying that the arrows on the diagrams that indicate particle polarity are reversed when indicating anti-matter. Someone realised that (taking these arrows literally, which was not Feynman's original intention ) they COULD indicate a normal particle travelling backward in time, which is what makes it appear as anti-matter in the first place. To upset you even more, it was suggested that the anti-particle might, in fact, be the very SAME normal particle with which it was interacting...ie, meeting itself as it travels back in time from some point in the future!
I'm afraid I don't have any anti-matter with which to test this idea (it wasn't my idea in the first place either...), so I cannot be as certain as you obviously are.
As for 'charge having nothing to do with it' - Why not hmmm?...What IS charge anyway? Or spin, or magnetic moment?
As with most things (if not all...) in Quantum Theory, it remains just that: THEORY, not Quantum Absolute Certainty...Dick Feynman said himself that 'nobody understands Quantum Physics'...