Thread: How is matter formed ?

I hear about sub-atomics being formed shortly after the big bang. How are these being formed and from what?

I see lots of light being given off in models of particle--anti-particle collisions and decay of all sorts, but where are the models of the reverse happening? Does light somehow coalesce into particles inside of blackholes?

This is a good question and I have yet to receive an enlightening answer.

Matter is considered to be formed from extremely concentrated energy. So at what point/density does energy become matter? In other words when does energy gain mass, how and why?

Is this something they could find out with an atom smasher?

Originally Posted by Jeffrey DreamKing

I hear about sub-atomics being formed shortly after the big bang. How are these being formed and from what?

I see lots of light being given off in models of particle--anti-particle collisions and decay of all sorts, but where are the models of the reverse happening? Does light somehow coalesce into particles inside of blackholes?

Your second paragraph deals with virtual pair-production in which a photon spontaneously creates an electron-positron, muon-antimuon, or tau-antitau pair. However, these pair usually recombine immediately in accordance with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle for energy and time. Pair production of this type is studied at the high end of quantum electrodynamics (QED). It is not a candidate for a significant source of matter.

The components of matter are in the domain of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). This is the study of quarks, gluons and their interactions. Our current particle accelerators do not approach the energies required to study this interactions.

Matter creation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"To create an electron-positron pair the total energy of the photons must be at least 2mec2 = 2 × 0.511 MeV = 1.022 MeV (me is the mass of one electron and c is the speed of light in vacuum), an energy value that corresponds to soft gamma ray photons. The creation of a much more massive pair, like a proton and antiproton, requires photons with energy of more than 1.88 GeV (hard gamma ray photons)."

"The threshold temperature for production of electrons is about 1010 K, 1013 K for protons and neutrons, etc."


This is what I've been saying all along. Matter creation at the temperatures and energies found inside of a black hole ? Very hot inside and lots of gamma rays I imagine.