AAS 202nd Meeting, May 2003
Session 54 Cosmology Runs Through It
Oral, Thursday, May 29, 2003, 10:00-11:30am, 103/104

## [54.06] What's the Matter with Antimatter?

A. Katragada, M. Scheetz, O. Manuel (University of Missouri-Rolla)

Variations of potential energy per nucleon (M/A = 1.00 ± 0.01 amu /nucleon) with nuclear charge density (charge/nucleon, 0 \leq Z/A \leq 1 ) for the 2,850 known nuclides [1] indicate that n-p interactions are attractive but n-n and p-p interactions are repulsive and symmetric, except for Coulomb effects [2,3]. Fig. 1 [4] shows matter and antimatter as reflections of one another across a symmetry plane at Z/A = 0. However, matter and anti-matter are both on the right of Z/A = 0 in Fig 1, e.g., the beta-decay of mirror nuclides in Fig. 2 [5]. Decay must overcome a 1.022 MeV barrier to \beta \textsuperscript{+} emission, as shown in Fig. 3 [6] for \textsuperscript{13}N arrow \textsuperscript{13}C + \beta\textsuperscript{+} + 1.198 MeV; Qtotal = M(\textsuperscript{13}N) - M(\textsuperscript{13}C) = 2.220 MeV = 1.022 MeV + 1.198 MeV. By convention the 1.022 MeV barrier is attributed to an electron/positron pair, each with a rest mass of 0.511 MeV. We suggest that the plane of symmetry for matter may not be at Z/A = 0 as shown in Fig 1, but near Z/A = 0.50 where there is maximum nuclear stability. The mass ratio, H\textsuperscript{-}/H\textsuperscript{+}, may be used to test our hypothesis. For the standard model, the mass ratio is H\textsuperscript{-}/H\textsuperscript{+} = 1.0011. For the model proposed here, the mass ratio is H\textsuperscript{-}/H\textsuperscript{+} \ll 1.0011. \ \ \ \ \ \ REFERENCES: \\ 1. \emph{Nuclear Wallet Cards}, 6th ed., Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY, 74 pp. (2000); \\ 2. \emph{J. Fusion Energy} {\bf19}, 93 (2000); \\ 3. O. Manuel, E. Miller and A. Katragada, ìNeutron repulsion confirmed as energy source,î\emph{ J. Fusion Energy}, in press (2003); \\ 4. www.umr.edu/\char126 om/fig1.pdf or www.umr.edu/\char126 om/fig1.html;\\ 5. www.umr.edu/\char126 om/fig2.pdf or www.umr.edu/\char126 om/fig2.html;\\ 6. www.umr.edu/\char126 om/fig3.pdf or www.umr.edu/\char126 om/fig3.html