# Is there such a thing as an anti-boson?

1. Can there be an anti-boson that when interacting with normal bosons, creates matter, like when anti-matter creates energy when interacting with matter?

2. I know that anti-particles can be considered regular particles going backwards in time, can’t the same logic be applied to bosons.

3. Also, if supersymmetry is real, would that also suggest that the super bosons would have anti-super bosons, and therefore, regular anti-bosons.

• A boson and its antiparticle may annihilate to other bosons, or fermion-antifermion pairs, in principle. So the outcome would not be matter: it would be equal amounts of matter and antimatter, (up to extreme subtleties). Your question on supersymmetry does not parse: what are you saying? – Cosmas Zachos Nov 12 '18 at 0:55
• the supersymmetric partner of a boson - which you call a superboson - would have half-integer spin, and for gauge bosons in gauge multiplets would be a spin-1/2 fermion – innisfree Nov 12 '18 at 1:02
• Welcome New contributor That_one_guy! I suppose you're thinking of a process like $W^+ + W^- \rightarrow f + \bar{f}$? – Alfred Centauri Nov 12 '18 at 1:02

Yes, the $$W^+$$ and $$W^-$$ gauge bosons that are part of the weak nuclear interaction are antiparticles of each other and can annihilate. The annihilation could produce a variety of things... two photons most likely, but also a lepton/anti-lepton pair, a quark/anti-quark pair, a $$Z$$ boson, etc.

The neutral gauge bosons — photons, gluons, and the $$Z$$ — are their own antiparticle. Since they carry no electric charge, they can’t annihilate directly to two photons the way a $$W^+$$ and $$W^-$$ can. But they can produce other things. For example a high-energy collision of two photons can create an electron and a positron. This is just the time-reverse of the annihilation of an electron and positron to two photons.

• The OP wants to know if a matter + antimatter pair of gauge bosons can react to produce matter, i.e. fermions. I guess that since $W^+$ & $W^-$ rapidly decay to quarks, they could produce a pair of pions, if you get them to interact quickly enough, but of course those would soon decay to various leptons and photons. – PM 2Ring Nov 12 '18 at 3:53
• Reading your answer it occurs a question about the spins of the photons for pair production to me. – HolgerFiedler Nov 12 '18 at 6:10
• @HolgerFiedler one has to take in the algebra of spins. +1 for one photon, -1 for the other would add to zero which allows for a 1/2 -1/2 pair.( your link gives all the physics questions list) – anna v Nov 12 '18 at 6:57
• @anna How to explain that you could emit zillion of photons with the same spin and by this the number of spin is not a conserved number? Does the algebra of spin is really applicable to photons? – HolgerFiedler Nov 12 '18 at 7:18
• @HolgerFiedler as part of angular momentum conservation , yes. Otherwise there would be failings of the law – anna v Nov 12 '18 at 7:23

The answer by G.Smith is fine. I want to clear misapprehensions in the questions.

Can there be an anti-boson that when interacting with normal bosons, creates matter, like when anti-matter creates energy when interacting with matter?

If the boson is not characterized by a charge, or specific quantum numbers, it is the antiparticle of itself. Gluons, which are bosons carry two color charges and the antigluon of each gluon will be different because of this. So it depends on the boson, as the other answer also shows.

I know that anti-particles can be considered regular particles going backwards in time, can’t the same logic be applied to bosons.

It is. If they are antiparticles of themselves, nothing changes, otherwise as with the W example charge has to be taken into account.

Also, if supersymmetry is real, would that also suggest that the super bosons would have anti-super bosons, and therefore, regular anti-bosons.

Supersymmetry introduces new quantum numbers and these have to be taken specifically into account, as also the old ones. Anti supersymmetric boson would still be sypersymmetric, not "regular anti-bosons." Quantum numbers and charges have to be taken into account all the time.

• Your 2nd paragraph is a little unclear, IMO. I certainly agree that the antiparticle of a given gluon is a different gluon, OTOH, each basic gluon has a color and an anticolor, so it's there isn"t a set of gluons and a disjoint set of antigluons. – PM 2Ring Nov 12 '18 at 6:27
• @PM2Ring Not a set, but a gluon going backwards must have its color combination correct . A set only if one thinks in terms red-antiblue antired-blue. gluons – anna v Nov 12 '18 at 6:54
• Ok, but that's why I used the term "basic gluon". Gluon colors are a little more complicated, as described here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluon#Eight_gluon_colors – PM 2Ring Nov 12 '18 at 8:30