Onium in the context of Bound state


Onium in the context of Bound state

Onium Study page number 1 of 1

Play TriviaQuestions Online!

or

Skip to study material about Onium in the context of "Bound state"


⭐ Core Definition: Onium

An onium (plural: onia) is a bound state of a particle and its antiparticle. These states are usually named by adding the suffix -onium to the name of one of the constituent particles (replacing an -on suffix when present), with one exception for "muonium"; a muon–antimuon bound pair is called "true muonium" to avoid confusion with old nomenclature.

↓ Menu
HINT:

In this Dossier

Onium in the context of Positronium

Positronium (Ps) is a system consisting of an electron and its anti-particle, a positron, bound together into an exotic atom, specifically an onium. Unlike hydrogen, the system has no protons. The system is unstable: the two particles annihilate each other to predominantly produce two or three gamma-rays, depending on the relative spin states. The energy levels of the two particles are similar to that of the hydrogen atom (which is a bound state of a proton and an electron). However, because of the reduced mass, the frequencies of the spectral lines are less than half of those for the corresponding hydrogen lines.

View the full Wikipedia page for Positronium
↑ Return to Menu