01 January 1970 22 648 Report

If an electron and a positron interact, they release over a million eV of energy. If this energy is in the form of photons confined in a reflecting box, this energy density generates pressure on the box’s walls. The equation is U = 3P where U is the energy density of the confined photons and P is photon pressure on the reflecting walls of the box. Energy density and pressure have units of (J/m3) and (N/m2) respectively. These intuitively seem very different, but they both have the same dimensional units of M/T2L.

If an electron is assumed to be smaller than 10-18 m in radius, then this energy density exceeds 1040 J/m3. This assumption implies an internal pressure exceeding 1040 N/m2. If an electron is assumed to be a point particle, then this would generate infinite internal pressure.

Does this conversion between energy density and pressure apply to fermions? If so, what offsets the fermion’s internal pressure to stabilize a fermion?

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