A hydrogen nucleus consists of a single proton. A 2-hydrogen (deuterium) nucleus consists of a proton and a neutron. A tritium nucleus consists of a proton and two neutrons.
This makes me wonder how an atomic nucleus made of a proton and a "minus one neutron" would look like, and the closest thing to a "minus one neutron" I can imagine is an antineutron.
If the proton and antineutron annihilate, is it still possible that the thing they annihilate to remains somehow stable enough to behave like an atomic nucleus?
Well, a proton is two ups and a down.
An anti-neutron is two anti-downs and an anti-up.
So the downs and ups go off in a blaze of glory, leaving an up and an anti-down.
Which is a positive pion. I guess one *could* build an atom-like thing with it - but its lifetime isn't very long.
Anti-neutrons have baryon number minus one. Protons have baryon number plus one. So, protons can annihilate with anti-neutrons, conserving baryon number and electric charge but not producing other particles. Also, the third component of isospin (I_3) for both of protons and anti-neutrons is 1/2, so that the isospin of such a suggested nucleus is 1. With a total spin of 1, such a nucleus cannot exist.
Dear Professor James,
You saw the question from the nucleon structure-point of view.
I saw it from the nuclear structure side. So, we complete one another.
Best regards.
Salah
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