Re:ALPHA observes light spectrum of antimatter for first time
by tjohns on Monday December 19, 2016 @04:46PM
(#13215259)
Not only that, but a PET scan (a common medical imaging technique, tangentially similar to an MRI or CT scan) relies on antimatter. The name stands for Positron Emission Tomography, in fact.
The general idea: You get injected with a tracer containing a β+ emitter. This produces positrons (antimatter) through radioactive decay. When the antimatter collides with regular matter inside your body, it annihilates, producing a pair of gamma rays moving in opposite directions. Those gamma rays can be detected and used to triangulate where the annihilation occured, generating a 3D image of where the tracer has accumulated in your body.
Typically, the tracer will be something that looks like glucose to the body, so it's accumulated in areas of high metabolic activity. This allows us to see what parts of your body are active. (For example, seeing which neurons in your brain are firing.)
The general idea: You get injected with a tracer containing a β+ emitter. This produces positrons (antimatter) through radioactive decay. When the antimatter collides with regular matter inside your body, it annihilates, producing a pair of gamma rays moving in opposite directions. Those gamma rays can be detected and used to triangulate where the annihilation occured, generating a 3D image of where the tracer has accumulated in your body.
Typically, the tracer will be something that looks like glucose to the body, so it's accumulated in areas of high metabolic activity. This allows us to see what parts of your body are active. (For example, seeing which neurons in your brain are firing.)
More reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron_emission_tomography