Positronium Physics and Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Positronium is the simplest bound state, built of an electron and a positron. Studies of positronium in vacuum and its decays in medium tell us about Quantum Electrodynamics, QED, and about the structure of matter and biological processes of living organisms at the nanoscale, respectively. Spectroscopic measurements constrain our understanding of QED bound state theory. Searches for rare decays and measurements of the effect of gravitation on positronium are used to look for new physics phenomena. In biological materials positronium decays are sensitive to the inter- and intra-molecular structure and to the metabolism of living organisms ranging from single cells to human beings. This leads to new ideas of positronium imaging in medicine using the fact that during positron emission tomography (PET) as much as 40% of positron annihilation occurs through the production of positronium atoms inside the patient's body. A new generation of the high sensitivity and multi-photon total-body PET systems opens perspectives for clinical applications of positronium as a biomarker of tissue pathology and the degree of tissue oxidation.

Colloquium, 23 pages, preprint of article in Reviews of Modern Physics

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• Discrete symmetries tested at 10${}^{-4}$ precision using linear polarization of photons from positronium annihilations
• Kinematic analysis of multiple Compton scattering in quantum-entangled two-photon systems
• CIRCUS: an autonomous control system for antimatter, atomic and quantum physics experiments
• A new method that automatically regularizes scattering amplitudes
• First Positronium Lifetime Imaging using ${}^{52}$Mn and ${}^{55}$Co with a plastic-based PET scanner
• Exotic Harmonium Model: Exploring Correlation Effects of Attractive Coulomb Interaction
• Monte Carlo analysis of the contributions of long-lived positronium to the spectra of positron-impact-induced secondary electrons measured using an annihilation-gamma-triggered time-of-flight spectrometer
• Quantum Entanglement Degree, Mean Positronium Lifetime, and the $3\gamma$/$2\gamma$ Annihilation-Rate Ratio as Novel PET Biomarkers for Hypoxia -- Concept, Challenges, and Predictions
• Tracking the Morphological Evolution of Neuronal Dendrites by First-Passage Analysis
• Many-body theory predictions of positron binding energies in five-membered heterocycles involving N, O, S and NH substituents
• Ultrafast laser-driven quantum dynamics in positronium chloride