Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2004 / iii / Paper 44 / 3 / d

A Positron is the electron's antiparticle: it has the same mass and spin one-half, opposite electric charge $+e$, and fermionic statistics. A state $b_{\mathbf{p}}^{s†}|0⟩$ has positive energy $E_{\mathbf{p}}$ and physical momentum $\mathbf{p}$, as follows from the Hamiltonian and momentum operatorsThe charge commutator gives $[Q_{\mathrm{em}},b^{†}]=+e{b}^{†}$.

The term $b^{†}v(p)e^{ip\cdot x}$ in the field has negative frequency, but it creates this positive-energy Positron. Treating its coefficient as an annihilator of a physical negative-energy electron would give an unbounded energy interpretation. Fermionic quantization instead reorders that sector, giving positive antiparticle occupation energies and the opposite signed charge. The historical Dirac sea describes a Positron as a hole in filled negative-energy electron levels; the field-theory interpretation uses an antiparticle creation operator and normal ordering, without requiring a literal infinite material sea.

Under charge conjugation of a Dirac field, ${\psi }^C=C{\bar{\psi }}^T$, where $C^{-1}{\gamma }^{\mu }C=-({\gamma }^{\mu }{)}^T$, particle and antiparticle modes interchange. Electron–Positron pair creation and annihilation change total particle number while conserving electric charge. Positrons are positive-energy antiparticles, not physical negative-energy electrons.