This article is about the exotic atom. For the hydrogen isotope, see Protium. Positronium (
Ps) is a system consisting of an
electron and its
anti-particle, a
positron, bound together into an
exotic atom, specifically an
onium. The system is unstable: the two particles annihilate each other to predominantly produce two or three
gamma-rays, depending on the relative spin states. The orbit and
energy levels of the two particles are similar to that of the
hydrogen atom (which is a bound state of a
proton and an electron). However, because of the
reduced mass, the
frequencies of the
spectral lines are less than half of the corresponding hydrogen lines.