Nuclear detonation vs Antimatter

[Sideswipe]

So in a real world scenario, which would be a more effective weapon? I read somewhere, I dont remember exactly where, that an antimatter explosion would be less effective than a nuclear explosion because antimatter annihlation reaction results mostly in gamma rays, which are moving too fast to really do much damage to the surrounding matter because they tend to pass straight through it. And nuclear explosions release infrared energy that will cause thermal damage.

[Mr. Oragahn]

It appears that a great lot of the energized particles resulting from M/AM reactions quickly turn, after a few steps, into neutrinos, and that to a great percentage.
At point blank range, M/AM would likely be much better in terms of energetic gain, but on the distance, one might just look at the sun to see who wins.
Now that's just my 2c.

[Jedi Master Spock]

I will most certainly disagree with that.

So in a real world scenario, which would be a more effective weapon? I read somewhere, I dont remember exactly where, that an antimatter explosion would be less effective than a nuclear explosion because antimatter annihlation reaction results mostly in gamma rays, which are moving too fast to really do much damage to the surrounding matter because they tend to pass straight through it. And nuclear explosions release infrared energy that will cause thermal damage.

Small note: At the immediate site of detonation, a nuclear device will be mainly producing gamma rays at first. Eventually this winds up in the infrared range as it gets dispersed through hot matter.

A matter/antimatter reaction, however, tends to put out much of its energy in short-lived pions, and only some in near-immediate gammas. Now, if these pions survive for a few meters' distance, they will decay into neutrinos and muons, and then the muons will decay into a mix of other particles, mainly electrons and neutrinos.

However, these pions, unlike the neutrinos seen later in their decay process, interact strongly with matter and with magnetic fields. So if your M/AM reaction isn't occurring in a vacuum and isn't contained, you might lose a good bit of energy to neutrinos, but anybody building antimatter warheads should have figured out at least the basics of getting most of the juice out of your pions.