It is known that matter and antimatter annihilate each other when they "touch" each other. And as far as I know, the concept of "touching" as our brain gets it is not true on the atomic level since atoms never really touch each other but only get affected by different forces.
If this is true, then when does the annihilation really happen ? Does it happen when two atoms are affected by each others repulsion force for example ?
Answer
You should not think a particle as point like. Classically, the probability of two point like particles colliding with random location and velocity is 0, that is why you said it never happens.
However, at quantum mechanical level, these particle are described by wavefunction. It means that there is spreading in its spatial location, say 0.1nm (the minimum spreading is guaranteed by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle). The probability of annihilation can therefore be calculated by the overlap of these wavefunction and their interaction. This overlap is the meaning of "touching" in some sense.
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