Where Did All The Antimatter Go?
Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - 09:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Matter-antimatter asymmetry is one of the greatest challenges in physics - we know antimatter is out there, because it can be created at places like CERN, but the universe seems to be composed entirely of matter. Theories predict that exactly equal amounts of matter and antimatter would have been created in the Big Bang. So where did all the antimatter go?New research undertaken by the ALPHA experiment at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator (AD) in Geneva is the first time that the electric charge of an anti-atom has been measured to high precision. Measuring the electric charge of antihydrogen atoms is a way to study any subtle differences between matter and antimatter which could account for the lack of antimatter in the universe. read more