Surprising Science — November 18, 2010

Antimatter Captured!

Scientists at Europe’s best particle-physics laboratory have been able to trap a very small amount of antihydrogen—the simplest type of anti-atom—for the first time.

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In reality, no one has ever been able to drop an anti-apple and watch it fall down (or up), and the antimatter produced in particle colliders is so energetic that it is hard to examine with the tools of precision physics. For decades, physicists at CERN and elsewhere have been trying to overcome these limitations with antihydrogen, which consists of a single positron orbiting a single antiproton. By shining laser light onto hydrogen or antihydrogen and observing which wavelengths are absorbed, the energy levels of the two can be compared in detail. And since hydrogen is electrically neutral, it should be possible to observe gravity’s tiny tug on it without the confounding effects of electrostatic attraction to other particles.

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Diagram showing four circles, each containing a different particle symbol: antiproton (n-bar), antineutron (n-bar), anti-lambda (Λ-bar), and antiproton (p-bar), set against a graph-like background.

Hard Science

Scientists create bizarre form of nuclear antimatter

Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory recently created the heaviest exotic antimatter hypernucleus ever observed.

A diagram showing the difference between matter and antimatter.

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What was it like when matter defeated antimatter?

In the earliest stages of the hot Big Bang, equal amounts of matter and antimatter should have existed. Why aren’t they equal today?

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How the surprising muon revolutionized particle physics

From unexplained tracks in a balloon-borne experiment to cosmic rays on Earth, the unstable muon was particle physics’ biggest surprise.

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Warp drive’s best hope dies, as antimatter falls down

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Chemical energy, where electrons transition in atoms, powers the reactions we see. But two other types hold more promise than all the rest.

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