logo
Breaking: Major Antimatter Discovery May Help Solve Mystery of Existence

Breaking: Major Antimatter Discovery May Help Solve Mystery of Existence

Yahoo7 days ago
We're now a step closer to understanding how the Universe avoided an antimatter apocalypse. CERN scientists have discovered tantalizing clues of a fundamental difference in the way physics handles matter and antimatter.
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have verified an asymmetry between matter and antimatter forms of a particle called a baryon.
Known as a charge-parity (CP) violation, the effect has only previously been detected in another class of particles, called mesons. But experimental evidence in baryons, which make up the bulk of the Universe's matter, is something physicists have been long hunting for.
"It shows that the subtle differences between matter and antimatter exist in a wider range of particles, indicating that the fundamental laws of physics treat baryons and antibaryons differently," Xueting Yang, CERN physicist and first author of the study, told ScienceAlert.
Related:
"The matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe requires CP violation in baryons, such that the discovery is a key step forward in testing how complete our current theory is, and in exploring whether new physics might be hiding in places we haven't looked closely enough before."
To make the discovery, the team analyzed around 80,000 particle decay events in data gathered at the LHC between 2011 and 2018. Focussing on particles called lambda-beauty (Λb) baryons and their antimatter counterparts, the researchers searched for any hint of a difference in the way they decayed.
If CP was symmetrical, both the matter and antimatter forms of the particle should decay into the same – if mirrored – products.
However, the team found a 2.5 percent relative difference between the matter and antimatter baryon decays.
"This may sound small, but the results are statistically significant enough," says Yang. "It shows that Λb and anti-Λb do not decay in exactly the same way, providing an observation of CP violation in baryons."
Importantly, the find reached a statistical significance of 5.2 sigma. That means the chance that the observed effect comes from random fluctuations is just 1 in 10 million.
The discovery has major implications for physics – including questions as fundamental as "why are we here?"
Despite its eerie name, antimatter should be mundane. Its main difference from regular matter is having the opposite charge. But that seemingly minor detail means that if ever the two shall meet, they will annihilate each other in a burst of energy.
In theory, the Big Bang shouldn't have favored one over the other, creating both matter and antimatter in equal amounts. And if that was the case, the entire contents of the Universe should have blasted itself into oblivion in the first few moments of existence, leaving the cosmos a profoundly empty place.
Since that obviously didn't happen, it seems some unknown factor intervened so that slightly more matter was created than antimatter. Everything that exists today – from galaxies to grains of sand – are made of that tiny fraction that survived early annihilation.
In a simple Universe, inverting both the charge and spatial coordinates of a particle – basically, whether it's matter or antimatter – shouldn't change how it behaves under the laws of physics.
This concept is known as CP symmetry, and while it was once considered as immutable as the conservation of energy, some level of CP violation has been predicted by the Standard Model of physics since the mid-20th century.
"CP violation is one of the essential ingredients needed to explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry. However, physicists estimate that the amount of CP violation in nature must be much larger than what's predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics," said Yang.
"This strongly suggests that new physics beyond the Standard Model must exist, providing additional sources of CP violation. Studying CP violation in different systems, including baryons, provides an important test of the Standard Model and could offer hints of new physics beyond it."
For instance, there was a chance that antimatter could be repelled by gravity rather than attracted – meaning it would fall upwards. To test the idea, CERN physicists previously conducted 'drop' tests and found that antimatter does fall down, like regular matter. In that respect, there was no CP violation.
But the new detection reveals that something does cause matter and antimatter to decay in different ways. This long-awaited confirmation is exciting – but it's still not enough.
"The CP violation observed in baryon decays – like in the new LHCb result – is consistent with Standard Model predictions, so it does not provide enough CP violation to solve the matter-antimatter puzzle on its own," says Yang. "But it opens a new window into how CP violation behaves in the baryon sector, which was largely unexplored."
"Physicists are looking for new sources of CP violation, beyond what the Standard Model of particle physics predicts. Discovering such sources could lead to new physics."
The research was published in the journal Nature.
Related News
The World's First Nuclear Explosion Created a Rare Form of Matter
Sound of Earth's Flipping Magnetic Field Haunts Again From 780,000 Years Ago
Extreme Conditions of Early Universe Recreated in Collider Experiment
Solve the daily Crossword
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The world started with a ‘bang' but will end in a scary ‘big crunch' — and scientists think they know when that will be
The world started with a ‘bang' but will end in a scary ‘big crunch' — and scientists think they know when that will be

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

The world started with a ‘bang' but will end in a scary ‘big crunch' — and scientists think they know when that will be

Our humble blue planet came into being with the Big Bang — the sudden expansion of the universe outwards. Now, according to astrophysicists and cosmologists, Earth and all of its celestial siblings will likely be swallowed back into the super-small singularity they came from, in what is known as the 'big crunch' theory. Alarming as it sounds, physicists say there's no reason to fret just yet. According to leading experts on the matter, the big crunch theory supposes that the universe will eventually stop expanding and everything will be pulled back together. Cosmologists at Cornell University predict that the big crunch is billions of years away —19.5 to be exact. Henry Tye, a lead researcher at the institution, suggested that the big crunch will begin in 11 billion years, and will take another 8.5 billion years to conclude. Supposing humanity is still around billions of years from now, scientists say it's unlikely we would notice any distinct changes while the big crunch takes place. 'Intelligent civilizations at the scales of solar systems or even galactic scales would not notice any obvious phenomenon because these changes happen at much larger cosmological scales,' Dr Hoang Nhan Luu, a researcher at the Donostia International Physics Center, explained to the Daily Mail. However, one of the warning signs would be a rising cosmic temperature. In a few billion years, it's probable that the universe, including all of its major celestial bodies, will be the same temperature as the surface of the sun. 'Needless to say, all humans will burn up in the furnace of this cosmic hell,' Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, told the Daily Mail. The theory has been swirling among academic circles for decades, but fell out of favor among some camps of researchers several decades back. However, after dark energy — a repellent force that pushes things in the universe apart — was discovered in the '90s and research has progressed, it seems more and more experts are reevaluating their stances. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas at Dallas, told Discover Magazine that dark matter research has revealed that the universe isn't slowing down, but rather, its expansion is accelerating less, and eventually, it will come to a slow halt. 'To survive, human beings have to move to the edge of our solar system or beyond. We have a few billion years' time to prepare for that trip,' Tye explained to the Daily Mail. The big crunch theory spells trouble for humanity in several ways, but it's far from the first scary-sounding phenomenon that our planet has undergone. Earth's magnetic poles reversed 780,000 years ago. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Germany created a soundscape of the geological gymnastics routine, which they dubbed a 'disharmonic cacophony.' Solve the daily Crossword

Radical New Theory Rewrites the Story of the Earliest Universe
Radical New Theory Rewrites the Story of the Earliest Universe

Gizmodo

time2 days ago

  • Gizmodo

Radical New Theory Rewrites the Story of the Earliest Universe

Following the Big Bang, our universe expanded at an exponential rate. According to this theory, known as cosmic inflation, the explosive growth produced tiny quantum fluctuations that later evolved into galaxies. Cosmic inflation neatly explains how our universe got so large and mostly homogenous, and that's why it's remained a strong theory in cosmology for decades. But it's far from perfect. Cosmic inflation depends on certain theoretical assumptions that can get rather arbitrary—not ideal for a theory that's supposed to explain why our universe appears the way it does. It's this shortcoming that motivated theoretical physicist Raúl Jiménez from the University of Barcelona in Spain to devise an alternative approach to decoding the dynamics of the very early universe. The resulting proposal, published earlier this month in Physical Review Research, seeks to eliminate the excessive, circumstantial parameters in traditional models that have made it difficult for physicists to agree on a single theory. The proposal, developed by Jiménez and colleagues, is a relatively simple paradigm founded mostly on well-understood principles of quantum mechanics and general relativity. It starts with the assumption that the very early universe existed in what's called a De Sitter space, which sees the universe as a flat-shaped vacuum governed by general relativity. According to quantum mechanics, applying some energy to this—namely the Big Bang—generates quantum fluctuations that give rise to tensor modes, or gravitational waves. These waves organically seeded small bits of density throughout the universe, and those little bits eventually evolved into galaxies, stars, and planets, according to the theory. Critics of traditional inflationary theory argue that it has too many adjustable parameters. One such parameter is the inflaton—hypothetical scalar fields that physicists believe drove rapid expansion in the early universe. But the new theory removes the inflaton from the picture, substituting it with a de Sitter space rocked by gravitational waves. That the new theory removes many adjustable parameters is a big bonus. 'There is no general principle that determines these things, so basically you need to put them in by hand,' explained Arthur Kosowsky, a cosmologist at the University of Pittsburgh not involved in the new work, in an email to Gizmodo. 'Physicists always strive to make models and theories which are in some sense as simple as possible, meaning that the number of arbitrary things you need to put in by hand is as small as possible.' In an ideal world, a solid theory or model shouldn't require so many adjustable variables. A similar problem exists with the all-encompassing Standard Model, which features a whopping 18 free parameters that need to be sorted out every single time. Physicists 'expend lots of blood, sweat, and tears (and money) because most people are convinced that there must be a better, more powerful model which has two or three parameters instead of 18,' Kosowsky said. And indeed, finding a simple, compelling explanation for early cosmic inflation is what motivated the new work, Jiménez told Gizmodo during a video call. The strength of this theory is that it is 'fully falsifiable' in the sense that it either can or cannot explain observational data, he said. However, this is also the theory's weakness, which Jiménez acknowledged: 'Maybe nature didn't choose this theory as the way things work.' Of course, the most valuable thing about falsifiable theories is that they tell us what doesn't work, he added. (While this might seem sketchy, physicists often employ something akin to a process of elimination for unknown phenomena, such as dark matter.) As for Jiménez's newly proposed theory, it's fair to ask whether it will hold up to observational data and survive further mathematical scrutiny. What Is Dark Matter and Why Hasn't Anyone Found It Yet? 'I like the overall philosophy driving this paper, [which is] 'let's see if we can come up with a situation where inflation arises naturally out of some basic physics,'' Kosowsky said. 'If we can, this is both more elegant than adding some speculative and, in some sense, arbitrary physical elements and also is likely to make more specific predictions, which can then hopefully be compared with observations.' 'I believe it's an interesting and novel proposal—it's something that's well worth a closer look,' commented Andrew Liddle, a theoretical cosmologist at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) at the University of Lisbon in Portugal, during a video call with Gizmodo. At the same time, its simplicity could also be its biggest flaw, but only time will tell if more mathematically minded cosmologists take a liking to it, he said. 'There have always been cosmologists who are uncomfortable with inflation [theory]. I'm one of them—and I work on it,' said Marina Cortês, also with the IA, in the same call. 'One of the most uncomfortable things about inflation is that physicists understand everything from the Big Bang onwards, but not the Big Bang and the earliest stages.' Liddle and Cortês, both uninvolved in the new work, said that while cosmologists (including themselves) often disagree on how to best interpret cosmic inflation, the evidence seems to support the notion that inflation did in fact take place. Many physicists have devised alternative explanations, but practically everything has ended up in a 'dustbin' of discarded ideas, Liddle explained. 'But there's no limit to people's imagination,' Liddle said. And the next few decades should see no shortage of new ideas and models—just like this one, according to the two cosmologists. 'Cosmology right now is mostly about these things called tensions, or hints that things are not quite well aligned with the standard cosmological model,' Liddle said. Several questions threatening to usurp what we know about the physical universe—dark energy, the Hubble tension—appear to be coming together in one paradoxical package for scientists, and inflation could be a part of that, Cortês added. No matter what happens, it goes without saying that we're witnessing a time of excitement, chaos, and discovery for cosmology—a sentiment that all the scientists agreed on. 'Not only is the data growing at exponential amounts, but the quality of the analysis is also growing at an exponential quality,' Jiménez said. 'I think that we are living a golden age of cosmology.' 'When we are thinking about inflation, we are trying to take the next step and answer the question of why the universe looks the way it does, and not just describe how it looks,' Kosowsky said. 'Is this due to some deep physics principle yet undiscovered? It could be, and this is what keeps us working hard to push back the boundaries of our understanding.'

The world started with a ‘bang' but will end in a scary ‘big crunch' — and scientists think they know when that will be
The world started with a ‘bang' but will end in a scary ‘big crunch' — and scientists think they know when that will be

New York Post

time2 days ago

  • New York Post

The world started with a ‘bang' but will end in a scary ‘big crunch' — and scientists think they know when that will be

Our humble blue planet came into being with the Big Bang — the sudden expansion of the universe outwards. Now, according to astrophysicists and cosmologists, Earth and all of its celestial siblings will likely be swallowed back into the super-small singularity they came from, in what is known as the 'big crunch' theory. Alarming as it sounds, physicists say there's no reason to fret just yet. Advertisement 4 In recent years, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has repeatedly predicted that humanity's doomsday is inching closer and closer, echoing the sentiment that humanity likely won't be around to see the big crunch. Hero Design – According to leading experts on the matter, the big crunch theory supposes that the universe will eventually stop expanding and everything will be pulled back together. Cosmologists at Cornell University predict that the big crunch is billions of years away —19.5 to be exact. Advertisement Henry Tye, a lead researcher at the institution, suggested that the big crunch will begin in 11 billion years, and will take another 8.5 billion years to conclude. 4 'Civilizations like us typically exist on time scales of hundreds to thousands of years while the changes happen on billion–year time scales, so we wouldn't notice any obvious day–to–day phenomenon until the very last moment,' added Luu. IgorZh – Supposing humanity is still around billions of years from now, scientists say it's unlikely we would notice any distinct changes while the big crunch takes place. Advertisement 'Intelligent civilizations at the scales of solar systems or even galactic scales would not notice any obvious phenomenon because these changes happen at much larger cosmological scales,' Dr Hoang Nhan Luu, a researcher at the Donostia International Physics Center, explained to the Daily Mail. However, one of the warning signs would be a rising cosmic temperature. In a few billion years, it's probable that the universe, including all of its major celestial bodies, will be the same temperature as the surface of the sun. 'Needless to say, all humans will burn up in the furnace of this cosmic hell,' Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, told the Daily Mail. Advertisement 4 Scientists suspect our universe's lifespan is around 33.3 billion years. sdecoret – The theory has been swirling among academic circles for decades, but fell out of favor among some camps of researchers several decades back. However, after dark energy — a repellent force that pushes things in the universe apart — was discovered in the '90s and research has progressed, it seems more and more experts are reevaluating their stances. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas at Dallas, told Discover Magazine that dark matter research has revealed that the universe isn't slowing down, but rather, its expansion is accelerating less, and eventually, it will come to a slow halt. 'To survive, human beings have to move to the edge of our solar system or beyond. We have a few billion years' time to prepare for that trip,' Tye explained to the Daily Mail. 4 Dark energy is essentially the opposite of gravity, which pushes things together. Claudio Caridi – Advertisement The big crunch theory spells trouble for humanity in several ways, but it's far from the first scary-sounding phenomenon that our planet has undergone. Earth's magnetic poles reversed 780,000 years ago. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Germany created a soundscape of the geological gymnastics routine, which they dubbed a 'disharmonic cacophony.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store