Latest news with #CERN
Economic Times
3 days ago
- Science
- Economic Times
CERN physicists report first observations of matter-antimatter imbalance in subatomic particle
Agencies Representative Image Physicists at CERN have reported the first observations of matter-antimatter imbalance in a subatomic particle 'baryon', offering clues as to why matter dominates in the of antimatter -- called 'antiparticles' -- have the same mass as particles of matter but an opposite to particle physics models, matter and antimatter should have been created in equal amounts following the Big Bang. However, research indicates a significant imbalance, with matter dominating over antimatter. Understanding why the universe favours matter is one of the most profound questions in Standard Model of particle physics -- currently the leading model, as it is said to provide the best explanation about the fundamental nature of matter -- predicts that matter and antimatter behave model theoretically predicts that when a particle is replaced with an antiparticle and its position in space is mirrored, the laws of physics are violated. This violation is referred to as 'charge-parity' (CP) violation. Previously, CP violation was observed in mesons - a type of subatomic particle that weighs between an electron and a proton. These observations were first documented over 60 years a recent paper published in the journal Nature, researchers from the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) Collaboration at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland, have, for the first time, observed this violation in baryons, of which protons and neutrons are the violation was noted in a baryon that decayed into a proton and authors of the study stated, "These observations demonstrate the different behaviours of baryons and antibaryons." This finding is significant as baryons constitute most of the matter in the observable universe."This discovery opens a new path in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model," the team the study, the researchers analysed data collected from proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider -- the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator located at CERN. "The (charge-parity violation) reveals a difference in behaviour between baryonic matter and antimatter," the authors wrote. "While such a violation was predicted and does not resolve the Big Bang matter-antimatter imbalance, finding out the details of this violation experimentally will offer important clues, opening up opportunities for further theoretical and experimental studies of the nature of (charge-parity) violation," they added. It is said that matter and antimatter can interact and destroy each other in a process called 'annihilation', converting all the mass into 'radiant energy' -- which is energy that exists in the absence of matter.
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Business Standard
3 days ago
- Science
- Business Standard
CERN detects first matter-antimatter imbalance in subatomic particles
Physicists at CERN have reported the first observations of matter-antimatter imbalance in a subatomic particle 'baryon', offering clues as to why matter dominates in the universe. Particles of antimatter -- called 'antiparticles' -- have the same mass as particles of matter but an opposite charge. According to particle physics models, matter and antimatter should have been created in equal amounts following the Big Bang. However, research indicates a significant imbalance, with matter dominating over antimatter. Understanding why the universe favours matter is one of the most profound questions in physics. The Standard Model of particle physics -- currently the leading model, as it is said to provide the best explanation about the fundamental nature of matter -- predicts that matter and antimatter behave differently. The model theoretically predicts that when a particle is replaced with an antiparticle and its position in space is mirrored, the laws of physics are violated. This violation is referred to as 'charge-parity' (CP) violation. Previously, CP violation was observed in mesons a type of subatomic particle that weighs between an electron and a proton. These observations were first documented over 60 years ago. In a recent paper published in the journal Nature, researchers from the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) Collaboration at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland, have, for the first time, observed this violation in baryons, of which protons and neutrons are types. Specifically, the violation was noted in a baryon that decayed into a proton and mesons. The authors of the study stated, "These observations demonstrate the different behaviours of baryons and antibaryons." This finding is significant as baryons constitute most of the matter in the observable universe. "This discovery opens a new path in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model," the team wrote. For the study, the researchers analysed data collected from proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider -- the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator located at CERN. "The (charge-parity violation) reveals a difference in behaviour between baryonic matter and antimatter," the authors wrote. "While such a violation was predicted and does not resolve the Big Bang matter-antimatter imbalance, finding out the details of this violation experimentally will offer important clues, opening up opportunities for further theoretical and experimental studies of the nature of (charge-parity) violation," they added. It is said that matter and antimatter can interact and destroy each other in a process called 'annihilation', converting all the mass into 'radiant energy' -- which is energy that exists in the absence of matter.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
CERN physicists report first observations of matter-antimatter imbalance in subatomic particle
CERN physicists observed matter-antimatter imbalance in a baryon. Antiparticles possess the same mass as matter but opposite charge. The Big Bang should have created equal matter and antimatter. Research indicates matter dominates. The Standard Model predicts different matter-antimatter behavior. Researchers observed charge-parity violation in baryons for the first time. This discovery opens a new path beyond the Standard Model. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Physicists at CERN have reported the first observations of matter-antimatter imbalance in a subatomic particle 'baryon', offering clues as to why matter dominates in the of antimatter -- called 'antiparticles' -- have the same mass as particles of matter but an opposite to particle physics models, matter and antimatter should have been created in equal amounts following the Big Bang. However, research indicates a significant imbalance, with matter dominating over antimatter. Understanding why the universe favours matter is one of the most profound questions in Standard Model of particle physics -- currently the leading model, as it is said to provide the best explanation about the fundamental nature of matter -- predicts that matter and antimatter behave model theoretically predicts that when a particle is replaced with an antiparticle and its position in space is mirrored, the laws of physics are violated. This violation is referred to as 'charge-parity' (CP) CP violation was observed in mesons - a type of subatomic particle that weighs between an electron and a proton. These observations were first documented over 60 years a recent paper published in the journal Nature, researchers from the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) Collaboration at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland, have, for the first time, observed this violation in baryons , of which protons and neutrons are the violation was noted in a baryon that decayed into a proton and authors of the study stated, "These observations demonstrate the different behaviours of baryons and antibaryons." This finding is significant as baryons constitute most of the matter in the observable universe."This discovery opens a new path in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model," the team the study, the researchers analysed data collected from proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider -- the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator located at CERN."The ( charge-parity violation ) reveals a difference in behaviour between baryonic matter and antimatter," the authors wrote."While such a violation was predicted and does not resolve the Big Bang matter-antimatter imbalance, finding out the details of this violation experimentally will offer important clues, opening up opportunities for further theoretical and experimental studies of the nature of (charge-parity) violation," they is said that matter and antimatter can interact and destroy each other in a process called 'annihilation', converting all the mass into 'radiant energy' -- which is energy that exists in the absence of matter.
ABC News
3 days ago
- Science
- ABC News
Large Hadron Collider glimpses clue in search for universe's missing antimatter
Scientists have uncovered another clue in the effort to solve one of the great puzzles of modern physics: why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. The discovery relied on observations made with the world's largest machine, the Large Hadron Collider, which helps researchers to probe the fundamental nature of matter. Everything we see around us is made up of subatomic matter particles such as protons and neutrons, which belong to a category of particles called baryons. An experiment using the giant particle accelerator, based at CERN in Switzerland, has for the first time seen baryons form more matter than antimatter. The findings could change our understanding of how small particles interact and help explain the absence of antimatter, said Tom Hadavizadeh, a physicist at Monash University and collaborator on the project. "We haven't found the new physics yet, but it's given us a new way to look for it," Dr Hadavizadeh said. The researchers have published their findings in Nature. The current leading theory in particle physics — the Standard Model — predicts that for every particle of matter that forms, a corresponding particle of antimatter forms. Antimatter particles are identical to matter particles, but with their electrical charges reversed. Scientists have observed similar amounts of matter and antimatter being generated when they create subatomic particles by colliding larger particles at high speed around large underground loops in the Large Hadron Collider. But antimatter doesn't tend to stick around — if it collides with regular matter, both particles annihilate each other, releasing energy. If antimatter and matter were truly created in equal amounts, as per the Standard Model, the universe wouldn't exist. The problem for this theory is that the universe does exist, and it's mostly made of matter, with only tiny amounts of antimatter. This "matter-antimatter asymmetry" is a major unresolved problem in physics. "The way that we explain that is that at some point in the early universe, matter should have become slightly favoured over antimatter," Dr Hadavizadeh said. "There's this little excess that remains once most of the antimatter and matter annihilates away, and that little excess is what we see left over today." So where did this asymmetry between matter and antimatter come from? Ray Volkas, a physicist at the University of Melbourne who wasn't involved in the research, said that the Standard Model does have a way of explaining some of the matter-antimatter asymmetry. "It's been known since the early 1960s experimentally that there actually is a subtle difference in the way that matter and antimatter interact [with other particles]," Professor Volkas said. This subtle difference is called the charge-parity violation, or CP violation, and can help explain why there is less antimatter than matter. While researchers had observed this asymmetry in some smaller particles, they had not yet observed it in baryons — a type of subatomic particle made from three quarks. "Almost all of the matter that we come across is baryons," Dr Hadavizadeh said. The team of more than 1,500 scientists from 20 countries, called the 'Large Hadron Collider beauty' (LHCb) collaboration, used the giant particle accelerator to look for examples of asymmetry in baryons. They analysed libraries of data from the first few years of the experiment, looking specifically at curiously named "beauty" baryons. They were able to spot baryons decaying in an asymmetric way — generating more matter than antimatter. Professor Volkas says it is an "interesting result" but neither he, nor the LHCb researchers, think they've come close to solving the whole matter-antimatter mystery yet. "The amount of CP violation in the Standard Model is actually not sufficient to explain cosmological matter-antimatter asymmetry," Professor Volkas said. "It's one of the great mysteries of science." Matter-antimatter asymmetry is just one problem with the Standard Model. While it's beaten all the tests particle physicists have set for it over the decades, the theory has huge gaps in it. It also can't explain gravity or dark energy, a mysterious phenomenon thought to be behind the acceleration of universe expansion. "We don't want our theories to be totally wrong — in fact, they can't be because they work too well — but we want them to be incomplete so that we can add things," Professor Volkas said. He says the LHCb experiment, and similar ones, are getting increasingly thorough at scrutinising the matter-antimatter mystery. "What they're trying to do is examine this CP violation effect with ever greater precision to try to find if the standard theory continues to be verified, or if it will fail and we'll need to extend or modify the theory." While this new result is consistent with the Standard Model, the researchers suggest it might point towards places where they can move beyond the theory. Now that the researchers have measured the asymmetry in baryons, they'll be able to investigate this phenomenon more closely. The study potentially "unlocks a whole new set of particles" to observe new types of physics, Dr Hadavizadeh said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Breaking: Major Antimatter Discovery May Help Solve Mystery of Existence
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
