‘Einstein was right’: the discovery that brings us closer to solving the mystery of antimatter

Scientists have made a major discovery of antimatter, the mysterious substance that was abundant at the beginning of the universe’s creation.

Antimatter is the opposite of matter, which is what stars and planets are made of.

Both substances were created in equal quantities during the Big Bangthe great explosion that created the universe.

The latest research has shown that both respond to gravity in the same way.

For years, physicists have strived to discover the differences and similarities between the two substances in order to explain the origin of the universe.

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The discovery that antimatter rose in response to gravity, instead of falling, would have completely disrupted everything we know about physics.

Now I know has confirmed for the first time that antimatter atoms fall. But far from being a scientific dead end, the discovery opens the door to new experiments and theories. For example, do they fall at the same speed?

During the Big Bang, matter and antimatter must have combined and canceled each other out, leaving only light. Why is one of the great mysteries of physics and discovering the differences between the two is the key to solving it.

Somehow, matter prevailed over antimatter in those first moments of creation.

How it responds to gravity could be key, according to Dr. Danielle Hodgkinson, member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research Research Group. CERNin Switzerland, one of the largest particle physics laboratories.

“We don’t understand how our universe became matter-dominated, so that’s the motivation for our experiments,” he told me.

Most antimatter exists only temporarily in the universe. So to carry out the experiments, the CERN team had to create it in a stable and sustainable way.

Professor Jeffrey Hangst has spent thirty years developing a facility for meticulously building thousands of antimatter atoms from subatomic particles, then capturing and releasing them.

“Antimatter turns out to be the most fascinating, most mysterious substance imaginable,” he says.

“As far as we can understand, you could build a universe just like ours, with you and me, only made of antimatter,” Professor Hangst explained to me.

“Tackling that is just inspiring; “It’s one of the most fundamental open questions about what this substance is like and how it behaves.”

What is antimatter?

Let’s start with what matter is: everything found in our world is made of it, from the smallest particles called atoms.

The simplest atom is hydrogen. It is the largest element that makes up the sun. A hydrogen atom consists of a positively charged proton in the center and a negatively charged electron orbiting it.

With antimatter the electric charge is exactly the other way around.

Take antihydrogen, the antimatter version of hydrogen, used in the CERN experiments. It has a negatively charged proton (antiproton) in the center with a positive version of the electron (positron) surrounding it.

These antiprotons are produced by colliding particles in the CERN accelerators. They are transported through tubes to the antimatter laboratory at a speed almost equal to that of light. It’s too fast for researchers to check.

So the first step is to slow them down, which is accomplished by passing them through a large magnetic ring. This drains them of energy until their movement becomes more controllable.

The antiprotons and positrons are sent to a giant magnet, where they mix to form thousands of antihydrogen atoms.

The magnet creates a magnetic field that holds the anti-hydrogen. If it hit the sides of the container, it would be destroyed immediately antimatter cannot survive contact with our world.

When the magnetic field is turned off, the anti-hydrogen atoms are released. The sensors then detect whether they have fallen upwards or downwards.

Some theoretical physicists have predicted that antimatter could fall upwards, although most, especially Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity over 100 years ago, say that antimatter should behave like matter and fall downwards.

CERN researchers have now confirmed this with the highest degree of certainty ever Einstein was right.

But just because antimatter doesn’t fall up doesn’t mean it falls down at exactly the same rate as matter.

With the next steps the investigation will take, The team will improve their experiment to make it more sensitive and see if there is a small difference in the speed at which antimatter falls..

If so, it could answer one of the most important questions: how the universe came to be.

The results of the research have been published in the specialized journal Nature. (JO)