Scientists from the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) have fired lasers at antimatter atoms (specifically, antihydrogen). In this way, they have observed for the first time the light emission spectrum of antihydrogen and have compared it with that of conventional hydrogen.
In other words: they have measured the differences and similarities between matter and antimatter , which could reveal why the former prevailed after the Big Bang that occurred 13.7 billion years ago, and why there are galaxies, stars, planets and living things, rather than nothing.
Matter versus antimatter
CERN’s Alpha Project members have achieved this milestone on a vacuum tube from the Alpha apparatus (photo), installed at the European laboratory headquarters in Geneva. In that tube, they captured antihydrogen atoms using magnetic fields and held them for about a tenth of a second, long enough to make measurements.
In that very brief interval, they fired a laser at the atoms that made them emit a spectrum of light (this is what has been measured for the first time) and “excited” them until they allowed them to escape their trap and destroy themselves when they came into contact with matter. conventional.
The experiment has shown that the spectrum of antihydrogen equals that of hydrogen, which corresponds to what the standard model of particle physics predicts. Now, the researchers will try to refine the test to delve into the mysteries of antimatter.
Why is this scientific achievement so important?
Let’s go back to the Big Bang . At that moment the particles that make up everything that exists emerged. Each of them has an identical counterpart (an antimatter particle) of opposite charge. When the two touch, they annihilate each other.
So if there are equal amounts of matter and antimatter and they are destroyed on contact, why did the former prevail immediately after the Big Bang and the cosmos emerged instead of nothing? Where the hell is the antimatter? Does it have properties that escape us? Or is there less than you think?
It is to answer these questions that CERN’s Alpha Project delves into the properties of antimatter. Experiments like the one described will look for their differences with matter. If found, they will help explain why the universe could develop.
Photo: CERN
