take antimatter and its properties does more than just put up coolheaded musical theme to science fiction writer , it could also help explicate why the universe is made almost entirely of subject and not the other way around . So far , however , we have come home empty - handed .
Now , scientist have measured the charismatic instant of the antiproton and discovered that it ’s extremely close to the magnetic dipole antenna of the proton , with six times more precision than ever before . The result , published inNature Communications , is an unbelievable breakthrough in truth , but will disappoint those who were hoping for cracks in the Standard Model of particle physics .
“ We see a deep contradiction between the Standard Model of particle aperient , under which the proton and antiproton are identical mirror images of one another , and the fact that on cosmological scale , there is an tremendous gap between the amount of topic and antimatter in the universe , ” co - generator Stefan Ulmer , from RIKEN in Japan , said in astatement .
The Standard Model clear prove a symmetry between matter and antimatter , call CPT . CPT stands for Charge , Parity and Time Reversal and it ’s an exact symmetry of nature at the most fundamental level . As matter and antimatter must have a difference of opinion somewhere , physicist are go for to catch antiproton breaking the CPT symmetry .
“ Our experiment has shown , based on a mensuration six times more accurate than any done before , that the Standard Model holds up , and that there seems in fact to be no dispute in the proton / antiproton magnetized moments at the achieved measurement uncertainness , " continued Ulmer . " We did not ascertain any evidence for CPT assault . "
The team has achieved a preciseness of 0.8 parts per million by using antiprotons generated at CERN and putting them in a Penning Trap , an exceedingly powerful magnetic machine . The antiproton were chill to almost downright zero and then their magnetic moment ( the measure of torque experienced once in the magnetic field ) was measure .
While the proton and antiproton value are in very good agreement , the squad will continue to quest for this avenue to test if the intrusion is simply obscure below what we can currently see . They design to apply a double Penning Trap , which should make the measurement 1,000 times more precise . They were able-bodied to do it for proton already , and although antiproton are a circle more ambitious , they trust that it can be done and will press our knowledge of antimatter forward .
