Down Goes Antimatter! Gravity’s Effect on Matter’s Elusive Twin is Revealed
In a groundbreaking laboratory experiment, scientists have definitively determined the trajectory of individual antihydrogen atoms when dropped, concluding that antimatter falls downwards. This discovery confirms the gravitational attraction between antimatter and regular matter, eliminating the possibility of gravitational repulsion as an explanation for the scarcity of antimatter in the observable universe.
Researchers from the global Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) collaboration at CERN in Switzerland have published their findings in the journal Nature. This achievement is the result of collaboration among numerous countries and private institutions, including the United States, supported through the joint U.S. National Science Foundation/Department of Energy Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering program.
Vyacheslav “Slava” Lukin, a program director in NSF’s Physics Division, underscores the significance of international teamwork and highlights the potential applications of antimatter research, such as positron emission tomography (PET) scans for cancer detection.
Gravity’s impact on antimatter: the enigmatic and rare counterpart of ordinary matter
Antimatter, the enigmatic and rare counterpart of ordinary matter, defies science fiction notions of antimatter-powered warp drives and photon torpedoes, remaining a genuine but exceptionally scarce phenomenon.
University of California, Berkeley plasma physicist and member of the ALPHA collaboration, Jonathan Wurtele, stated, “Einstein’s theory of general relativity says antimatter should behave exactly the same as matter,” and he further explained that numerous indirect measurements have suggested that gravity interacts with antimatter as predicted. However, prior to the recent result, there had been no direct observation to definitively determine whether antihydrogen, for example, responds to gravity by moving upward or downward in a gravitational field.
Most of the universe, including our bodies and Earth, is made of conventional matter with protons, neutrons, and electrons.
Antimatter, despite sharing some opposing properties with regular matter, remains its counterpart. For instance, antiprotons possess a negative charge, while protons carry a positive charge. Similarly, antielectrons, also known as positrons, exhibit a positive charge, whereas electrons bear a negative charge.
The explosive nature of antimatter
One significant challenge faced by researchers is the explosive nature of antimatter upon contact with regular matter. When antimatter touches matter, it annihilates, converting all their mass into energy. This process generates an incredibly dense form of energy release, known for its potency.
The minuscule antimatter quantity in the ALPHA experiment only registers as energy through sensitive detectors. Consequently, meticulous handling of antimatter is essential to prevent its loss, according to Fajans.
The antimatter scarcity, despite predictions of equal abundance with regular matter, raises the baryogenesis problem. While some sources of antimatter, such as positrons emitted from the decay of potassium, do exist, they are relatively scarce. This mystery led scientists to explore theories, including antimatter’s repulsion by regular matter during the big bang.
Gravity’s impact on antimatter: the ALPHA collaboration experiment
Recent ALPHA experiment shows antimatter is attracted to gravity, like regular matter, not repelled by it. This conclusion challenges the theory of gravitational repulsion as an explanation for antimatter’s scarcity. The experiment eliminated antimatter’s gravitational repulsion but didn’t definitively confirm differences in gravitational forces between antimatter and regular matter. Further, more precise measurements are required to address this question.
The researchers involved in the ALPHA collaboration plan to continue their investigations into the properties of antihydrogen. They seek to enhance antimatter’s gravity measurements and study antihydrogen’s interaction with electromagnetic radiation. Differences between antihydrogen and hydrogen may challenge fundamental physical laws in quantum mechanics and gravity, requiring further experiments for certainty.
Read the original article on sciencedaily.
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