This Is The Only Place Antimatter Can Survive In The Universe

Scientists at CERN are using the Large Hadron Collider to create and study antimatter, but how are they doing it?


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Bizarre Antimatter Looks Surprisingly Like Regular Matter
"For the first time, physicists have shown that atoms of antimatter appear to give off the same kind of light that atoms of regular matter do when illuminated with lasers, a new study finds. More precise measurements of this emitted light could unearth clues that might finally help solve the mystery of why there is so much less antimatter than normal matter in the universe, researchers say."

Antimatter
"Dirac interpreted the equation to mean that for every particle there exists a corresponding antiparticle, exactly matching the particle but with opposite charge. For the electron there should be an "antielectron", for example, identical in every way but with a positive electric charge. The insight opened the possibility of entire galaxies and universes made of antimatter."

Physicists have observed the light spectrum of antimatter for first time
"After two decades of trying, physicists at CERN have reported the first ever measurement of the light emitted by an antimatter atom, revealing that antihydrogen is the exact mirror image of regular hydrogen. The result, which finally confirms what has long been predicted by the laws of physics, opens up a new way of testing Einstein's special theory of relativity, and could help us answer one of the biggest mysteries in modern physics - why is there so much more regular matter than antimatter in the Universe?"

____________________

Seeker inspires us to see the world through the lens of science and evokes a sense of curiosity, optimism and adventure.

[siddharthsagar]

Somewhere in a parallel universe: What's the anti-matter with you?

[RelznirZ]

We need to start calling anti-protons negatrons

[simone.]

I’m skeptical because this was posted on April 1st.

[jrd]

To the best of my knowledge, most physicists don't believe that antimatter is actually matter moving backwards in time. It's not even entirely clear what would it really mean to move backwards in time, from the popular viewpoint.

If I'm remembering correctly, this idea all comes from a story that probably originated with Richard Feynman. At the time, one of the big puzzles of physics was why all instances of a particular elementary particle (all electrons, for example) are apparently identical. Feynman had a very hand-wavy idea that all electrons could in fact be the same electron, just bouncing back and forth between the beginning of time and the end. As far as I know, that idea never developed into anything mathematically grounded, but it did inspire Feynman and others to calculate what the properties of an electron moving backwards in time would be, in a certain precise sense that emerges from quantum field theory. What they came up with was a particle that matched the known properties of the positron.

Just to give you a rough idea of what it means for a particle to "move backwards in time" in the technical sense: in quantum field theory, particles carry with them amounts of various conserved quantities as they move. These quantities may include energy, momentum, electric charge, "flavor, " and others. As the particles move, these conserved quantities produce "currents, " which have a direction based on the motion and sign of the conserved quantity. If you apply the time reversal operator (which is a purely mathematical concept, not something that actually reverses time), you reverse the direction of the current flow, which is equivalent to reversing the sign of the conserved quantity, thus (roughly speaking) turning the particle into its antiparticle.

For example, consider electric current: it arises from the movement of electric charge, and the direction of the current is a product of the direction of motion of the charge and the sign of the charge.

I⃗=qv⃗
I
→
=
q
v
→
Positive charge moving left (+q×−v
+
q
×
−
v
) is equivalent to negative charge moving right (−q×+v
−
q
×
+
v
). If you have a current of electrons moving to the right, and you apply the time reversal operator, it converts the rightward velocity to leftward velocity (−q×−v
−
q
×
−
v
). But you would get the exact same result by instead converting the electrons into positrons and letting them continue to move to the right (+q×+v
+
q
×
+
v
); either way, you wind up with the net positive charge flow moving to the right.

By the way, optional reading if you're interested: there is a very basic (though hard to prove) theorem in quantum field theory, the TCP theorem, that says that if you apply the three operations of time reversal, charge conjugation (switch particles and antiparticles), and parity inversion (mirroring space), the result should be exactly equivalent to what you started with. We know from experimental data that, under certain exotic circumstances, the combination of charge conjugation and parity inversion does not leave all physical processes unchanged, which means that the same must be true of time reversal: physics is not time-reversal invariant. Of course, since we can't actually reverse time, we can't test in exactly what manner this is true.

[rtbeerzi]

a little while ago there was a test showing that antimatter has the same light spectrum as matter... which means that we can't tell it's antimatter unless we get up close. does this mean it's possible that there are entire galaxies made of antimatter... maybe they didn't annihilate eachother at all

[peduarte]

*this is the secret behind the snap of thanos*

[professordanfurmanek]

Hi! I'm a retired professor. Nowadays I'm trying to reinvent myself and sharpen my knowledge. My profession is astronomy and space propulsion. I am constantly on the net learning. I have found Seeker to be an absolutely invaluable resource extremely correct and cutting-edge Technology. Keep up the great work.!!!

[tripjar]

Even weirder: If you travel in a parallel universe were the big bang created everything out of antimatter. As soon you arrive there you would be aniallated

[traplordbanner]

Antimatter actually explodes when made contact to matter creates a explosion that has 100% efficient explosion that is the most deadly weapon with the least amount of material.

[harvingaming]

*Plottwist: We are actually in a antimatter universe and the “anti mater” is actually matter*

[MikoArkamei]

So antimatter really doesn't matter haha

[Rainaman-]

My bank account balance is negative, so here is the proof of anti-matter.

[bougieproletariat]

More research is needed for an appropriate comment

[memesarehealthy]

Anti-matter is basically just the worlds most efficient battery

[UieJang]

The comment section”s knowledge is over 9000.

[juhaniu]

The kids in africa aren't starving after all, they got dem antifoods

[GxCreed]

If antimatter gets rid of matter, then can't you logically use anti-matter, to modify molecules to cancel out specific molecules. So anti-matter is a molecular eraser technically.

[chunguskhan]

If our universe is made up of matter then there should be a universe made up of antimatter as you said everything has polarity

[AerisReyha]

Antimatter is doppleganger.. If the twin meet, they will disappear...

[Alvaro-emdj]

Electrons: light and negative
Positrons: light and positive
Megatrons: light and positively negative