Scientists claim that antimatter experiences gravity in a manner similar to that of ordinary matter, which leaves unresolved one of physics’ greatest mysteries.
Scientists at CERN’s Antimatter Factory created, contained, and dropped hydrogen atoms in a tube to perform the first direct test of antimatter’s behavior in the presence of Earth’s gravity.
It turns out that they behave rather similarly to regular hydrogen atoms.
The “twins” of ordinary particles and antiparticles are nearly similar. Despite carrying the opposing charge, they have the same mass.
As an illustration, an electron has a negative charge while its positron-named antimatter brother has a positive charge.
One of the numerous ways physicists are exploring the characteristics of antimatter and looking for any variations from regular matter is the CERN experiment known as ALPHA-g.
The cause? to learn what became of a great deal of lost antimatter.
The importance of missing antimatter
The majority of the matter in the universe is ordinary matter, which is composed of electrons, protons, neutrons, and their less well-known relatives. This includes the matter that makes up us, cities, planets, and stars.
All of these particles and their interactions, which comprise the Universe, are described in the Standard Model of particle physics.
According to this, the Big Bang should have produced an equal amount of matter and antimatter, according to theoretical physicist Igor Bray of Curtin University, who was not involved in the new research.
However, we have many, many orders of magnitude more conventional matter than antimatter.
However, Professor Bray noted that despite years of examining the observable Universe, there is just no indication that there are vast amounts of antimatter present.
Why there are differing proportions of matter and antimatter is “a huge puzzle.”
Gravity actually repels antimatter, therefore this “missing antimatter” conundrum may have an answer in that. An anti-apple would fling upward if Newton’s apple were to fall from the tree in the direction of the earth.
Some physicists argue that if such “repulsive antigravity” existed, antimatter created at the Big Bang may have been ejected into an anti-Universe populated by antiparticles and may not have been in the one we currently see.
However, the recent discovery that antimatter and regular matter behave similarly to one another under gravity, which was published in the journal Nature, Professor Bray added, virtually throws out this idea.
And the antimatter shortage remains a mystery.
wranglers of antimatter
Antimatter should be susceptible to the same forces as regular matter, including the force of gravity, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
However, nobody was certain if that was the case until just now. A few teams at CERN have been working on this for years.The team behind the new results, known as the ALPHA team for Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus, didn’t begin by performing gravity tests.
According to Jeffrey Hangst, an experimental physicist with the ALPHA team, their initial goal was to investigate the internal structure of antihydrogen, which is the antimatter equivalent of hydrogen.
“We decided to construct a gravity machine once we saw we were becoming very adept at capturing, accumulating, and controlling antihydrogen.
It was sort of a last-minute decision.
Antihydrogen, which consists of a positron orbiting an antiproton with a negative charge, is perfect for gravity tests since it has no overall electric charge.
That’s because the Earth’s magnetic field, which may overpower any gravity effects, has an impact on charged particles.Inside their long, pipe-like ALPHA-g gadget, Professor Hangst and his team produced a cloud of antihydrogen atoms that they contained in a “trap.”
The antihydrogen atoms were maintained inside the trap by magnetic fields, preventing them from crashing into the sidewalls and annihilating. The antihydrogen cloud was then progressively released after the magnetic forces at the top and bottom of the trap were gradually eliminated.
Sensitive detectors counted the flashes of gamma rays that were produced as the anti-atoms destroyed and fell through the bottom or wriggled their way out the top, hitting regular matter.
Similar to regular hydrogen in the same circumstance, about 80% of the antihydrogen atoms sank downhill.
The scientists then examined what happened to the antihydrogen atoms after adjusting the magnetic field intensity at either end of the trap to reduce or increase the gravitational pull.
Antihydrogen atoms behaved like regular hydrogen in each repetition.
Is “repulsive antigravity” now over?
Professor Hangst noted that although the findings suggested that matter and antimatter behave in exactly the same way when subject to gravity, “there’s still wiggle room.”
Although the behavior of antihydrogen closely matched simulations, there is still much opportunity for improvement.
One in five antihydrogen atoms managed to escape the trap from the top, despite the fact that the majority did fall from the trap under normal gravity.This is due to the non-stationary nature of the antihydrogen atoms inside the trap. They moved just enough to shimmy up and out when released, not enough to escape the magnetic grip of the trap.
From the next year, according to Professor Hangst, the team intends to utilize lasers to cool the antihydrogen atoms and stop, or at the very least, lessen, that jitter.
“More of them should go out the bottom, like a liquid, the colder they are,” he added.
This will enable him and his team to make measurements that are far more accurate and sensitive, and it may also shed some light on the enigma of the missing antimatter.
Or not, depending on the circumstances.
“My running joke is that you get the Nobel Prize if it falls up. People will tell you “I told you so” if it collapses. remarked Professor Hangst.
But we’ve been debating this and making predictions about what might occur for a very long time.
In physics, “and you never know until you actually make the observation.”