A recent research paper titled, “The Standard Model CP Violation is Enough” has given new insights into the Matter- Antimatter Asymmetry question grappling the in Particle Physics community. 

About Antimatter

• Antimatter is the twin or Mirror Particle of almost all the subatomic particles that make up our universe. These are a group of particles that have opposite electrical charges to their ordinary Matter counterparts. 
  • Example: The antimatter counterpart of an electron (negative charge) is a positron (with a positive charge) and protons (positive charge) is an antiproton (a negative charge).
• Presence: Antimatter do have Mass and all the subatomic particles in matter either have their own anti-twins (antiquarks, antiprotons, antineutrons, and antileptons such as antielectrons) or they straddle the boundary between matter and antimatter.
• Short lived: Antimatter annihilates when it comes in contact with normal matter and the annihilation process of an antiproton reacting with a proton takes nanoseconds 
• Discovery: 
  • Paul Dirac (British physicist) in the year 1928 in an equation first predicted that every particle has an anti-particle with the same mass, but opposite charge.
  • 1932: A positive electron was discovered in cosmic rays and was called ‘positron’. 
  • 1955: An ‘anti-proton’ was produced at the ‘Bevatron’ accelerator in Berkeley, which was specially built for this purpose.

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• Formation: Antimatter particles is being created using ultra-high-speed collisions at particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider operated by CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) at Geneva. 
  • Experiments at CERN create antihydrogen (the antimatter twin of the element hydrogen) with the most complex antimatter element produced to date is antihelium, the counterpart to helium.
• Application: Antimatter science can be applied in various fields like 
  • Medical Imaging: Positron emission tomography (PET) scans use Positrons to create high-resolution images of the body. 
  • Cancer Treatment: Antiprotons are used in cancer treatment to target tumors. 
  • Interstellar Travel: Antimatter- Matter collision can be used to fuel interstellar travel as  it releases large amounts of energy when it annihilates with matter. 
    • NASA is exploring the possibility of using the energy produced by matter-antimatter collisions to send a probe to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.
  • Developing Stronger Materials: Researchers can use antimatter to discover atomic level vulnerabilities and develop stronger materials for building. 
  • Antimatter has been considered as a trigger mechanism for nuclear weapons. 

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