Recently, CERN has been able to effectively isolate 38 antihydrogen particles on a magnitude of time never thought possible before. The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, located in Geneva, Switzerland has accomplished one of the most important physical achievements in scientific history. Since its foundation in 1954, CERN has been a place for groundbreaking scientific research. Since then, it has expanded to include more than 20 member states, and with the creation of the LHC, or Large Hadron Collider, the research has taken off. In essence, the LHC, located 100m underground allows scientists to accelerate particles up to 99% of the speed of light, which has allowed the scientific community to explore many quantum effects.
This, along with the numerous experiments carried with the LHC, including the ATLAS, ALICE, CMS and other experiments, have allowed scientists to observe the conditions that were created immediately after the big bang and to research things such as antimatter.
The concept of antimatter emerged in 1928, from a physicist Paul Dirac. Through the combination of Einstein’s special relativity ideas and modern quantum mechanics, he was able to derive an equation for electron interactions. However, through this discovery, an important conclusion was reached. The equation revealed two solutions, one for the description of the electron, and one other. This was later revealed to be the positron, or the antiparticle of the electron. Antimatter is described as having the same mass as matter, but with an opposite electric charge. When antimatter and matter meet, they immediately annihilate each other, transforming their mass into energy and other products.
This has been the problem for the nuclear scientists at CERN, who, until recently, had not been able to successfully isolate antimatter for long periods of time. Eight years ago, they were able to create a large amount of antihydrogen particles, but were unable to store it. However, they have recently successfully isolated antihydrogen atoms.
Instead of using the traditional method for creating antimatter, the scientists have created the antimatter particles of hydrogen using magnetic fields. The Minimum Magnetic Field Trap uses its eight magnetic poles to act as a cage, effectively allowing the antimatter to be properly stored and preventing it from interacting with matter.
To accomplish this, CERN had to begin by collecting antiprotons and positrons. To achieve this, they had to reduce the positrons to half of their normal voltage. Once the particles were created, CERN began by mixing the antiprotons with the positrons. After 335 successful experimental trials, with each trial lasting approximately one second, scientists confirmed that they were able to produce antihydrogen atoms. To ensure that it was, in fact, antihydrogen particles that were being produced, and not simply the results of the annihilation of an antiproton or residue from a cosmic ray, the scientists had to continually observe the results being created. To confirm their results, the ALPHA team conducting the experiment used the theoretical trends of antihydrogen particles with the theoretical trends of the other possibilities to differentiate their results. The magnetic field described above effectively trapped the antimatter produced. This trap was able to store the antihydrogen particles for nearly two-tenths of a second, a magnitude of time never achieved for antimatter creation. Once the magnetic field cage was released, 38 anti-hydrogen particles were observed.
The creation of antimatter will allow the scientific community to understand a vast part of the nature of the universe that has not been possible before.
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