In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland detail how they caught 38 atoms of anti-hydrogen -- the simplest type of antimatter -- and stored them for about two-tenths of a second. Sci-fi geeks or mad papal aides shouldn't celebrate yet, however.
CERN / AP
An image taken by the ALPHA annihilation detector shows untrapped antihydrogen atoms annihilating on the inner surface of the ALPHA trap. The events are concentrated at the electrode radius of about 22.3 mm.
"[Thirty-eight atoms is] an incredibly small amount," said Rob Thompson, head of physics and astronomy at Canada's University of Calgary and one of the paper's 42 co-authors. "Nothing like what we would need to power 'Star Trek's' Starship Enterprise or even to heat a cup of coffee."
For science lovers, though, this small yield is big news. By fine-tuning the process, researchers hope they'll eventually be able to unravel some of the universe's biggest mysteries.
Theorists suspect that the Big Bang produced equal amounts of matter (atoms with positively charged nuclei and negatively charged orbiting electrons) and antimatter (which has negatively charged nuclei and positively charged electrons). When the two collide, they cancel each other out and generate a small burst of energy.
But, physicists have long wondered, if matter and antimatter were created in equal measure at the birth of the cosmos, why didn't they annihilate each other, destroying the young universe in the process? And why is the cosmos now full of matter while antimatter is seemingly absent from nature?
Tests on the trapped antimatter atoms might help explain this universal imbalance. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, anti-hydrogen and normal hydrogen should have identical energy levels -- something that can be measured by blasting the atoms with a laser -- and react to gravity in the same way. If any differences are revealed between the counterparts, "everything needs to be re-examined, and textbooks need to be rewritten," Jeffrey Hangst, a physics professor at Denmark's Aarhus University and the lead author of the study, told the Los Angeles Times.
Progress in particle physics is a slow process, though, and it will likely be years before researchers begin testing.
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The European Organization for Nuclear Research started mass-producing anti-hydrogen atoms in 2002, but their energetic behavior made them almost impossible to study. That's because as soon as the atoms touch matter, even the walls of the vacuum container where they're made, they vanish. Hangst and his cohorts spent five years developing a way to cool the anti-hydrogen atoms down to just a half-degree above absolute zero -- the lowest temperature theoretically possible -- and put them into a low energy state. Researchers then kept the atoms away from container walls by suspending them in a "magnetic bowl." Scientists will have to catch 100 atoms in that bowl at once -- the 38 atoms snared so far weren't caught at the same time -- before the laser zapping can start.
The Vatican, it seems, is safe for a little while yet.