CERN experiment produces first beam of antihydrogen atoms for hyperfine study: (Phys.org) —The ASACUSA experiment at CERN has succeeded for the first time in producing a beam of antihydrogen atoms. In a paper published today in Nature Communications, the ASACUSA collaboration reports the unambiguous detection of 80 antihydrogen atoms 2.7 metres downstream of their production, where the perturbing influence of the magnetic fields used initially to produce the antiatoms is small. This result is a significant step towards precise hyperfine spectroscopy of antihydrogen atoms. Primordial antimatter has so far never been observed in the Universe, and its absence remains a major scientific enigma. Nevertheless, it is possible to produce significant amounts of antihydrogen in experiments at CERN by mixing antielectrons (positrons) and low energy antiprotons produced by the Antiproton Decelerator. The spectra of hydrogen and antihydrogen are predicted to be identical, so any tiny difference between them would immediately open a window to new physics, and could help in solving the antimatter mystery. With its single proton accompanied by just one electron, hydrogen is the simplest existing atom, and one of the most precisely investigated and best understood systems in modern physics. Thus comparisons of hydrogen and antihydrogen atoms constitute one of the best ways to perform highly precise tests of matter/antimatter symmetry. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-01-cern-antihydrogen-atoms-hyperfine.html#jCp
These are the Voyages of the Star ship Enterprise: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! yeah I know! A long way down the track as yet.
Well, I beat you on this one. I posted this in the Physics and Math section on the same date as your original post (1/21/2014), but at 2:08 PM Here's the link provided: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140121/ncomms4089/full/ncomms4089.html
