Quantum ‘hashtags’ may prove the existence of a strange particle

Posted on 27/08/2017 by Engadget RSS Feed

Hashtags could soon be useful for a lot more than fostering discussion on your favorite social network. Researchers have developed a hashtag-shaped quantum chip (shown below) that could confirm the existence of the oddball Majorana particle, which ex...

ICYMI: Physicists just cracked a big anti-matter hurdle

Posted on 21/12/2016 by Engadget RSS Feed

Today on In Case You Missed It: CERN scientists announced they were able to measure anti-matter on the optical spectrum after a full 20 years of trying. This could not only help us understand the universe better but probably solve the mystery o...

Scientists Measure Optical Spectrum of Antimatter for First Time

Posted on 20/12/2016 by sumayah

The first measurement of the light spectrum of an antimatter atom has been made by scientists. Thus a new period in antimatter research has begun.This research is the outcome of over two decades of...

Physicists learn how to measure antimatter

Posted on 19/12/2016 by Engadget RSS Feed

As you might guess, measuring antimatter is rather tricky: it's destroyed the moment it comes into contact with regular matter, so conventional approaches just aren't going to cut it. Give credit to CERN, then, as its Alpha group just measured antim...

5 Biggest Questions Physicsts Want Answers To

Posted on 27/10/2013 by Ehud Riven

While the best physicists in the world are pretty smart people, some of the more essential questions regarding to our …

University of Michigan activates antimatter ‘gun,’ cartoon supervillians twirl moustaches anew

Posted on 30/06/2013 by Timothy J. Seppala

Scientists create tabletop antimatter 'gun,' cartoon supervillians twirl mustaches anew

At the University of Michigan, an international team of physicists has begun experimenting with its tabletop-sized super laser, modding it into an antimatter "gun." It's not quite a black hole-firing pistol, but we're slightly terrified nonetheless. Up until now, machines capable of creating positrons -- coupled with electrons, they comprise the energy similar to what's emitted by black holes and pulsars -- have needed to be as large as they are expensive. Creating these antimatter beams on a small scale will hopefully give astrophysicists greater insight into the "enigmatic features" of gamma ray bursts that are "virtually impossible to address by relying on direct observations," according to a paper published at arXiv. While the blasts only last fractions of a second each, the researchers report each firing produces a particle-density output level comparable to the accelerator at CERN. Just like that, the Longhorns/Wolverines super-laser arms-race begins again.

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Via: Gizmodo, PhysOrg

Source: arXiv

Antimatter Could Be Anti-gravity Too

Posted on 02/05/2013 by Aman Singh

AMS detects excess of positrons, could suggest existence of dark matter

Posted on 03/04/2013 by Terrence O'Brien

We've been waiting with bated breath all afternoon to find out what NASA, MIT and the Department of Energy has observed with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Well, we still don't quite understand the exact nature of dark matter, but highly precise measurements of positron fraction (the ratio of positrons to electrons and protons) do bring us a small step closer to proving the existence of the theoretical material. The AMS found a small excess of positrons coming from all directions instead of a single source. That could indicate the presence of dark matter, which is believed to generate the antimatter particles when it collides and annihilates itself. As usual though, this is far from conclusive. The excess of positrons could be caused by a number of cosmic phenomenon, including pulsars, but researchers are hopeful that further testing will narrow down the possibilities. Those of you hoping for direct and obvious evidence of dark matter may be a little disappointed, but let's be honest -- you were being overly optimistic. Besides, don't you want some mysteries left to solve? For more information, check out the PR after the break.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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PSA: Watch the AMS dark matter results announcement at 1:30PM ET (video)

Posted on 03/04/2013 by Jamie Rigg

The universe is thought to be composed of stuff, non-stuff and maybe some other stuff. We're referring, of course, to matter, anti-matter and as-yet illusive dark matter. While we know a fair amount about matter and its opposite, dark matter is still largely theoretical. That might change in around half an hour, though, as folks from NASA, MIT and the US Department of Energy hold a press conference to explain exactly what the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) strapped to the ISS has been seeing during almost two years of space-scanning. Samuel Ting from MIT, who will be on the panel, implied back in February that today's results will provide the first evidence of dark matter's existence -- if that's the right term. The press conference is due to start at 1:30PM EDT, so make sure to tune in to the NASA TV livestream embedded below for what could be the biggest scientific news since Higgs and his boson.

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