MATTER - ANTIMATTER
Finally on the weapons sector, antimatter has been considered as a trigger mechanism for nuclear weapons. A major obstacle is the difficulty of producing antimatter in large enough quantities and there is no evidence that it will ever be feasible. However, the U.S. Air Force funded studies of the physics of antimatter in the Cold War, and began considering it's possible use as weaponry, not just as a trigger, but as the explosive itself.
Antimatter can be preserved, just not in a regular matter container. That is because an annihilation occurs when antimatter comes in contact with matter. So, to overcome this difficulty, scientists have invented a special container just for this task called atomic trap. These traps use electromagnetic fields to hold the antimatter particles in mid-air at high vacuum. This allows the antimatter to not react with the matter of the container. The use of highly focused laser beams is what makes freezing the antimatter in place possible. Already, progress has been made by CERN experts who were able to successfully contain antimatter for 17 minutes.
However, all this, although possible, can be extremely expensive, as antimatter is the most expensive material to make. An example of this is the cost of 10 milligrams of positrons, which is estimated to be in the vicinity of 250 million dollars. NASA, once paid 62,5 trillion dollars per gram of antihydrogen atom. Antimatter is so expensive because of the production rate from the particle accelerators being very so low. In addition, there is much demand to use these accelerators and no one can sacrifice such resources for this little product. Certain NASA scientists are discussing the possibility of gathering antimatter produced in the universe randomly.
Basics
There are two kinds of basic particles across the universe :
Matter, which composes everything we see and are. It makes up atoms and, thus, everything atoms make up. Antimatter, on the other hand, is the exact physical opposite. It composes all elements matter does not make up. When these two come in contact, though, we realise they cannot coexist. That is because an explosion occurs every time matter and antimatter are put together. Experts call this phenomenon annihilation. Thankfully, the only way, that we know of, these two can interact is through us. Antimatter does not just come naturally to matter and vice versa.
Antimatter is created in places where high energy reactions and collisions take place, although, they are immediately annihilated upon contact with matter nearby, not allowing it to travel almost any distance. Upon annihilation, both particles emit two gamma rays, through which we can observe the annihilation and trace their location. The remaining antimatter particles gather up and form superclusters as does matter. These superclusters are likely to collide with each other, thereby leaving behind X-Rays and gamma rays produced by the annihilation.
There is a simple advantage of the phenomenon of annihilation. Antimatter is divided into many anti-atoms, which have their own matter opposite, for example helium with anti-helium. This is an important fact because it can let us study them easier. However, our antimatter-creating possibilities are so undeveloped that we have only created a nanogram of antimatter, mostly of which is positrons and not entire atoms like anti-helium atoms.
Antimatter is created in places where high energy reactions and collisions take place, although, they are immediately annihilated upon contact with matter nearby, not allowing it to travel almost any distance. Upon annihilation, both particles emit two gamma rays, through which we can observe the annihilation and trace their location. The remaining antimatter particles gather up and form superclusters as does matter. These superclusters are likely to collide with each other, thereby leaving behind X-Rays and gamma rays produced by the annihilation.
There is a simple advantage of the phenomenon of annihilation. Antimatter is divided into many anti-atoms, which have their own matter opposite, for example helium with anti-helium. This is an important fact because it can let us study them easier. However, our antimatter-creating possibilities are so undeveloped that we have only created a nanogram of antimatter, mostly of which is positrons and not entire atoms like anti-helium atoms.
Small amounts of antimatter constantly fall on Earth in the form of cosmic rays or energetic particles from space. Scientists have also observed antimatter production above thunderstorms.But other antimatter sources are even closer to us. For example, bananas produce antimatter, releasing one positron every 75 minutes. This occurs because bananas contain a small amount of potassium-40, which favours the production of potassium. As potassium-40 decays, it occasionally produces positron in the process. The same process happens in our bodies, however, the antimatter particles annihilate immediately after being emitted by our bodies.
This far, there are three hypotheses about how antimatter gravitationally interacts with normal matter:
Normal gravity: The most common assumption is that gravitational interactions of matter and antimatter are identical.
Antigravity: Some authors claim that antimatter repels matter with the same way and force as matter attracts itself.
Gravivector and graviscalar: Later difficulties in creating quantum gravity theories have led to the idea that antimatter may react with a slightly different magnitude.
Theoretical Uses
Although matter is already in use, there are some uses of antimatter we have recently discovered both beneficial, such as medical uses or either as fuel, and harmful, such as weapons.
Firstly, for the medical uses, matter–antimatter reactions have practical applications in medical imaging, such as Positron Emission Tomography .
For fuel uses, isolated and stored anti-matter could be used as fuel for interplanetary or even interstellar travel. This is possible because antimatter produces about 10.000J more energy per unit than nuclear energy. This,though, is impossible with today's propulsion technologies because of the annihilation happening between matter and antimatter.
For fuel uses, isolated and stored anti-matter could be used as fuel for interplanetary or even interstellar travel. This is possible because antimatter produces about 10.000J more energy per unit than nuclear energy. This,though, is impossible with today's propulsion technologies because of the annihilation happening between matter and antimatter.
Finally on the weapons sector, antimatter has been considered as a trigger mechanism for nuclear weapons. A major obstacle is the difficulty of producing antimatter in large enough quantities and there is no evidence that it will ever be feasible. However, the U.S. Air Force funded studies of the physics of antimatter in the Cold War, and began considering it's possible use as weaponry, not just as a trigger, but as the explosive itself.
Antimatter can be preserved, just not in a regular matter container. That is because an annihilation occurs when antimatter comes in contact with matter. So, to overcome this difficulty, scientists have invented a special container just for this task called atomic trap. These traps use electromagnetic fields to hold the antimatter particles in mid-air at high vacuum. This allows the antimatter to not react with the matter of the container. The use of highly focused laser beams is what makes freezing the antimatter in place possible. Already, progress has been made by CERN experts who were able to successfully contain antimatter for 17 minutes.
However, all this, although possible, can be extremely expensive, as antimatter is the most expensive material to make. An example of this is the cost of 10 milligrams of positrons, which is estimated to be in the vicinity of 250 million dollars. NASA, once paid 62,5 trillion dollars per gram of antihydrogen atom. Antimatter is so expensive because of the production rate from the particle accelerators being very so low. In addition, there is much demand to use these accelerators and no one can sacrifice such resources for this little product. Certain NASA scientists are discussing the possibility of gathering antimatter produced in the universe randomly.
Experiments
Antiproton Decelerator
The Antiproton Decelerator provides low-energy antiprotons mainly for studies of antimatter. Previously, antiparticle factories at CERN and elsewhere consisted of chains of accelerators, each performing one of the steps needed to provide antiparticles for experiments. Now the Antiproton Decelerator performs all the tasks alone, from making antiprotons to delivering them to the experiments.The starting point is a blast of protons from the Proton Synchrotron , which is fired into a block of metal. The energy from
the collisions is enough to create a new proton-antiproton pair about once in
every million collisions.
Antihydrogen Trap (ATRAP)
The Antihydrogen trap is an experiment to compare hydrogen atoms with their antimatter equals– antihydrogen atoms. In 2002, the Antihydrogen Trap provided the first glimpse inside antihydrogen atoms after researchers successfully created and measured a large number of them.
Antiproton Decelerator, the science behind it.
Antihydrogen Trap (ATRAP)
The Antihydrogen trap is an experiment to compare hydrogen atoms with their antimatter equals– antihydrogen atoms. In 2002, the Antihydrogen Trap provided the first glimpse inside antihydrogen atoms after researchers successfully created and measured a large number of them.
An atom of antihydrogen consists of an antiproton and
a positron (an anti-electron). One of the difficulties in making antimatter is
the energy the antiprotons possess when they are first made, shooting out of the
machine antiprotons at close to the speed of light.
Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEGIS)
This is the direct measurement of the Earth's gravitational acceleration on antihydrogen. Many physicists are collaborating on this project from all over the world.
More specifically, after taking antiprotons from a Decelerator to produce a beam of antihydrogen atoms, they blast them through a device called Deflectometer designed to measure the strength of the gravitational interactions between matter and antimatter.
The Deflector splits this antihydrogen beam in order to create a symmetrical pattern. This pattern helps experts calculate the distance of its fall during its rather horizontal flight.
Once completed,AEGIS is expected to show the first results of gravitational forces on antimatter.
Matter and antimatter in absolute symmetry
A study which carried out by researchers at the University of Sao Paulo, has demonstrated the existence of symmetry between particles and antiparticles cores as regards the charge, parity and time.
The experiment was part of a broader study aimed to identify differences in the way in which protons and neutrons in nuclei are joined, with their antiparticles form antinuclear. The antiparticle have the same mass but opposite electrical charge of the particles.
" After the Big Bang, for every matter particle and an antiparticle created. In Particle Physics, the crucial question is whether all the laws of physics exhibit a peculiar kind of symmetry known as CPT (charge, parity, time or charge, parity, time). These measurements show the existence of a fundamental symmetry between core and antinuclear " says Marcelo Munoz, professor of physics at the University of Sao Paulo.
These measurements were made possible thanks to the ring experiment at the Large Hardon Collider (LHC), which measured the particles produced in heavy-ion collisions inside the accelerator.This method allows the study of materials at very high temperatures and densities,
The collisions produce a large number of particles and antiparticles, creating cores and antinuclear at the same rate. Utilising these data, the experiment has achieved the accurate comparison of core properties and antinuclear. Having measured the curvature of the traces left behind by the particles in the magnetic field sensor, and the particle flight time,scientists calculated the mass to charge ratio for the kernels and antinuclear.
Dr.Munoz believes that the findings of the study will help physicists to distinguish which of the theories about the fundamental laws of the universe is the most plausible.
"These laws describe the nature of the interaction of matter, and for this reason it is very important to know that physical interactions are not altered by the change of the particle load, the transformation of parity or the change of time. We need to know if the laws of physics remain unchanged under these conditions," says Dr,Munoz.
The existence of antimatter and its relationship to the material employed for decades the scientific community. The prevailing theories like the Big Bang to produce similar amounts of both, which would mean that matter and antimatter would cancel each other automatically.
The scientific experiment group from Brazil may lead one step closer to solving this mystery.
A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) Experiment
A second experiment at CERN,the ALICE,made precise measurements comparing the special light nuclei loads and antinuclear.
Specifically measured differences load speech-to-mass between deuterium.
The results of the ALICE experiment confirms once again the CPT symmetry,whereby a system is unchanged if the following transformations are made: the particles are replaced by the specularly symmetrical antiparticles and reverse the flow of time. They also show that the manner in which the protons associated with neutrons to the cores is similar to the connection mode corresponding antiparticle forming antinuclear.
Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEGIS)
This is the direct measurement of the Earth's gravitational acceleration on antihydrogen. Many physicists are collaborating on this project from all over the world.
More specifically, after taking antiprotons from a Decelerator to produce a beam of antihydrogen atoms, they blast them through a device called Deflectometer designed to measure the strength of the gravitational interactions between matter and antimatter.
The Deflector splits this antihydrogen beam in order to create a symmetrical pattern. This pattern helps experts calculate the distance of its fall during its rather horizontal flight.
Once completed,AEGIS is expected to show the first results of gravitational forces on antimatter.
Physicist William Fairbank attempted a laboratory experiment to directly measure the gravitational acceleration of both electrons and positrons. However, their charge-to-mass ratio is so large that electromagnetic effects took over the experiment.
It is difficult to directly observe gravitational forces at particle level. For charged particles, the electromagnetic force overwhelms the much weaker gravitational interaction. Even antiparticles in neutral(not charged) antimatter, such as antihydrogen, must be kept separate from their counterparts in the matter that forms the experimental equipment, which requires strong electromagnetic fields. These fields, as in the form of atomic traps, exert forces on these antiparticles which easily take over the gravitational force of Earth and nearby test masses. Since all production methods for antiparticles result in high-energy antimatter particles, the necessary cooling for observation of gravitational effects in a laboratory environment requires very sophisticated experimental techniques and very careful control over the trapping fields.
Matter and antimatter in absolute symmetry
The experiment was part of a broader study aimed to identify differences in the way in which protons and neutrons in nuclei are joined, with their antiparticles form antinuclear. The antiparticle have the same mass but opposite electrical charge of the particles.
" After the Big Bang, for every matter particle and an antiparticle created. In Particle Physics, the crucial question is whether all the laws of physics exhibit a peculiar kind of symmetry known as CPT (charge, parity, time or charge, parity, time). These measurements show the existence of a fundamental symmetry between core and antinuclear " says Marcelo Munoz, professor of physics at the University of Sao Paulo.
These measurements were made possible thanks to the ring experiment at the Large Hardon Collider (LHC), which measured the particles produced in heavy-ion collisions inside the accelerator.This method allows the study of materials at very high temperatures and densities,
The collisions produce a large number of particles and antiparticles, creating cores and antinuclear at the same rate. Utilising these data, the experiment has achieved the accurate comparison of core properties and antinuclear. Having measured the curvature of the traces left behind by the particles in the magnetic field sensor, and the particle flight time,scientists calculated the mass to charge ratio for the kernels and antinuclear.
Dr.Munoz believes that the findings of the study will help physicists to distinguish which of the theories about the fundamental laws of the universe is the most plausible.
"These laws describe the nature of the interaction of matter, and for this reason it is very important to know that physical interactions are not altered by the change of the particle load, the transformation of parity or the change of time. We need to know if the laws of physics remain unchanged under these conditions," says Dr,Munoz.
The existence of antimatter and its relationship to the material employed for decades the scientific community. The prevailing theories like the Big Bang to produce similar amounts of both, which would mean that matter and antimatter would cancel each other automatically.
The scientific experiment group from Brazil may lead one step closer to solving this mystery.
A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) Experiment
 |
| The ALICE detector at CERN |
A second experiment at CERN,the ALICE,made precise measurements comparing the special light nuclei loads and antinuclear.
Specifically measured differences load speech-to-mass between deuterium.
The results of the ALICE experiment confirms once again the CPT symmetry,whereby a system is unchanged if the following transformations are made: the particles are replaced by the specularly symmetrical antiparticles and reverse the flow of time. They also show that the manner in which the protons associated with neutrons to the cores is similar to the connection mode corresponding antiparticle forming antinuclear.
 |
| The results of the measurements ALICE experiment published in Nature entitled: <<Precision measyrement of the mass difference between light nuclei and anti-nuclei>> |
For the implementation of the ALICE experiment at the LHC accelerates lead ions collide after gaining high energies. Since conflicts resulting particles and antiparticles, and nuclei with their respective antinuclear produced almost equal amounts.Then they made accurate measurements to the curvature of the particle orbits in the magnetic field and determine the ratio of the charge-to-mass.
The measured differences between the specific load cores and antinuclear zero within the limits of experimental error,and with the results of the experiment BASE confirm the CPT symmetry.
Supernova:
Progenitor:
Supernova:
A Supernova is an astronomical occurrence that happens during the last stellar evolutionary stages of a massive star's life, whose assured and destructive disintegration is marked by one final gigantic explosion. For a short period of time , this causes this sudden appearance of a 'new' bright star, before slowly fading from sight over several weeks or months. Only three Milky Way naked-eye supernova events have been observed during the last thousand years.
SN
1987A:
SN 1987A was a Type ll Supernova in the peripheral of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (a nearby dwarf galaxy). It occurred approximately 51.4 kilo parsecs from Earth, close enough to be visible to the naked eye. It was the closest observed supernova since SN 1604, which was located in the Milky Way itself. Since it was close, astronomers analyzed this particular supernova better than all the rest. The light from the new supernova reached Earth on February 23, 1987. As it was the first supernova to be discovered in 1987, it was named “1987A”.
Progenitor:
Four days after the event occurred, the progenitor
star was tentatively identified as Sanduleak, a blue supergiant. After the supernova faded, the
identification was confirmed by Sanduleak having disappeared. This was an
unexpected identification, because at the time blue supergiants were not
considered susceptible to a supernova in existing models of high mass stellar evolution.
Antimatter Connection
The antimatter annihilates with its opposite, as
antimatter is wont to do, but the problem is that the speed of antimatter explosion is a critical delay in the gamma-pressure
supporting the star. The outer layers
sag in, compressing the core more, raising the temperature, making energetic
gamma rays even more likely to make antimatter and suddenly the whole star is a
runaway nuclear reactor beyond the scale of the imagination.
After the explosion
nothing is left behind apart from an expanding cloud of radioactive material
and empty space where once was the most gigantic item you can actually have
without ripping space. The explosion alone triggers alchemy on a
supersolar scale, converting stars' worth of matter into new radioactive
elements.
Information Sources
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