Antimatter atoms trapped for 16 minutes

[baywax]

Sorry if this has been posted already. Its a Canadian led study!

"Antimatter atoms have been held captive and kept in existence for a whopping 16 minutes by a Canadian-led team — far longer than the researchers thought possible.
"It was quite a surprise," said Makoto Fujiwara, lead author of a study published Sunday in Nature Physics. It reported trapping antiatoms of antihydrogen — the antimatter counterpart of a hydrogen atom — for 1,000 seconds.
The achievement has extended the experimental lifetime of antihydrogen atoms 5,000-fold since the ALPHA experiment — an international collaboration Fujiwara is part of — first figured out how to trap them at all.
The team, based at the laboratory of CERN, the European organization for nuclear research, near Geneva, published its method in Nature last November. At the time, it reported that it had held onto the antiatoms for less than one-fifth of a second.
Holding antiatoms captive for several minutes opens up a new range of possible experiments to probe the nature of antimatter, said Fujiwara, a research scientist at Vancouver-based TRIUMF and an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary."

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/antimatter-atoms-trapped-16-minutes-154706752.html

[Pengwuino]

So....... does anti-matter fall up? :biggrin:

[baywax]

So....... does anti-matter fall up? :biggrin:
:smile: that's my guess too, based on the fact that it creates its own anti-gravity.

[TurtleMeister]

So....... does anti-matter fall up? :biggrin:

:smile: that's my guess too, based on the fact that it creates its own anti-gravity.

I don't think so. Even if it creates an anti gravity field, it will still be just as undetectable as a normal hydrogen atoms gravity field.

[Pengwuino]

I don't think so. Even if it creates an anti gravity field, it will still be just as undetectable as a normal hydrogen atoms gravity field.

We're being sarcastic ;)

[TurtleMeister]

We're being sarcastic ;)

Oh, I guess I should pay more attention to emoticons.

[Drakkith]

We're being sarcastic ;)

I was unsure for a minute there myself lol. Text doesn't convey the verbal/non verbal cues that normal conversation does and is easily confused!

[sophiecentaur]

There's less 'antiness' to antimatter than the name might suggest. What a let down.

[SPMerkk]

Maybe 'Bizarro-Matter' might be more suitable? Not so much anti-, just a bit off.

[Drakkith]

Maybe 'Bizarro-Matter' might be more suitable? Not so much anti-, just a bit off.

How about matters jerk of a twin brother?

[mayeraus41]

There's less 'antiness' to antimatter than the name might suggest. What a let down.

Yeah, just a big explosion. How american film cliche.

[baywax]

How about matters jerk of a twin brother?

You guys are killing me!:rofl:

But apparently this is a(n) hell of an achievement. The last time the evil twin brother stayed for any length of time it was like 5 seconds.

Is this going to be a reproducible experiment? Or are anti-matter hydrogen atoms as unpredictable as Marlon Brando on a motercycle?

[sophiecentaur]

What containment method is used? It must be a problem where the particles are neutrally charged. The only way I could think of would be to ensure that they all turn up 'stationary' after they have been produced and stay in the middle of the experiment for a reasonable length of time,

[Vanadium 50]

It's a magnetic trap.

Also, I hate to break the news, but the spokesperson is not Canadian. He's Danish.

[Antiphon]

Let's use it to fuel our cars. One tank should last a few thousand lifetimes.

[Pengwuino]

One tank should last a few thousand lifetimes.

Or 16 minutes.

Followed by your car exploding!

[baywax]

Followed by your car exploding!

and falling upward.

[baywax]

It's a magnetic trap.

Also, I hate to break the news, but the spokesperson is not Canadian. He's Danish.

"It was quite a surprise," said Makoto Fujiwara, lead author of a study p

ublished Sunday in Nature Physics.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/antimatter-...154706752.html


I suppose you didn't know that Makoto Fujiwara is a good Canadian family name. The family homesteaded during the 2nd world war in containment camps while all their worldly possessions were stolen by the govt.

Just south of the boarder, in Yakima Wa., the same thing took place with the Japanese there and they turned this sour situation into beet farms generating sugar for the outstanding US troops over seas.

[Astronuc]

A relevant story - Future is bright for CERN antimatter physicists
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/46216

[sophiecentaur]

It's a magnetic trap.

Also, I hate to break the news, but the spokesperson is not Canadian. He's Danish.

If the atoms are 'atoms' and neutral, how does a magnetic trap function? I can see how you could trap ions but antiHydrogen ions would 'just' be antiprotons and that wouldn't be such a big deal.

And there's nothing wrong with Danes, in their right place. And a lab could well be the right place. Bohr did quite well, after all.

[Vanadium 50]

If the atoms are 'atoms' and neutral, how does a magnetic trap function?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_trap

[sophiecentaur]

I thank you.

[Redbelly98]

If the atoms are 'atoms' and neutral, how does a magnetic trap function?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_trap

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_trap . I'm about 15 years removed from working in laser cooling, but it was the case back then that MOT's were a common way to trap neutral atoms.

I remember hearing about trapped antiprotons around 1990, it's good to see the work has progressed to antihydrogen.

[sophiecentaur]

That's even better. Thanks for that too.
I must say, I had never really though how laser cooling could work but that wiki article makes perfect sense.

[Creator]

So....... does anti-matter fall up? :biggrin:

Even though it is tongue in cheek, its still a good question; I don't think anti-matter has yet been experimentally shown to fall in a particular direction in a g field. Long lived neutral anti-hydrogen may solve some of the experimental dilemas that have thwarted its measurement.
I'm sure I may be opening up a can of speculation here.:smile:

Creator

[mixinman7]

If anti-matter fell down with the same weight normal matter would, what would that mean? If it fell up, I'd assume that tickles the super-symmetry theory.

[sophiecentaur]

@creator
Your post seems to suggest the possibility of negative mass??

[Redbelly98]

Experimental verification that antimatter falls downward would be a good thing to have done, if only to stop speculation that it doesn't.

[baywax]

Experimental verification that antimatter falls downward would be a good thing to have done, if only to stop speculation that it doesn't.

Better get to work on that one!

[sophiecentaur]

My antipen just floated up to the ceiling. Could that be used as a source of motive power, I wonder? (It disappeared in a flash when it got there, unfortunately - I am now scanning my insurance policy)