equal amounts of what we call matter and antimatter

Ed Aboud

I heard once somewhere that in the early days of the universe there was equal amounts of what we call matter and antimatter. What confuses me alot is how come pair annihilation didn't occur between all the matter and antimatter to produce a universe just filled with gamma rays? And how come there is a surplus of 'normal' matter now? Any light on this topic would be greatly appreciated thanks.

malawi_glenn

Not exaclty equal amounts. This is an important issue in modern particle physics, and one thinks that CP-violation (if i rememeber correctly) can be one of the solutions why there was more matter than antimatter in the early universe.

you can google "matter antimatter asymmetry" and similar. If you find something interresting, which you don't understand, ask here in PF again.

mathman

The question you are raising is still one of the unsolved problems of modern physics. The CP-violation is a qualitative explanation, but the details are still unknown.