Could Anti-Matter Really Be Stored and Contained for Experiments?

[Syed Ammar]

Wikipedia says CERN has isolated about 38 atoms of antihydrogen and maintained them for over 15 minutes? ... Do you think that is possible?

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

 

[Bandersnatch]

Whenever you find a claim on wikipedia that you want to verify, follow the sources it cites. That's what they are for.
Here, I've done it for you this time:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13666892
http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v7/n7/full/nphys2025.html
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010Natur.468..673A

The last two articles are paywalled, though.

ArXiv has got a number of papers on the subject:
http://arxiv.org/find/all/1/all:+AND+Trapped+antihydrogen/0/1/0/all/0/1 (scroll down a bit)

 

[Syed Ammar]

Thanks.

 

[nikkkom]

Wikipedia says CERN has isolated about 38 atoms of antihydrogen and maintained them for over 15 minutes? ... Do you think that is possible?

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

Why would it be impossible?

 

[Syed Ammar]

I thought that anti-matter couldn`t be stored inside things made of matter (its opposite) that`s why I thought it was impossible..?

 

[SteamKing]

I thought that anti-matter couldn`t be stored inside things made of matter (its opposite) that`s why I thought it was impossible..?

If you read the original report on CNN, the 38 atoms of anti-hydrogen were contained in a magnetic trap. These atoms were held in containment long enough for researchers to run experiments several hundred times.

It's not impossible to make anti-matter, given sufficient time and energy; the trick is to store the stuff and keep it from reacting with matter, which is why the magnetic trap is necessary.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/11/18/switzerland.cern.antimatter/?hpt=Mid