Mesons can occur naturally and interact with matter, particularly under high-energy conditions typical of stars or from the decay of radioactive isotopes. The discussion highlights the baryon asymmetry in the universe, where approximately 10^9 photons exist for every baryon, suggesting a slight excess of matter over antimatter produced during the Big Bang. CP violation plays a role in this asymmetry, as evidenced by observations from the BaBar experiment, which studied B and anti-B interactions leading to stable matter. Overall, while mesons are not stable, they are a significant component of matter interactions.
PREREQUISITESThe discussion is beneficial for physicists, cosmologists, and students interested in particle physics, baryon asymmetry, and the fundamental interactions of matter and antimatter.
Bear in mind that the asymmetry between matter and antimatter appears to be very small. Today in the universe there are about 10^9 photons for every baryon. So we think (for some reason we don't fully understand, as Nabeshin said) that there was just slightly more matter produced than antimatter, by only 1 part in 10^9. So after it all annihilated, we were left with matter and photons.hubble_bubble said:Are there any answers to this question? If equal amounts of matter and antimatter were in existence at the big bang surely each annihilation would remove equal amounts of matter and antimatter?
phyzguy said:Bear in mind that the asymmetry between matter and antimatter appears to be very small. Today in the universe there are about 10^9 photons for every baryon. So we think (for some reason we don't fully understand, as Nabeshin said) that there was just slightly more matter produced than antimatter, by only 1 part in 10^9. So after it all annihilated, we were left with matter and photons.
hubble_bubble said:Are there any answers to this question? If equal amounts of matter and antimatter were in existence at the big bang surely each annihilation would remove equal amounts of matter and antimatter?
carlgrace said:At least some of the asymmety is due to CP violation. Read up on the BaBar experiment. B and anti-B interactions were observed to lead to stable matter in some cases.
hubble_bubble said:Maybe antimatter is just not meant to exist on its own and is just another component of matter. We think of it as antimatter whereas it is really only a subset of matter.
Yes and yes. Sufficiently high energy radiation can produce mesons. These energy levels are typical of stars and radiation they emit, but can also be due decay of many naturally occurring radioactive isotopes.hubble_bubble said:I've just read up on mesons. Would they occur naturally and do they interact with matter?