One of the enduring questions of Physics is baryon asymmetry, or more popularly- ‘Where’s the Anti-Matter at?’
Technically a quark’s properties are-
- Electric Charge (ElectroMagnetic Force)
- Spin (Angular Momentum)
- Mass (Gravity)
- Position (Weak Force) and
- Color (Strong Force)
An anti-Quark has exactly the opposite qualities for anything (except Spin and Mass) and I’m not talking not Green in the sense of Blue or Red, or not Top in the sense of Bottom, I mean the -1 times whatever it is.
Observed in the wild you say? Oh my yes, constantly. A Meson is specifically a Quark/anti-Quark package of Space-Time. They last briefly as the by product of high energy collisions in nature and are regularly observed by particle colliders, sometimes reaching energy levels not seen since the Big Bang. There is some evidence of Mesons made entirely of Quarks which may relate to the cause or effect of our central question but we’ll ignore it for now because basically it makes my main point which is that nobody has a clue.
It is a fact though that given a neutral environment (one in which no unaccounted for factor contributes to the result) there should be exactly as much anti-Matter as Matter in the Universe, and we’re just not seeing it.
I don’t know exactly how you would detect an anti-Photon and it would be hilarious if the amount of Dark Energy and Matter (essentially missing in that we can detect its gravitational influence on the expansion of Space-Time but not much else) equaled the amount of missing anti-Matter (remember Mass and Spin don’t change).
But that’s pretty tin foily and I don’t propose it except as a nerdy joke.
Mystery Deepens: Matter and Antimatter Are Mirror Images
by Charles Q. Choi, Live Science
Matter and antimatter appear to be perfect mirror images of each other as far as anyone can see, scientists have discovered with unprecedented precision, foiling hope of solving the mystery as to why there is far more matter than antimatter in the universe.
Everyday matter is made up of protons, neutrons or electrons. These particles have counterparts known as antiparticles – antiprotons, antineutrons and positrons, respectively – that have the same mass but the opposite electric charge. (Although neutrons and antineutrons are both neutrally charged, they are each made of particles known as quarks that possess fractional electrical charges, and the charges of these quarks are equal and opposite to one another in neutrons and antineutrons.)
The known universe is composed of everyday matter. The profound mystery is, why the universe is not made up of equal parts antimatter, since the Big Bang that is thought to have created the universe 13.7 billion years ago produced equal amounts of both. And if matter and antimatter appear to be mirror images of each other in every respect save their electrical charge, there might not be much any of either type of matter left.
…
Theoretical physicists suspect that the extraordinary contrast between the amounts of matter and antimatter in the universe, technically known as baryon asymmetry, may be due to some difference between the properties of matter and antimatter, formally known as a charge-parity, or CP symmetry violation. However, all the known effects that lead to violations of CP symmetry fail to explain the vast preponderance of matter over antimatter.Potential explanations behind this mystery could lie in differences in the properties of matter and antimatter – for instance, perhaps antiprotons decay faster than protons. If any such difference is found, however slight, “this will of course lead to dramatic consequences for our contemporary understanding of the fundamental laws of physics,” study lead author Stefan Ulmer, a particle physicist at Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), told Live Science.
In the most stringent test yet of differences between protons and antiprotons, scientists investigated the ratio of electric charge to mass in about 6,500 pairs of these particles over a 35-day period.
…
The scientists found the charge-to-mass ratio of protons and antiprotons “is identical to within just 69 parts per trillion,” Ulmer said in a statement. This measurement is four times better than previous measurements of this ratio.In addition, the researchers also discovered that the charge-to-mass ratios they measured do not vary by more than 720 parts per trillion per day, as Earth rotates on its axis and travels around the sun. This suggests that protons and antiprotons behave the same way over time as they zip through space at the same velocity, meaning they do not violate what is known as charge-parity-time, or CPT symmetry.
CPT symmetry is a key component of the Standard Model of particle physics, the best description to date of how the elementary particles making up the universe behave. No known violations of CPT symmetry exist. “Any detected CPT violation will have huge impact on our understanding of nature,” Ulmer said.
Science Oriented Video
The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations – then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation – well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.
–Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (1927)
Science News and Blogs
I really encourage you to read the science links today. There are some mighty fine stories.
- DNA Is Said to Solve a Mystery of Warren Harding’s Love Life, By PETER BAKER, The New York Times
- Tomb of Nefertiti, Egypt’s mysterious ancient queen, may have been found, The Guardian
- England to Test Roads That Charge Electric Vehicles, by Angela Moscaritolo, PC Magazine
- Cheers! Yeast’s Evolutionary Journey Gave Beer Its Flavor, by Elizabeth Goldbaum, Live Science
- During mass extinction, no species safe: study, By Marlowe Hood, AFP
- Medieval Sword Carries Mysterious Inscription, By Elizabeth Palermo, Live Science
- How We Could Detect an Alien Apocalypse From Earth, by George Dvorsky, io9
- The Roanoke Island Colony: Lost, and Found?, By THEO EMERY, The New York Times
- Cutting-edge science as you’ve never seen it before, by Kit Buchan, The Guardian
- Attack on the pentagon results in discovery of new mathematical tile, by Alex Bellos, The Guardian
C’mon, we’re talking an obtuse polygon with 5 vertices.
Obligatories, News and Blogs below (also pretty good).
Obligatories
Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when
we’re not too hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED)the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.
I would never make fun of LaEscapee or blame PhilJD. And I am highly organized.
This Day in History
News
- Isis bombing leaves scores dead at market in Baghdad, Reuters
- Afghan Panel to Call for Retrial in Death of Farkhunda, a Female Scholar, By ROD NORDLAND, The New York Times
- Watchdog: U.S.-funded power plant in Afghanistan at risk of ‘catastrophic failure’, By Lindsay Wise, McClatchy
- China plays down devaluation fears as yuan cut for third straight day, The Guardian
- Can Pope Francis clean up God’s bank?, by Paul Vallely, The Guardian
- Los Angeles to pay $15 million to teen with pellet gun paralyzed by police, By Victoria Cavaliere, Reuters
- Chelsea Manning may face solitary confinement for having Jenner Vanity Fair issue, by Ed Pilkington, The Guardian
- Bumble Bee Foods settles for $6m in death of worker cooked with tuna, Associated Press
- New Zealand’s largest coalminer shuts down amid steep fall in prices, Associated Press
- Greece bailout deal ‘will not work’: Varoufakis, AFP
Blogs
- Will Trans-Pacific trade deal go up in smoke over anti-tobacco proposal?, By Adam Behsudi, Politico
- Shell’s Drilling Plans Expose Just How Unprepared The U.S. Is For A Melting Arctic, by Natasha Geiling, Think Progress
- Chuck Schumer working the phones on Iran, By John Bresnahan, Politico
- California Governor Passes Ban On Use Of Grand Juries In Officer-Involved Killings, by Tim Cushing, Tech Dirt
- Manhattan District Attorney Ratchets Up The ‘Going Dark’ FUD; Leaves Out Its Connection To Shady Hacking Team, by Mike Masnick, Tech Dirt
- Australian Trade Minister: TPP “Trade” Deal Unlikely, By Leith van Onselen, Naked Capitalism
- The Worst of the Worst of the Worst: New Century and its Economics Shills, By William K. Black, New Economic Perspectives
- BREAKING: What emptywheel Reported Two Years Ago, By emptywheel
- Gang of Transnational Crime Organizations Roll Out Own Encrypted Communication System, By emptywheel
- Mankiw’s Principles of Economics Part 8: A Country’s Standard of Living Depends on Its Ability to Produce Goods and Services, By Ed Walker, emptywheel
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