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Fermilab Nonetheless Searching for Antimatter Strategies
By Andrew Zimmerman Jones, About.com Guide July 2, 2011
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The standard model of particle physics describes a universe that contains 16 types of elementary particles. There are three "generations" of matter, consisting of 6 quarks and 6 leptons, along with 4 force-carrying bosons.

But this isn't all ... each fermion (the quarks and leptons) also has an anti-particle associated with it, so that when the "ordinary" particle comes into contact with its anti-matter partner, it is annihilated, which means it goes poof in a burst of energy.

One of the major questions in theoretical physics is why, when the universe came into being,Pandora Armbänder, there wasn't exactly the same amount of matter and anti-matter,Pandora Beads, which would have resulted in all of it being annihilated, and no universe forming.

Two experiments at Fermilab have helped to provide some evidence which will help explain this strange asymmetry:
The DZero experiment showed a 1% difference in the muons and anti-muons that result from the decay of certain types of mesons. These results first showed up one year ago and the experiments since then have reduced the chance that it's just a fluke data spike from 0.07% to 0.005%. The MINOS experiment (along with a Japanese experiment called T2K) has been testing neutrino transformation: specifically,Pandora Ohrringe, the rate at which muon neutrinos transform into electron neutrinos. This transformation process is tied into the neutrino's ability to violate matter/anti-matter symmetry. Together,Tiffany Sale, the experiments should help to narrow in the rate of these transformations.
The research at these two experiments should help narrow in on the physical basis for matter/anti-matter formation, which will help us better understand why there's more matter than anti-matter in the universe. Even as the Tevatron collider at Fermilab now winds down, shutting down in September, the researchers there continue to close in on unlocking the secrets of the universe.

On a side note, the DZero experiment can help us understand the level of precision needed for scientists to declare a new discovery. Another recent set of experiments at DZero provided some hints at groundbreaking new physics, but was quickly shown with more testing to be just a random fluctuation in the data. In a recent post,Tiffany Outlet title, I celebrated this as a success of the scientific method and this aspect of scientific inquiry is highlighted in the Symmetry Breaking post on these new results:

Scientists are a cautious bunch and require a high level of certainty to claim a discovery. For a measurement of the level of certainty achieved in the summer of 2010, particle physicists claim that they have evidence for an unexpected phenomenon. A claim of discovery requires a higher level of certainty.

If the earlier measurement were a fluctuation, scientists would expect the uncertainty of the new result to grow, not get smaller. Instead,Pandora Braclet, the improvement is exactly what scientists expect if the effect is real. But the uncertainty associated with the new result is even now too high to claim a discovery. For a discovery, particle physicists require an uncertainty of less than 0.00005 percent.

Related Articles:
Particle Physics Fundamentals Symmetry Breaking blog - New Tevatron collider result may help explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe,Tiffany Charm Bracelet, June 30, 2011 Symmetry Breaking blog - Fermilab experiment weighs in on neutrino mystery, June 24, 2011 New Scientist - Neutrinos caught 'shape shifting' in new ways, June 16,Pandora Necklace, 2011 Symmetry Breaking blog - Fermilab scientists find evidence for significant matter-antimatter asymmetry,Pandora Necklaces, May 18, 2010