One of the biggest mysteries in physics today is the relationship between matter and antimatter.
Almost everything in the universe is made from matter: your computer, the earth, and as far as we can tell, all of the stars and planets. Antimatter is only found in tiny quantities, in cosmic rays and radioactive decays. When we carefully study antimatter though, we find that it obeys almost exactly the same laws of physics as ordinary matter. And this is one of the biggest mysteries in physics: how can antimatter obey the same laws as matter, but the universe be made of only matter, not antimatter? How could it be that our universe chooses matter over antimatter when the laws governing the two are the same?
We are measuring the shape of the electron. This is one of the most sensitive probes of the difference between matter and antimatter.
We are making the most sensitive measurement ever of the shape of the electron. We are looking for a deviation from spherical that would indicate a difference in the laws of physics that govern matter and antimatter. This would show that our current theory of particle physics, the Standard Model is incomplete. We know that any deviation from roundness is going to be tiny. So, to measure the shape with sufficient accuracy we have to build a machine that can look at the electrons in molecules with unprecedented accuracy. You can learn about our progress on these web pages.
Non physicists can find a more detailed description of the problem here.
Those who can speak physics might like to start here.
News
- [25/05/11] Look out for our letter in Nature describing our latest, world-beating, measurement that appears tomorrow.
- [22/11/10] Data run and all systematic qualifications complete for new measurement.
- [14/12/09] We welcome Joe Smallman to the group as a graduate student. Good luck, Joe!
- [01/09/09] Data run starts in earnest. A new measurement on the way hopefully.
- [06/03/08] Cold molecules for precision measurement book chapter added to the arxiv. Find it on our publication page.
- [04/03/08] Website spring cleaning.
- [19/09/07] Paper on field mapping published in Physical Review A.
