CERN hints at reason for existence

The reason for the physical existence of the universe has always baffled philosophers. Now scientists as part of the ALPHA team at CERN believe they are on the brink of proving why it is as it is. Yet the answer is far from what one might expect: explosions don’t occur equally.

The answer may sound anti-climatic, yet for science it would prove one of the most important discoveries to date and confirm a near century-old theory relating to the asymmetry of matter and anti-matter in the universe.

Anti-matter was first theorised in 1928 by Paul Dirac and formally discovered by Carl D Anderson in 1932, for which he won the Nobel Prize. Since then progress has been slow. Until only a few years ago, only anti-electrons (known as positrons) could be captured and even then merely for a few seconds. Scientists at CERN have not only been able to capture these positrons but place them in orbit around antiprotons, creating the first anti-hydrogen particle for a few seconds in 2010 – effectively giving the anti-periodic table its first element.

Since this creation, scientists have been increasing the duration they’re able to sustain these anti-atoms – now standing at around 15 minutes – allowing them enough time to experiment on them. The ALPHA team now aim to manipulate the anti-atoms with microwaves at various frequencies in an attempt to analyse their spectra by breaking down their CPT symmetry (relating to how they exchange charge, how they appear in reverse and how they travel through space-time). They’re looking for anti-atoms to react differently to regular atoms under the same conditions. If this occurs, it is believed it will confirm that matter and anti-matter exist in asymmetrical levels in the universe.

Confirming asymmetry would provide an explanation of why we’re here at all. Scientists have struggled to explain how the universe exists if it is made of equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, as they should have annihilated each other as they came together. The fact that matter is so prevalent, and anti-matter so rare, has long suggested there may be inequality in their numbers. Proving this would fundamentally reshape our understanding of the universe by in effect removing half of what was understood to make it up. This would thus require a brand new theory about our universe, and send physicists back to the theoretical drawing board.