The title is just a little bit dramatic, but the article is pretty good. Highlights current ability to stabilize antihydrogen for about 20 minutes. The idea is to measure gravitational mass and...
The title is just a little bit dramatic, but the article is pretty good. Highlights current ability to stabilize antihydrogen for about 20 minutes. The idea is to measure gravitational mass and see how it compares to regular matter gravitational mass.
This article on phys.org goes into the details of the various experiments. Basically, all they plan to do is drop it and see if it falls down like everything else, or if it falls upwards,...
Basically, all they plan to do is drop it and see if it falls down like everything else, or if it falls upwards, interacting 'backwards' with gravity. Keeping it contained (away from normal matter) and measuring it without 'touching' it is the hard part of the experiment. If it behaves differently from normal matter, that'll provide insight into new directions for physics. Nobody is really expecting it to behave differently - though I'd bet every physicist alive would be giddy if it did.
The original ALPHA experiment in 2010 was the first to trap antihydrogen for spectral measurements. For this new experiment, they've basically taken the design of the original horizontal apparatus...
The original ALPHA experiment in 2010 was the first to trap antihydrogen for spectral measurements. For this new experiment, they've basically taken the design of the original horizontal apparatus and flipped it 90° - at which point they'll see which end the antihydrogen falls out of!
Yes, it's a vague article. I found this online from 2014: https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/measuring-gravity-have-we-finally-cracked-it A short excerpt: I'm not sure it CERN will use this...
In Tino’s sophisticated experiment, his group first isolated and cooled a collection of rubidium atoms to just a few degrees above absolute zero. Then, from below, they pointed a laser beam at the cold atoms to launch them up a tube. As the fountain of atoms rose and then fell, the group used heavy blocks of metal placed around the tube to alter the atoms’ speeds. By recording how the metal blocks, by virtue of their gravity, affected the atoms’ velocities Tino’s group could calculate Big G.
I'm not sure it CERN will use this approach, but perhaps it will be something similar.
The title is just a little bit dramatic, but the article is pretty good. Highlights current ability to stabilize antihydrogen for about 20 minutes. The idea is to measure gravitational mass and see how it compares to regular matter gravitational mass.
The article doesn't say much about how they intend to measure that. Any ideas?
This article on phys.org goes into the details of the various experiments.
Basically, all they plan to do is drop it and see if it falls down like everything else, or if it falls upwards, interacting 'backwards' with gravity. Keeping it contained (away from normal matter) and measuring it without 'touching' it is the hard part of the experiment. If it behaves differently from normal matter, that'll provide insight into new directions for physics. Nobody is really expecting it to behave differently - though I'd bet every physicist alive would be giddy if it did.
The original ALPHA experiment in 2010 was the first to trap antihydrogen for spectral measurements. For this new experiment, they've basically taken the design of the original horizontal apparatus and flipped it 90° - at which point they'll see which end the antihydrogen falls out of!
Yes, it's a vague article. I found this online from 2014:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/measuring-gravity-have-we-finally-cracked-it
A short excerpt:
I'm not sure it CERN will use this approach, but perhaps it will be something similar.