CERN moves 92 antiprotons across Geneva laboratory for 1st time
CERN researchers have managed to move antimatter (specifically, 92 antiprotons) across its Geneva laboratory for the very first time.
Since antimatter vanishes instantly when it touches regular matter, this is a huge deal in physics.
The team used a special cryogenic Penning trap to keep everything stable and safe during the journey.
CERN's base-step trap enables antiproton transfers
This breakthrough opens up new ways to study how antimatter works.
The BASE-STEP trap they used is compact and portable, with liquid-helium cryogenic cooling; for extended transfers the superconducting magnet must be kept below 8.2 K (-265 °C).
To get even better results, scientists plan to send antiprotons all the way to Germany for more experiments.
Ensuring the particles arrive intact could enable the precision measurements needed to deepen our understanding of antimatter and the universe.