A Search for Antimatter
an update on our progress
A report by:
Comm. R.M. Wey
Research to be conducted in orbit of the planet earth, and aboard orbital space platforms[as yet to be built], will[if successful]prove once and for all the existence, or lack there of, of antimatter.
In the field of Quantum Mechanics, its precedents and dictums state that matter can arise from pure energy[provided fundamental qualities such as electric charge and momentum are conserved].
Thus it is considered logical that for every particle created, there should be its opposite and that such should head off in the opposite direction of its twin. Experiments conducted in particle accelerators substantiate this conclusion.
However, in nature, its existence is circumspect. And after numerous probe missions to the outer[and inner]planets, there is[as yet]no evidence to the contrary.
However, our only certainty is that OUR galaxy[the Milky Way]is made of matter. This is in respect to the evidence that there are no strong emissions of gamma rays[characteristic of the annihilation of matter and antimatter particles].
But the universe is a big place, and since there is no difference between the light from matter and antimatter finding them will take considerable effort.
It is estimated that at 10- 3 4
seconds after the BB, the cauldron of elementary particles and antiparticles condensed in a massive annihilation, leaving a larger number of matter particles behind.Resulting in a universe were the laws of physics are slightly off balance[favoring the existence of matter].
This lack of symmetry[referred to as CP violation]states that particles and antiparticles can decay differently. To determine their existence, a large and powerful magnet would be placed in a stationary orbit.
Any electrically charged particles it would encounter would be influenced by its magnetic field. Ones of matter would curve one way, ones of antimatter in the other.
Identified as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, it is scheduled to go on line when the International Space Station: ‘Alpha’ does. Perhaps around the end of the century.