A graphical representation of the pear-shaped nucleus of an exotic atom. The shape of the nucleus could give clues to why the universe contains more matter than antimatter. Image credit: Liam Gaffney and Peter Butler, University of Liverpool
ANN ARBOR-An international team of physicists has found the first direct evidence of pear shaped nuclei in exotic atoms. The findings could advance the search for a new fundamental force in nature that could explain why the Big Bang created more matter than antimatter-a pivotal imbalance in the history of everything. "If equal amounts of matter and antimatter were created at the Big Bang, everything would have annihilated, and there would be no galaxies, stars, planets or people," said Tim Chupp, a University of Michigan professor of physics and biomedical engineering and co-author of a paper on Antimatter particles have the same mass but opposite charge from their matter counterparts. Antimatter is rare in the known universe, flitting briefly in and out of existence in cosmic rays, solar flares and particle accelerators like CERN's Large Hadron Collider, for example. When they find each other, matter and antimatter particles mutually destruct or annihilate. What caused the matter/antimatter imbalance is one of physics' great mysteries. It's not predicted by the Standard Model-the overarching theory that describes the laws of nature and the nature of matter.
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