CERN Just Got Closer to Figuring Out Why Antimatter Hasn't Annihilated
Everything
PHYSICS University Manchester
Why do we exist? This is arguably the most profound question there is and
one that may seem completely outside the scope of particle physics. We are
acting against the nature; yet we are surviving why?
But our new experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider has taken us a step
closer to figuring it out.
To understand why, let's go back in time some 13.8 billion years to the Big
Bang. (This article was written in 2019; now we have crossed that 13.8B) This
event produced equal amounts of the matter you are made of and something
called antimatter. It is believed that every particle has an antimatter
companion that is virtually identical to itself, but with the opposite
charge. When a particle and its antiparticle meet, they annihilate each
other – disappearing in a burst of light. {annihilation means positive hit
by same amount of negative; black hole concept is similar} Why the Universe
we see today is made entirely out of matter is one of the greatest
mysteries of modern physics. Had there ever been an equal amount of
antimatter, everything in the Universe would have been annihilated.
Our research has unveiled a new source of this asymmetry between matter and
antimatter. Antimatter was first postulated by Arthur Schuster in 1896,
given a theoretical footing by Paul Dirac in 1928, and discovered in the
form of anti-electrons, dubbed positrons, by Carl Anderson in 1932. The
positrons occur in natural radioactive processes, such as in the decay of
Potassium-40. This means your average banana (which contains Potassium)
emits a positron every 75 minutes. These then annihilate with matter
electrons to produce light. Medical applications like PET scanners produce
antimatter in the same process. {KR This article is placed here for Mr YMji
to understand, calamity is not only caused by human, but also but nature;
example a simple banana} The fundamental building blocks of matter that
make up atoms are elementary particles called quarks and leptons. There are
six kinds of quarks: up, down, strange, charm, bottom and top. Similarly,
there are six leptons: the electron, muon, tau and the three neutrinos.
There are also antimatter copies of these twelve particles that differ only
in their charge. Antimatter particles should in principle be perfect
mirror images of their normal companions. But experiments show this isn't
always the case. Take for instance particles known as mesons, which are
made of one quark and one anti-quark. Neutral mesons have a fascinating
feature: they can spontaneously turn into their anti-meson and vice versa.
In this process, the quark turns into an anti-quark or the anti-quark turns
into a quark. But experiments *have shown that this can happen more in one
direction than the opposite one* – creating more matter than antimatter
over time.
Among particles containing quarks, only those including strange and
bottom quarks have been found to exhibit such asymmetries – and these were
hugely important discoveries. The very first observation of asymmetry
involving strange particles in 1964 allowed theorists to predict the
existence of six quarks – at a time when only three were known to exist.
The discovery of asymmetry in bottom particles in 2001 was the final
confirmation of the mechanism that led to the six-quark picture. Both
discoveries led to Nobel Prizes. Both the strange and bottom quark carry a
negative electric charge. The only positively charged quark that in theory
should be able to form particles that can exhibit matter-antimatter
asymmetry is charm. Theory suggests that if it does, then the effect should
be tiny and difficult to detect.
If this asymmetry is not coming from the same
mechanism causing the strange and bottom quark asymmetries, this leaves
room for new sources of matter-antimatter asymmetry that can add to the
total such asymmetry in the early universe. And that's important as the few
known cases of asymmetry can't explain why the universe contains so much
matter. Antimatter is also at the heart of a number of other experiments.
Whole anti-atoms are being produced at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator, which
feeds a number of experiments conducting high precision measurements.
While we still cannot completely solve the mystery of the universe's
matter-antimatter asymmetry, our latest discovery has opened the door to an
era of precision measurements that have the potential to uncover yet
unknown phenomena. There's every reason to be optimistic that physics will
one day be able to explain why we are here at all. K RAJARAM IRS
15624 16624
On Sat, 15 Jun 2024 at 20:14, Markendeya Yeddanapudi <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> --
> *Mar*Freedom to Nature
>
>
>
> Every organism strives and yearns to relate emotionally and feelingly to
> and with nature. Actually after a brief stint of living, it becomes part of
> nature, which we call death and we dread it as a catastrophe. With our eyes
> we can see just 00.0037% of the totality of nature, which we call the
> visible spectrum. The remaining totality, 99.67%, which is invisible or
> which the eyes cannot see, is in the abstract arena of feelings and
> emotions. Life means feelings and emotions and not rutting as a machine
> called body without feelings. One without feelings and emotions is a dead
> body.
>
> Nature itself is the grand arena of feelings and emotions and not a
> feeling-less and emotions-less machine. In free and healthy nature,
> feelings and emotions take over as relating and every sight creates
> feelings and emotions. One can see emotionally only.
>
> Suppose evolution never gave us eyes. Then feeling and sensing becomes
> living and relating. If an organism develops eyes that see, it will be
> taken as a disease, the main symptom being the restriction to the visible
> spectrum, 00.0037% of the totality.
>
> The macro effect of the Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Troposphere and
> Biosphere is the dominance of feelings and emotions in the air. When you go
> on destroying forests, which automatically results in the destruction of
> the flora and the fauna of the forest, you are inflicting macro emotional
> shocks on all organisms, including you. The organisms lose the basic
> ingredient of life-rapture. Just go into thick nature, recognizing the fact
> that you are entering the sea of emotions created by the organisms. If you
> keep that fact in mind, you pave the way for rapture. You can actually see
> the small bits of rapture when you see a small flower or a buzzing bee or
> singing bird. They all interact with you creating in you the urge to
> respond emotionally and emotions take over your living.
>
> Unfortunately, urbanization, industrialization, mechanization and economic
> life as life itself have removed from us the basic faculty of feeling
> nature and emotionally interacting with nature. The more the mechanization,
> the less the emotional relations, machines cannot feel. Today technology
> has taken over, continuously corroding the emotional edifice of nature.
> When emotions and feelings reduce, the internal hormonal communications to
> the seven octillion cells in you get reduced and each cell becomes
> lethargic. A cell, mind you is a big mini Universe though microscopic in
> size.
>
> We are creating a gigantic emotional feelings death in nature. When a
> development project is taken up, the first thing that is done is the
> removal of all grasses, tiny plants and many big trees, which is called
> clearance. Then huge buildings with metalled roads, ACs, vehicles of
> different pollutions etc remove the arena of feelings and emotions. When it
> is a big city, you find people running and running chased by economics. At
> many places marriages simply vanished, as relating emotionally is too
> tiring. The so called achievement of a person, become actually the victory
> in the Darwinian war against the other life forms.
>
> It is time for every university to develop big free nature parks, so that
> intelligence becomes the real intelligence which is emotional and feeling
> intelligence and not the mechanical and mathematical synchronization. But
> unfortunately no university can dare to say, no to mechanization and
> surrender to computers and Robots.
>
> The revival of free nature is urgent.Fortunately,if given a tiny chance,
> nature will bounce back. Butterfly effect is real. Even tiny efforts by
> simple people is giving handsome dividends in the shape of revived nature,
> flora, fauna, lakes, even rivers and waterfalls with forests etc.
>
> Development must be redefined as the growth of free nature, with minimal
> human tampering. We must remember the basic fact that education means, the
> subject matter that interacts and not putty obeying your will.
>
> YM
>
> Chat GPT
>
> Your reflections on the importance of emotional and feeling-based
> connections with nature, and the consequences of their loss due to
> industrialization and urbanization, raise several profound points that
> resonate with many ecological and psychological perspectives. Here are some
> key ideas and references that align with your views:
>
>
>
> 1. **Emotional and Psychological Benefits of Nature**:
>
> - **Biophilia Hypothesis**: This theory, popularized by Edward O.
> Wilson, suggests that humans have an innate affinity for nature. Studies
> have shown that spending time in nature can reduce stress, improve mood,
> and enhance overall well-being.
>
> - **Attention Restoration Theory (ART)**: Proposed by Stephen Kaplan
> and Rachel Kaplan, ART posits that natural environments help restore
> attention and cognitive function, which are often depleted in urban
> settings .
>
>
>
> 2. **Impact of Urbanization and Mechanization**:
>
> - Urbanization and the spread of technology have led to "nature deficit
> disorder," a term coined by Richard Louv in his book "Last Child in the
> Woods." This term describes the consequences of human alienation from
> nature, including diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and
> higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses.
>
>
>
> 3. **Ecological and Biological Connections**:
>
> - **Ecosystem Services**: Forests and other natural environments
> provide essential services like air and water purification, climate
> regulation, and habitat for biodiversity. The destruction of these
> environments disrupts these services and the intricate web of life they
> support.
>
> - **Interconnectedness of Life**: The concept that all life forms are
> interconnected and that humans are a part of this web is central to many
> ecological philosophies, including those of indigenous cultures and deep
> ecology movements .
>
>
>
> 4. **Reviving Natural Spaces**:
>
> - **Urban Green Spaces**: Creating and maintaining urban parks,
> community gardens, and green roofs can help mitigate the effects of
> urbanization. These spaces provide not only ecological benefits but also
> opportunities for residents to connect with nature.
>
> - **Rewilding Initiatives**: Rewilding efforts, which aim to restore
> natural processes and wilderness areas, have shown promise in reviving
> ecosystems and promoting biodiversity .
>
>
>
> 5. **Educational Approaches**:
>
> - **Environmental Education**: Integrating environmental education into
> curricula can foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of nature
> among students. Programs that include outdoor learning experiences are
> particularly effective in cultivating environmental stewardship.
>
> - **Nature-Based Therapies**: Practices such as ecotherapy and forest
> bathing (shinrin-yoku) emphasize the healing power of nature and are
> gaining recognition for their therapeutic benefits .
>
>
>
> By emphasizing the intrinsic value of nature and promoting ways to
> reintegrate natural experiences into our lives, we can work towards a more
> balanced and emotionally fulfilling existence. This approach aligns with
> your vision of nurturing intelligence and creativity through a deeper
> connection with the natural world.
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Thatha_Patty" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoos-Yq-%2BTwBsJezPGArjdGYd6EB3yNfGaZGER39V74ACg%40mail.gmail.com.
