Antimatter is taking a short trip that will take a long time to complete—and could enable breakthrough research about the nature of the universe. Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland launched a project to transport antimatter for the first time. Moving the highly fragile subatomic particles has never been attempted because they are destroyed upon contact with matter. Both matter and antimatter were created after the Big Bang, but antimatter is now very rare. Matter comprises most things in the known universe; antimatter is nearly identical to matter, except it carries the opposite charge.
CERN launched the €3.3 million project, called PUMA (antiProton Unstable Matter Annihilation) in January. It's going to take about four years for the team to move the antimatter 200 meters (656 feet) to an adjacent research facility. If successful, antimatter could be moved farther in the future, allowing more scientists the opportunity to study the rare and volatile material.
The team is developing a storage trap in which 1 billion antiprotons will be safely suspended with magnets and electric fields in a vacuum. If all goes according to plan, a van will slowly drive the storage trap to the Isotope mass Separator On-Line facility (ISOLDE) for further research. That research will help astrophysicists better understand neutron stars, which are the collapsed cores of large stars.
“Beyond PUMA, transporting antiprotons will open new opportunities in basic science,” says Alexandre Obertelli, PhD, project lead and physicist at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany.
—Alexandre Obertelli, PhD, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Dr. Obertelli has helped divide the project into work packages, milestones and benchmarks. Every work package is assigned a budget and leader, each of whom regularly reports on progress to Dr. Obertelli. A pilot test is scheduled for 2021, with full transportation to ISOLDE slated for the following year.
“Transportability will democratize the use of antiprotons,” Dr. Obertelli says. “New ideas for their use may even come in the near future.” —Amelia Garza