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Northwestern team traps a single positron for months in a quantum cyclotron
Wired reports Northwestern University physicists held a single positron in a near-absolute-zero electromagnetic trap for months, a step toward a tighter electron-positron comparison, according to a Physical Review Letters paper.
- New headline Was: “Scientists Trapped an Antimatter Particle for Months to Study Its Secrets”
- Our desk filed its story
Northwestern University physicists trapped a single positron, the antimatter counterpart of the electron, for months in a device they call a single-positron quantum cyclotron, Wired reported on Oct. 25, citing a Physical Review Letters paper1.
The group, led by Gerald Gabrielse, used electric and magnetic fields to hold the particle in a vacuum near absolute zero so it never touched ordinary matter, which would annihilate it1.
In that lowest-energy state, the researchers could induce controlled changes in the positron's quantum behavior without destroying it, allowing repeated measurements over months1.
Wired said the result is aimed at a tighter comparison of electron and positron magnetic properties, a test of how closely matter and antimatter match1. Physicists have already measured the electron to high precision; matching that for the positron has been harder1.
According to the American Physical Society, as cited by Wired, the apparatus could enable antimatter measurements about 30 times more precise than earlier work1. So far the experiment has not shown unexpected differences between the two particles1.
If later measurements found that a positron responded to magnetic fields differently than an electron, researchers would have to revise parts of the Standard Model description of matter and antimatter, Wired said1. Independent confirmation of the trapping duration and the 30-fold precision claim was not in the Wired account1.
