Published in Physics World, 6 Apr 2009
An international team of physicists has made the first theoretical estimation of the size of CP violation, a parameter that describes the difference between matter and antimatter. Their calculation matches experimental data, which suggests such data are typical of a fundamental framework and do not expose any underlying issues in the Standard Model of particle physics.
Besides energy, physicists think “stuff” comes in two forms: matter and antimatter. While most physicists believe that the Big Bang created equal amounts of both, the universe today is almost exclusively composed of matter and this discrepancy implies there should be a difference in behaviour between matter and antimatter. In the Standard Model of particle physics this is incorporated as a phenomenon known as charge–parity or “CP” violation. […]
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