Download - Antimatter: It Matters by Alex Elizabeth Heart

Image: NASA

Antimatter: It Mattersby Alex Elizabeth Heart

Alex Elizabeth Heart

What is Antimatter?

Image: Professor Gerald Gabrielse


Gabrielse

The Big Bang

• 15 million years ago the universe was born• First moment of the big bang extreme heat

enforced homogeneity of energy• Less than 1 nanosecond old energy coalesced

symmetrically into equal amounts of matter and antimatter


Symmetry Problem

Alex Elizabeth Heart Image: Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man

• Equal amounts of matter and antimatter came into existence

• Matter and antimatter annihilate each other completely

• We cease to exist

Image: Virginia Tech

Searching for Asymmetry• B mesons are especially heavy particles• By studying their rate of decay, science hopes to unveil asymmetry• This could help explain why matter exists


Leptogenesis

• Leptogenesis explains the asymmetry of matter and antimatter

• “…very heavy neutrinos morphed into a shower of antineutrinos. The antineutrinos pulled the lepton side of the see-saw down; the amount of ordinary matter had no choice but to increase.”


Image: NASA

After the Big Bang


Image: Education Closet

Key Discoveries

Each is essential to account for where our knowledge of antimatter is at today


Image: Cover Junction

Albert Einstein


Image: United States Public Domain

Paul Dirac


Image: Caltech Archives

Carl Anderson


Image: Isaac Asimov

Science Fiction Influence

• Seetee Stock • I, Robot• Star Trek


Image: Star Trek

Star Trek


Image: NASA

Antimatter as a Fuel?

“If an idea does not sound absurd there is no hope for it” –Albert Einstein


Radiation Therapy

High energy radiation to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells

Alex Elizabeth Heart Image: SoftPedia

Antiprotons vs. Other Particles


• Photons: damage healthy cells going in and out of the body

• Protons: damage healthy cells going in but not out of the body

• Antiprotons: same as protons with more concentrated energy deposition and more accurate

Energy Deposition

Alex Elizabeth Heart Image: Lewis, R. A., Smith, G. A., & Howe, S. D.

Accuracy

Alex Elizabeth Heart Image: ECAA.org

Image cc

Antimatter is Expensive

• NASA Estimates that it costs $62.5 trillion to produce 1 gram of antimatter


Let’s Improve

• More facilities need to focus on making antiprotons and better methods need to be identified.

• According to Kalogeropoulos & Muratore "Antiprotons are the best particles for [cancer] therapy" (1989)


Download - Antimatter: It Matters by Alex Elizabeth Heart

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