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Physics Guy@physicsguyA one-positron cyclotron could put a core Standard Model prediction to the test.
Positrons, antimatter versions of electrons, act like tiny magnets, and the model expects their magnetism to match the electron's in strength but reverse in sign.
Physics Guy@physicsguyNorthwestern University physicists have trapped a single positron, the antimatter twin of the electron, for months. They used electric and magnetic fields to freeze it in place.
Antimatter vanishes on contact with ordinary matter, so the team built a wall-free trap from batteries and magnets. Comparing the positron's magnetic properties with an electron's could expose a flaw in the Standard Model.
The team hopes the results will help solve a puzzle: the Big Bang should have made equal amounts of matter and antimatter.
