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Scientists trap and tame a single particle of antimatter for months
For the first time, Northwestern University physicists have coaxed a single positron — the antimatter counterpart of an electron — into an exquisitely controlled quantum state.
After capturing the fast-moving particle from radioactive decay, the scientists cooled it to nearly absolute zero. Then, they suspended the particle in a near-perfect vacuum, preventing it from touching ordinary matter — an encounter that would cause it to vanish.
By trapping and cooling a positron this way, the scientists created what they call a “one-positron quantum cyclotron.” In this state, the positron essentially behaves much like an artificial atom with quantum energy levels scientists can precisely control and observe.
A Quantum Cyclotron for Antimatter
Nearly 80 years ago, the discovery of an anomaly in the magnetic moment of the electron played a key role in the birth of quantum electrodynamics (QED). The electron magnetic moment has since become one of the most precisely measured properties of an elementary particle, providing stringent tests of the standard model of particle physics. The demonstration of an apparatus for measuring the magnetic moment of the electron’s antiparticle—the positron—could enable new and exceptionally precise fundamental tests. Now a team led by Gerald Gabrielse of Northwestern University in Illinois has realized the first one-positron quantum cyclotron, which can store an individual positron while manipulating its quantized cyclotron and spin states [1]. This achievement opens a path toward a 30-fold improvement in the measurement precision for the positron magnetic moment. Comparing the electron and positron magnetic moments would provide an exceptionally stringent test of CPT symmetry—a cornerstone of quantum field theory (QFT).
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'One-positron cyclotron' could test a key prediction of the Standard Model
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The positron is the antimatter counterpart of the electron, identical in mass but carrying an equal and opposite electric charge. Like the electron, it also behaves like a tiny bar magnet, and according to a key prediction of the Standard Model of particle physics, its magnetic moment should be exactly equal and opposite to the electron's.
Through new research published in Physical Review Letters, Gerald Gabrielse and colleagues at Northwestern University in Illinois have unveiled a promising new way to test this assumption, by trapping a single positron in a "quantum cyclotron."
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