LHCb Experiment Observes New Matter-Antimatter Difference 129
An anonymous reader writes "Matter and antimatter are thought to have existed in equal amounts at the beginning of the Universe, but today the Universe appears to be composed essentially of matter. By studying subtle differences in the behavior of particles and antiparticles, experiments at the LHC are seeking to cast light on this dominance of matter over antimatter. Now the LHCb experiment has observed a preference for matter over antimatter known as CP-violation in the decay of neutral B0s particles. The results are based on the analysis of data collected by the experiment in 2011."
Re:equal amounts at the beginning of the Universe (Score:2, Interesting)
My theory is, that matter and antimatter did exist in equal amounts. Matter travels one direction in time, antimatter travels the other direction. So the two forms of matter headed of in different temporal directions, and the original matter and antimatter will never meet. Antimatter can be created in high energy interactions though, which explains why there is some around, but that isn't the original antimatter.
Re:equal amounts at the beginning of the Universe (Score:5, Interesting)
/sarcasm. Right, the universe just spontaneous came into existence.
From the Laws of Thermal Dynamics we know energy can not be created nor destroyed.
Einstein showed us all Matter is Energy.
Therefore the Universe has ALWAYS existed in one form or another.
Q.E.D.
Indeed, the curvature of the universe corresponds to negative energy, which can make the energy budget zero. See "A universe from nothing" by Lawrence Krauss (talk [youtube.com] here) on why the energy budget can be zero.
One aspect in the big bang is that you can borrow energy from quantum mechanics if you give it back within a short time (the time needs to be shorter the more energy you borrow). Combine this with extremely fast inflation and you can run away with the energy you borrowed.
Re:equal amounts at the beginning of the Universe (Score:5, Interesting)
Matter and antimatter are thought to have existed in equal amounts at the beginning of the Universe
yes, both zero at the beginning.
Creation of matter from zero matter is a violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Not that I say that you are wrong, just that it doesn't seem likely that both are right.
The simple answer to that is that the second law of thermodynamics is a statistical law, not an absolute one. Entropy in a system can increase with time, but the overall trend is always for entropy to increase. You can see the universe as a temporary statistical blip.
The more accurate answer is to observe that there are issues with the understanding of time itself implied by your observation. On the usual model of the big bang, time itself came into existence at the big bang. Because there was no "before" the big bang, the rate of change of entropy is undefined at the point of the big bang -- it would be the gradient at a singularity, and there's no such thing, so the second law of thermodynamics is meaningless at that point. (And of course even that is a simplification, because phrases like "came into existence" assume time's arrow, which is pretty hotly disputed).