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Saturday, July 2, 2011

A step closer to explaining our existence

Fred Ullrich / Fermilab

Confidence is growing in results from a particle physics experiment at the Tevatron collider that may help explain why the universe is full of matter.

By John Roach

Why are we here? It remains one of the largest unexplained mysteries of the universe, but particle physicists are gaining more confidence in a result from an atom smashing experiment that could be a step toward providing an answer.

We exist because the universe is full of matter and not the opposite, so-called antimatter. When the Big Bang occurred, equal parts of both should have been created and immediately annihilated each other, leaving nothing leftover to build the stars, planets and us.

Thankfully, it didn't happen that way. There's an asymmetry between matter and antimatter. Why this is remains inadequately explained, Stefan Soldner-Rembold, a co-spokesman for the particle physics experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory  outside of Chicago, told me on Thursday.

"We are looking for a larger asymmetry than we currently know in the best theories in physics, which is called the standard model," said Soldner-Rembold, who is based at the University of Manchester in England.

Using the Fermilab's Tevatron collider, members of the DZero experiment are smashing together protons and their antiparticle, called antiprotons, which are perfectly symmetric in terms of matter and antimatter, he explained.

Read More: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/01/6992664-a-step-closer-to-explaining-our-existence

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