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Mesons Flip Between Matter and Antimatter

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the make-up-your-mind dept.

steve writes "A team of over 700 physicists at Fermilab's Tevatron accelerator have observed the B-sub-s meson oscillating between matter and antimatter states at 3 trillion times a second. From the Fermilab press release: 'Immediately after the Big Bang some 13 billion years ago, equal amounts of matter and antimatter formed. Much of it quickly acted to annihilate the other, but for little-understood reasons, a bit more matter than antimatter survived, providing the universe with the planets, stars and galaxies visible today.' The Standard Model predicted the oscillation, and Fermilab has been working for 19 years to confirm it. The announcement is good press for Fermilab, which is pushing Congress to build a new 18-mile-long International Linear Collider."

10 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Good thing this wasn't discovered in 2004 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    or Republicans would have resorted to calling these "Kerry particles"....

  2. Only a bit by 0racle · · Score: 5, Funny
    a bit more matter than antimatter survived, providing the universe with the planets, stars and galaxies visible today
    Did they just call the visible universe only a bit?
    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    1. Re:Only a bit by Snarfangel · · Score: 2, Funny

      Did they just call the visible universe only a bit?

      Compared to the multiverse, it's just a trifle.

      --
      This tagline is copyrighted material. Please send $10 for an affordable replacement.
  3. GiggityGiggityGiggityGiggityGiggity by Stanistani · · Score: 3, Funny

    I say this oscillation should be called the "Quagmire Effect."

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    You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
  4. I oscillate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    between (-1, Troll) and (5, Funny)

  5. Re:So logically this means that... by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scary? I don't think it would really matter....

  6. Antimatter Affecting Main Page by Chagatai · · Score: 4, Funny
    I think these mesons have caused some problems on the Slashdot main page. When looking at the article, I saw this:

    Science: Mesons Flip Between Matter and Antimatter 7 of 6 comments

    Someone must have snuck in an antimatter posting or something.

    --
    --Chag
  7. New terminology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    B-sub-s Meson doesn't quite roll off the tongue in the press release.

    Since these Mesons flip between matter and anti-matter regularly, I propose calling them...

    Freemesons.

  8. Re:Destined to become politicians by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 2, Funny

    Silly AC, everyone knows that morons are the binding particles exchanged by the neutron, vice-neutrons, and assistant-vice-neutrons in the core of an Administratium atom.

  9. Re:Enough with the big colliders already! by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...levies...
    You want money spent on working out how to tax people more?
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