Almost all matter particles have corresponding particles of antimatter: Protons have antiprotons, neutrons have antineutrons, and so on. When matter and antimatter bump into each other they destroy each other and release energy. With carefully manipulated magnetic fields, however, it’s possible to trap particles of antimatter and prevent them from touching regular matter, allowing researchers to study them.&nbsp;A <a href="https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/what-a-trapped-antimatter-particle-could-tell-us-about-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">group of antimatter experts recently</a> reported that they had <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/gbkc-6nlj" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">trapped and held a positron</a> (an antielectron) in a vacuum at ultra-cold temperatures for months, creating what they called “a one-positron quantum cyclotron.” That advance allowed them to study the positron’s quantum properties. They hope to learn whether the positron is indeed an exact opposite of an electron, or if there are tiny physical differences between them. Antimatter wrangler Gerald Gabrielse joins Flora to describe the project, and why researchers care about the properties of antimatter.Guest:Dr. Gerald Gabrielse is a Board of Trustees Professor in Physics at Northwestern University.Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at <a href="https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/what-a-trapped-antimatter-particle-could-tell-us-about-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sciencefriday.com</a>.
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