Antimatter -- The Contemporary Popular Science Classics Series, The Philosopher's Stone

Author: Gordon Fraser, translated by Jiang Xiangdong, Huang Yanhua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features:
Recently, physicists at CERN created the first true anti-matter atoms, a thrilling announcement that immediately stunned the scientific community. In the everyday world, anti-matter does not exist. However, at the beginning of the universe's creation, anti-matter might have been just as important as matter. Yet now, the universe seems to consist only of matter and no anti-matter. What's going on? Faced with the strange anti-matter—something that can vaporize a person instantly with as little as less than 10^-18 grams—don't you find it incredibly fascinating? As early as 1928, physicist Dirac predicted the existence of anti-matter in a mirror world, where the charge of particles is opposite to that of ordinary matter. This prediction was soon confirmed at the quantum scale; electrons correspond to positrons, and protons correspond to anti-protons. This book vividly and clearly explains how the science fiction of anti-matter transformed into a scientific reality. The authors avoid using complex or difficult professional language or equations, instead introducing the world of anti-matter from the mirror world in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Through the concept of mirror symmetry in physics, they gradually reveal the properties of anti-matter. At the same time, they describe how the construction and operation of large particle accelerators in Europe and the United States have provided new clues for studying its properties, and how the discovery of anti-particles at the quantum scale has become increasingly exciting.
Recently, European nuclear physicists created the first true anti-matter atoms, a thrilling announcement that immediately stunned the scientific community. In the everyday world, anti-matter does not exist. However, at the beginning of the universe's creation, anti-matter might have been just as important as matter. Yet now, the universe seems to consist only of matter and no anti-matter. What's going on? Faced with the strange anti-matter—something that can vaporize a person instantly with as little as less than 10^-18 grams—don't you find it incredibly fascinating? As early as 1928, physicist Dirac predicted the existence of anti-matter in a mirror world, where the charge of particles is opposite to that of ordinary matter. This prediction was soon confirmed at the quantum scale; electrons correspond to positrons, and protons correspond to anti-protons. This book vividly and clearly explains how the science fiction of anti-matter transformed into a scientific reality. The authors avoid using complex or difficult professional language or equations, instead introducing the world of anti-matter from the mirror world in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Through the concept of mirror symmetry in physics, they gradually reveal the properties of anti-matter. At the same time, they describe how the construction and operation of large particle accelerators in Europe and the United States have provided new clues for studying its properties, and how the discovery of anti-particles at the quantum scale has become increasingly exciting.