Chamber Magnet: 1.50 Tesla Solenoid
Detector: Silicon Pixel & Calorimeter
| Particle | Valence Quarks | Charge | Baryon B |
|---|
Standard Model Conservation: As reported by Science Magazine, a core law in high-energy physics dictates that whenever a collision creates a baryon (like a proton uud or neutron udd, with 3 quarks), it must simultaneously produce an antibaryon (3 antiquarks).
Quarks carry a fractional baryon quantum number B = +1/3, while antiquarks carry B = -1/3. Mesons (pairs of 1 quark and 1 antiquark) carry B = 0. Hence, total baryon number is strictly conserved across all known strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions: ΔB = 0.
The Baryon Asymmetry Problem: If matter and antimatter were produced in exactly equal quantities at the Big Bang, all matter would have eventually encountered antimatter and annihilated into pure photons, leaving a radiation-dominated cosmos with no atoms, stars, or humans.
Instead, our universe exhibits a persistent net baryon surplus of ~1 baryon per 109 photons. Explaining why this nuclear matter supply is fixed requires hypothetical physics beyond the Standard Model.
In 1967, Andrei Sakharov formulated three necessary conditions for dynamical Baryogenesis from an initially symmetric early universe:
- B-violation: Interactions that do not conserve baryon number (
ΔB ≠ 0). - C and CP violation: Asymmetry between particle and antiparticle decay rates.
- Departure from Thermal Equilibrium: Prevents inverse reactions from washing out the produced baryon surplus.