University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: (519) 888-4567 ext 32215
Fax: (519) 746-8115
Antimatter was predicted 80 years ago by Paul Dirac. While work with anti-particles is now commonplace, antimatter atoms have only been produced at low energies in the last decade. In fall 2010, the ALPHA experiment, an international project based at CERN with significant Canadian involvement, demonstrated trapping of antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic âEURoebottleâEUR for 0.2 second. In June 2011, the group showed that they can confine antihydrogen for as long as 1000 seconds. These achievements are opening up new opportunities to address some of the most fundamental questions in physics: does antimatter shine in the same colour as matter? Does antimatter fall to the ground in the same way as the matter does? This lecture will describe how we make, trap, and study antihydrogen atoms with the ALPHA experiment at CERN, with some emphasis on important roles Canadian students are playing in this exciting project.
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.