Scientist at the Tevatron Particle Accelerator at Fermi lab. Seem to have made a step in the direction to explaining how our universe came to be filled with stuff.
Why is this a problem? I mean isn't it obvious that there is stuff in the universe?
Well yes and no. While it is obvious that the universe contains matter. It isn't exactly clear why this should be.
After the big bang there would have been equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the early universe. This leads to a problem because when matter and antimatter come in to contact they annihilate. So why then is there lots of matter in the universe instead of nothing?
To attempt to answer this question. The team at Fermi lab smashed a few protons and antiprotons together and took a look at the results. What they saw was that there was a slight bias in the products of the collisions towards matter. About 1% actually, of matter over antimatter. This result still has to be reproduced and confirmed. But if it's true it has some neat implications.
First of all. The excess of matter was about 50% greater than that predicted by the standard model. If this result is correct. The standard model will have to be revised.
Secondly. This means that everything we see and everything that makes up the matter in the universe is just the tiny leftover remains of the big bang. This small piece of knowledge never ceases to blow my mind. Our entire universe, in all it's unimaginable size. Is but a small, consequential result of a minor asymmetry in a reaction that occurred more than 13 billion years ago. Humbling.
This is yet another example of why it is awesome to not know things in science. It provides the opportunity for investigation and discovery. Science is the light that shines out in a dark room to understand and discover how and why our universe is the way it is.
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