The physics of Angels and Demons: Antihydrogen and antimatter physics

Authors

Lawrence Gene C. Posada ⋅ JP Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo

Abstract

In the book Angels and Demons, author Dan Brown narrates the detective story of a secret society which steals one gram of antimatter from CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) and brings it to the Vatican to be used as a weapon. Are we in danger? What is true? What is fiction?
In this talk for a general audience interested in physics, I will start with a brief overview about the theory of antimatter and the history of the discovery of antiparticles. In particular, I will attempt to answer the following questions:
· Can antimatter be produced?
· How is antimatter produced?
· Is antimatter the energy source of the future?
· Can it be used as a weapon?
· Why are scientists interested in antimatter?
I will also give a short status report about one field of antimatter physics, namely antihydrogen research and the physics questions we want to answer.

Downloads

Issue

2005: Proceedings of the 23rd Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Congress

Article ID

SPP-2005-INV-ST-01

Section

Invited Presentations

Published

2005-10-26

How to Cite

[1]

LGC Posada, The physics of Angels and Demons: Antihydrogen and antimatter physics, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 23, SPP-2005-INV-ST-01 (2005). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/SPP-2005-INV-ST-01.