Nuria Rius
Professor at the University of Valencia, member of the SOM – Flavor and Origin of Matter research group and director of the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), University of Valencia - CSIC
The first observation of an asymmetry between matter and antimatter in baryons by the LHCb collaboration at CERN is a fundamental discovery. This asymmetry had already been found in other types of particles, called mesons, which are composed of two quarks. The current theoretical framework describing particles and their interactions, called the Standard Model, predicts that this asymmetry should also be observed in baryons, which are composed of three quarks. However, it had not been discovered until now. This is therefore a pioneering result, which confirms our theory about the fundamental laws of nature and also represents a first step towards new, even more precise experimental measurements in the future, which may help us to uncover new physics.
This discovery also has large-scale implications. Our universe initially contained equal amounts of matter and antimatter, but in its evolution only galaxies, stars, planets, etc., made up of matter, have remained. Thus, it is possible that the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the interactions of subatomic particles such as baryons is responsible for the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the entire universe.