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Isn't it possible that matter and antimatter coexist? Recently, the ALPHA experiment at CERN has been looking into this topic. And I read about it from Fermilab's website, so they are saying how our universe became matter-dominant. But on the contrary, isn't it possible that antimatter do exist along with matter...? I am looking for a simple explanation for this.

Presently, I am a layman in physics, so apologies if this question is not relevant. Thank you.

Below is the link to the article: https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/antimatter-falls-down?language_content_entity=und

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  • $\begingroup$ An analytical solution of what equation? If you're a layman in physics, do you know what QFT equations look like and would you be able to read such a solution? $\endgroup$
    – Miyase
    Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 4:50
  • $\begingroup$ I am sorry for phrasing the question confusing and i am not very familiar with QFT...What I am asking for is an explanation about why the option of coexistence of Matter and Antimatter crossed out? $\endgroup$
    – Curiosity_killing_me
    Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 5:11

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Of course, it's possible that matter and antimatter coexist. We live in a world with both matter and antimatter, after all. What is not possible is for a matter particle to come into contact with its antiparticle and still coexist - they will annihilate instead.

What this means is if you have an experiment made out of ordinary matter (protons, electrons, etc.) then it is very hard to conduct experiments on antimatter. You can make antimatter, but it is hard to store, because if it ever comes into contact with the experimental apparatus it will annihilate and disappear. This is why it took time for it to establish experimentally that antimatter falls down.

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  • $\begingroup$ as much as "contact" exists in QFT, isn't the scattering term of bhabba scattering an exception to them annihilating? maybe im just splitting hairs $\endgroup$
    – Señor O
    Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 6:24
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Since antimatter experiences gravity in the same way with matter it is hard for large amounts of antimatter to exist.So there must be a symmetry breaking mechanism present at high energies which makes matter dominate over antimatter.If antimatter existed in large portions the CBM would be much different than what is observed.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for answering. Would you kindly explain more about CMB? $\endgroup$
    – Curiosity_killing_me
    Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 5:19
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    $\begingroup$ CMB is the Cosmic Microwave Background ,by studying the wavelength of photons emitted from different regions of the Observable Universe we can learn a lot about it.Now of course due to the redshift of those photons due to the expansion of spacetime we observe them in the microwave range of frequencies.(Remember $c=\lambda f$.Since I know you like watching Fermilab videos watch these:youtube.com/watch?v=AYFDN2DSVgc&pp=ygUMQ01CIGZlcm1pbGFi and youtube.com/watch?v=ri2LIEjXhmE&pp=ygUMQ01CIGZlcm1pbGFi $\endgroup$
    – Cerise
    Commented Oct 5, 2023 at 5:33

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