How to Tell Matter From Antimatter | CP Violation & The Ozma Problem
1,127,283
Published 2020-02-26
Support MinutePhysics on Patreon! www.patreon.com/minutephysics
Link to Patreon Supporters: www.minutephysics.com/supporters/
This video is about the Ozma problem of distinguishing the chirality (ie left-handedness or right-handedness) of matter using weak interaction processes like beta decay (for example in uranium), or neutral kaon/k-meson decay. This is wrapped up in the phenomenon of CP violation, by which charge and parity are both violated by certain weak interaction processes - this enables antimatter to be unambiguously distinguished from matter, and left handed chirality from right handed.
REFERENCES
The Ozma Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Project
www.seti.org/seti-institute/project/details/early-…
Sean Carroll on CP Symmetry (& why we shouldn’t trot out baryogenesis all the time)
www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2010/06/04/marke…
Electroweak CP Violation on Scholarpedia
www.scholarpedia.org/article/CPviolationinelectrow…
The Wu Experiment
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuexperiment
Martin Gardner, The New Ambidextrous Universe
books.google.com/books?id=kdLGa8cPPUC&lpg=PP1&pg=P…
Lecture notes on CP Violation and the CKM Matrix, Cambridge (Mark Thomson)
www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/thomson/lectures/partIIIpart…
Homochirality
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homochirality
L-glucose (vs D-glucose)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-Glucose
Radioactive Nucleus Decay
www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/RadioactiveSer…
CP Violation in Semi-Leptonic Decays (SEE PAGE 426 for reference to definition of MATTER)
www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/thomson/lectures/partIIIpart…
Kaon Decay Modes
pdg.lbl.gov/2012/listings/rpp2012-list-K-zero-L.pd…
Flipped bowling Jesus scene in Big Lebowski
• The Big Lebowski Jesus Scene (HD 720p)
Isotopes of Uranium
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopesofuranium
Beta Decay
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betadecay
The Wu Experiment
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuexperiment
Kaons
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaon
CP Violation in Symmetry Magazine
www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/charge-parity-vio…
Physics Stack Exchange on CP Violation
physics.stackexchange.com/questions/160511/what-cp…
MinutePhysics is on twitter - @minutephysics
And facebook - facebook.com/minutephysics
And Google+ (does anyone use this any more?) - bit.ly/qzEwc6
Minute Physics provides an energetic and entertaining view of old and new problems in physics -- all in a minute!
Created by Henry Reich
All Comments (21)
-
I guess this is how we should teach our children what is left and what is right. "Simply build an particle accelerator".
-
Humans: Turn left Anti-Alien: Turns left Humans: no no no... the other left.
-
"simply, build a particle accelerator."
-
Me: "turn to the left" Alien: turns right Me: Jimmy we've discussed this already. Do we have to visit a particle accelerator again?
-
We're having a hard time finding evidence of alien life in general and MinutePhysics over here is discussing the ramifications of addressing left/right to anti-aliens.
-
I understood the anti-version of this video, so when I watched it my understanding was annihilated
-
1:18 "Not knowing left and right could impair intergalactic culinary relations" This is of upmost importance.
-
3:57 "simply build a particle accelerator" what a flex
-
minutephysics: "simply build a particle accelerator" me: ?!
-
* Alien visits earth * Alien: "Du you know the way to the White House?" Human: "Well, do you know kaons...?"
-
"So you guys just have to look at the 20.1% decay" "Oh.. got it! 1.02% thanks!"
-
"Simply build a particle accelerator" Can I get one at Ikea? And how many part(ticle)s does it consist of? Must be one hell of manual.
-
"Everything mirrors perfectly except for this one thing" ... ... ....why....?
-
I don't think we have ever produced an antimatter uranium atom. So, it's a prediction that anti U-239 would produce right handed anti-electrons that needs to be tested and verified, not a fact. That's important, after all, the CP-symmetry violation was a shock for physicists in the 1960s.
-
7 year old me: Mom how to distinguish left from right? Mom who also happens to be a physicist: Just build a particle accelerator...
-
Perfect. Now that I know how to tell matter from antimatter, I'll never run the risk of accidentally annihilating myself, so long as I have a FRIKIN PARTICLE ACCELERATOR IN MY POCKET!
-
God might play dice, but he's really particular about his chirality, it seems.
-
"Enter the K-on." And thus, moe was scientifically proven.
-
Scientist A: "Do you know what's the difference between Matter and Anti-matter?" Scientist B: *shrugs * Scientist A: "Neither do I, but it doesn't matter."
-
Whenever I feel burnt out and feel like science has become tiring, minute physics seems to always pull me back in His explanation and his videos make me feel at home (at my sciencey home) Just sharing
