Antimatter and gravity

​

In a groundbreaking experiment, physicists have provided evidence that antimatter behaves just like regular matter in the presence of gravity, falling downward when dropped. The study, conducted at CERN, the particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, by Jeffrey Hangst and his team, used antihydrogen, an atom composed of antiprotons and positrons. This discovery is of fundamental importance as it affirms the equivalence of matter and antimatter in relation to gravity, a principle vital for the consistency of physics.

​

Gravity, being significantly weaker than other fundamental forces, poses a challenge when isolating its effects in the laboratory. However, Hangst and his collaborators managed to show that antimatter responds to gravity in the same way matter does, disproving the possibility that antimatter falls upwards, which would have had profound implications for the standard model of particle physics.

​

While the precision of this experiment is subject to further improvement, it marks a significant milestone. It has long been theorized that any deviation from this equivalence, if it exists at all, would be limited to less than 1%. Going beyond this threshold would not only challenge our understanding of gravitation but also the entire standard model of particle physics.

​

Several experiments are planned to enhance precision and delve deeper into the gravitational behavior of antimatter, including efforts to measure gravity acting on positronium, a short-lived particle made up of one electron and one positron, and experiments like AEgIS and GBAR at CERN. The ultimate goal is to understand why our universe is predominantly composed of matter rather than equal parts matter and antimatter, a central mystery in cosmology. [1] [2]