CERN’s LHCb Detects First CP Violation in Baryons, Shedding Light on Matter–Antimatter Puzzle

The researchers used the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN for the first time, and found that charge parity (CP) violation in baryons, including particles like neutrons and protons that make up most of the universe’s visible matter. CP violation describes that nature treats antiparticles and particles slightly differently. This was seen in mesons only, the particles which are composed of a pair of quark-antiquark; further, it is important to explain that the universe is comprised of matter and not antimatter.

LHCb Detects 2.45% Asymmetry in Beauty–Lambda Baryon Decay

As per Live Science, this discovery is focused on the beauty-lambda baryon to a proton, two pions and a kaon. From 2009 to 2018, the data was analysed, which amounts to millions of decays and the counterparts of the antiparticle. However, they found a 2.45% asymmetry, which confirms the CP violation in baryons. The study was published in the journal Nature. This confirms the Standard Model prediction and leads to new physics.

CP violation was known in the 960s, first in kaons, then in the beauty mesons during 2001 and later in charm mesons during 2019. Baryons are made of three quarks, and remain enigmatic still. This CP violation directly tests the phenomenon’s universality with different types of particles and adds an important piece to the asymmetric antimatter mystery.

Breakthrough Offers New Clues to Matter–Antimatter Imbalance

However, the difference of 2.45% is not enough to determine the dominance of matter. We need to know the CP violation in baryons, which provides a promising and fresh direction in the search for physics. Scientists even found local asymmetry in decay channels specifically. This signals a rich substructure of deeper theory and exploration.

This research underscored CERN’s strength to probe basic symmetries at never-before-known precisions. Further, for 2030, the upgrades are scheduled, and there are large sets of data to be analysed with even more precise CP violation. This unlocks the new aspects of the universe and historical physics.