New Scientist Antimatter atoms captured for the first time

09:45 21 February 02

Antimatter atoms, among the most elusive matter in the Universe, have been captured for the first time.
According to the standard model of particle physics, every particle has a corresponding antiparticle with the same mass and opposite charge. The pair annihilate each other on contact, releasing a burst of energy.
Scientists have wondered if they can harness this energy, but they have found it difficult to make and control antiatoms. In the late 1990s, up to nine antihydrogen atoms were detected in particle accelerators at CERN and at Fermilab near Chicago. But they were moving at almost the speed of light - much too fast to be stored or studied.
Now researchers on the ATRAP experiment at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics near Geneva, think they have made and stored thousands of antiatoms indefinitely in a particle trap.