CERN successfully transports antimatter for first time in historic breakthrough

In a groundbreaking milestone for particle physics, CERN scientists successfully transported antiprotons by road this Tuesday, marking the first-ever test of a mobile antimatter delivery system.

The transportation of 92 antiprotons took place in a specially designed bottle that traps the particles using magnetic fields. During the 30-minute journey, antiparticles were safely shifted to a location free from experimental noise where they can be studied precisely.

They were cooled to -268 Celsius to slow them down, while a strong vacuum system ensures they do not annihilate by colliding with the residual gas in the trap.

This achievement paves the way for a future where antimatter, which is notoriously difficult to contain, can be distributed to research facilities throughout Europe.

“It is something humanity has never done before, it is historic, marking the starting point to a new era” said Stefan Ulmer, a physicist at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), in Germany, and member of the team.

Another physicist at the University of Liverpool, Tara Shears called this achievement a “technological marvel” as the antimatter is considered the most fragile type of matter in the universe. When it comes into contact with normal matter, the antiprotons annihilate and release energy.

Antimatter is helpful in studying other phenomena, including the structure of radioactive nuclei and to unravel the unexplored mysteries of the Universe.

The next step for the project, known as BASE-STEP, will include delivering the cargo to another CERN location.

“For the BASE collaboration, today is really the starting point for entirely new types of experiments,” Ulmer said.

“It’s one of the most fundamental mysteries in our subject, and I hope precise measurements on CERN antimatter samples can give us new clues,” Shears added.