Observation of an Antimatter Hypernucleus
2010
Nuclear collisions recreate conditions in the universe
microsecondsafter the
Big Bang. Only a very small fraction of the emitted fragments are light nuclei, but these states are of fundamental interest. We report the observation of antihypertritons-comprising an
antiproton, an
antineutron, and an antilambda
hyperon-produced by colliding gold nuclei at high energy. Our analysis yields 70 +/- 17 antihypertritons (3/
Lambda(H) over bar) and 157 +/- 30
hypertritons((3)(
Lambda)H). The measured yields of (3)(
Lambda)H (3/
Lambda(H) over bar) and (3)He ((3)(He) over bar) are similar, suggesting an equilibrium in coordinate and momentum space populations of up, down, and
strange quarksand antiquarks, unlike the pattern observed at lower collision energies. The production and properties of antinuclei, and of nuclei containing
strange quarks, have implications spanning nuclear and
particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.
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