Observation of an Antimatter Hypernucleus
Nuclear collisions recreate conditions in the universe microseconds after 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 - composed of an antiproton, antineutron, and antilambda hyperon - produced by colliding gold nuclei at high energy. Our analysis yields 70 {+-} 17 antihypertritons ({sub {bar {Lambda}}}{sup 3}{bar H}) and 157 {+-} 30 hypertritons ({sub {Lambda}}{sup 3}H). The measured yields of {sub {Lambda}}{sup 3}H ({sub {bar {Lambda}}}{sup 3}{bar H}) and {sup 3}He ({sup 3}{ovr He}) are similar, suggesting an equilibrium in coordinate and momentum space populations of up, down, and strange quarks and antiquarks, unlike the pattern observed at lower collision energies. The production and properties of antinuclei, and nuclei containing strange quarks, have implications spanning nuclear/particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Nuclear Science Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 986223
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-3798E; SCEHDK; TRN: US1006599
- Journal Information:
- Science, Journal Name: Science; ISSN 0193-4511
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
A single particle energies
Production of strange clusters in relativistic heavy ion collisions