Scientists able to (sort of) capture the sound of antimatter

A recent paper published as part of the LHCb collaboration at CERN details two particles changing from matter into antimatter and back again. An interesting subject to read up on, but what makes this study particularly fascinating is that the group took the extra step in converting the data into sound so that we can actually hear what both states sound like. 

For those unfamiliar with the topic, it is important to understand that for every fundamental particle, there is a corresponding antiparticle. The latter shares the same mass as the former, but qualities like electric charges are opposite from one another.

Furthermore, most particles exist only as matter or antimatter, but some possess the ability to switch back and forth between these two states. B₀ and B₀ s are an example — they oscillate between matter and antimatter at a rate of up to 3 million times per second.

The group wanted to hear what this flip-flopping, if you will, sounded like, but with such a high frequency, they determined that the pitch would be much too high for the human ear to hear. So, in order to make it audible, they slowed down the frequency millions of times so that we can hear what the oscillations and, thus, antimatter actually sound like.

For the science fiction fans out there, you’re probably familiar with the notion that antimatter is what powers the warp drives of all futuristic spaceships. So getting to hear antimatter (and I know I’m stretching with this one) is the closest we’ve ever gotten to hearing what warp drive actually sounds like. 

OK, back to the video: A blue box moves from left to right, depicting the area of the graph you can hear. At first there’s a whole lot of white noise, which is just random background fluctuations of particles in the LHCb detector (still pretty cool to hear). The two peaks in the graph, though, are where the oscillations take place. The first one is louder and depicts B₀ —B₀ matter to antimatter conversions. That’s followed up by some background noise before the B₀ s—B₀ s oscillations.

Worth noting: the B₀ s—B₀ s oscillations are experimentally more difficult to observe. That’s why they’re harder to hear.

Read the full paper: cds.cern.ch

Story via phys.org