Iterbium, perfect for parity analysis

2009/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

The disintegration of elementary particles is not always symmetrical, since in the processes controlled by electromotive force, matter and antimatery disintegrate at different speeds. This phenomenon is known as the absence of parity conservation, and understanding why it occurs is one of the major challenges in the field of particle physics today. Some physicists at the University of California have discovered the most obvious case that has been measured so far: they have seen that in an electronic transition of iterbium atoms parity is not preserved and that the effect is one hundred times greater than in any other known process. The discovery will greatly facilitate parity research.