Overview
CERN's BASE collaboration kept a single antiproton oscillating between quantum states for 50 seconds—long enough to create the world's first antimatter qubit. The breakthrough, published in Nature in July 2025, opens the door to measuring antiproton properties with 10 to 100 times more precision than before. It's not about building quantum computers. It's about answering why the universe exists at all.
The Big Bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, which would have annihilated each other into pure energy. Instead, one particle in every billion survived—and that's everything we see. Finding even tiny differences between protons and antiprotons could explain this cosmic imbalance, cracking open one of physics' deepest puzzles.
Key Indicators
People Involved
Organizations Involved
International team comparing protons and antiprotons to find asymmetries that could explain why matter dominates the universe.
The Antimatter Factory that produces and slows antiprotons for precision experiments.
Collaboration studying antihydrogen atoms to test matter-antimatter symmetry and gravity.
Japan's largest comprehensive research institution, hosting the Ulmer Fundamental Symmetries Laboratory.
Timeline
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First Antimatter Qubit Created
BreakthroughBASE maintains single antiproton in coherent quantum superposition for 50 seconds, published in Nature. First coherent spectroscopy of free antimatter particle.
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Rapid Cooling Method Developed
TechniqueBASE develops trap reducing antiproton cooling time from 15 hours to 8 minutes for faster, more precise measurements.
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Antimatter Falls Down
MeasurementALPHA-g collaboration publishes Nature paper showing antihydrogen falls under gravity like matter, ruling out repulsion theory.
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Sympathetic Cooling Breakthrough
TechniqueBASE demonstrates sympathetic cooling of protons, recognized as Physics World Top 10 Breakthrough of the Year.
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350x Precision Leap
MeasurementBASE breaks own record with antiproton magnetic moment measurement at 0.8 parts per million—more precise than proton.
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Most Precise CPT Test in Baryon Sector
MeasurementBASE publishes antiproton-to-proton charge-to-mass ratio measurement in Nature at 69 parts per trillion precision.
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BASE Measures Proton Magnetic Moment
MeasurementBASE collaboration achieves first direct high-precision proton measurement at 3.3 parts per billion fractional precision.
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Antimatter Factory Opens
InfrastructureCERN's Antiproton Decelerator begins operations, providing low-energy antiprotons to multiple experiments.
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CERN Approves Antiproton Decelerator
InfrastructureCERN Council approves conversion of antiproton collector into dedicated antimatter factory.
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Sakharov Conditions Published
TheoreticalAndrei Sakharov proposes three conditions necessary to explain matter-antimatter asymmetry, launching baryogenesis field.
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First Antimatter Discovered
ExperimentalCarl Anderson observes positron tracks in cloud chamber, confirming Dirac's prediction. Wins Nobel Prize in 1936.
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Dirac Predicts Antimatter
TheoreticalPaul Dirac's equation combining quantum theory and relativity predicts existence of antiparticles with opposite charge.
Scenarios
Asymmetry Found, New Physics Discovered
Discussed by: Theoretical physicists and BASE collaboration researchers
Improved precision measurements reveal tiny but definitive differences between proton and antiproton properties, violating CPT symmetry. This would require new physics beyond the Standard Model and could explain why matter survived the Big Bang. The discovery would trigger massive theoretical and experimental efforts to understand the mechanism, potentially involving new particles or forces. Nobel Prize territory.
Perfect Symmetry Confirmed, Puzzle Deepens
Discussed by: Mainstream physics community consensus
Even at 100x improved precision, protons and antiprotons remain identical within measurement uncertainty. CPT symmetry holds firm. This pushes the mystery elsewhere—perhaps to rare decay processes, neutrino physics, or conditions during cosmic inflation that aren't accessible through laboratory antimatter experiments. Research continues but the explanation remains elusive.
Antimatter Quantum Sensing Revolution
Discussed by: Applied physics researchers, metrology institutes
The antimatter qubit technique finds unexpected applications in ultra-precise timekeeping and fundamental constant measurements. While not solving the matter-antimatter puzzle directly, the technology enables new tests of physics at unprecedented precision levels. Other antimatter experiments adopt coherent spectroscopy methods, accelerating the field. Think atomic clocks, but for testing reality's edge cases.
Historical Context
Discovery of CP Violation (1964)
1964-1980What Happened
James Cronin and Val Fitch discovered that neutral kaons decay differently than their antimatter counterparts, violating charge-parity symmetry. This was the first experimental proof that nature's laws treat matter and antimatter differently. The discovery earned them the 1980 Nobel Prize and showed that asymmetry between matter and antimatter exists in nature.
Outcome
Short term: Shocked the physics community and validated the possibility that matter-antimatter asymmetry could be explained by fundamental laws, not just initial conditions.
Long term: Became a cornerstone of modern cosmology, but the observed CP violation is far too small to explain the universe's matter dominance, driving searches for additional sources.
Why It's Relevant
BASE's precision measurements search for CP and CPT violations in baryons that could provide the missing explanation for why we exist.
Higgs Boson Discovery (2012)
1960s-2012What Happened
Peter Higgs and others predicted a field giving particles mass in the 1960s. CERN's Large Hadron Collider found the Higgs boson in 2012 after a decades-long search requiring unprecedented detector precision and data analysis. The discovery confirmed the Standard Model's final missing piece, earned Higgs and François Englert the 2013 Nobel Prize.
Outcome
Short term: Validated the Standard Model and demonstrated that massive, coordinated experiments can find predicted particles decades after theorists propose them.
Long term: Completed the Standard Model but highlighted what it can't explain—including matter-antimatter asymmetry, dark matter, and dark energy.
Why It's Relevant
Like the Higgs search, BASE pursues a decades-long precision measurement program to test theoretical predictions. But where Higgs validated the Standard Model, BASE might break it.
Trapped Ion Quantum Computing (1990s-present)
1995-2025What Happened
Researchers developed techniques to trap individual ions with electromagnetic fields and manipulate their quantum states, achieving coherence times extending to hours. These systems became leading candidates for quantum computers due to their stability and precision control. Current record coherence times exceed 5,500 seconds for ytterbium ions.
Outcome
Short term: Demonstrated that quantum states can be maintained far longer than initially thought possible with proper isolation and control.
Long term: Enabled both quantum computing development and ultra-precise measurements of fundamental physics, with trapped ion techniques now standard in metrology.
Why It's Relevant
BASE adapted trapped ion techniques for antiprotons, using Penning traps to create the antimatter qubit. The 50-second coherence time proves antimatter can be controlled with similar quantum precision.