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Northwestern traps positron, achieving 10,000× magnetic precision

By Drooid · Oct 22, 2026, 12:08 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Gerald Gabrielse at Northwestern University suspended a positron in mid-air and cooled it to its lowest energy state.
The team built a one-positron quantum cyclotron to probe the particle’s magnetic properties.
The experiment will compare electron and positron magnetic moments with ten-thousand-times greater precision.
A detected mismatch could revolutionize understanding of matter-antimatter asymmetry.
The team slowed fast positrons from radioactive decay using tungsten crystal scattering before trapping the slower survivors.

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Story summary

Gerald Gabrielse at Northwestern University suspended a positron in mid-air and cooled it to its lowest energy state.
The team built a one-positron quantum cyclotron to probe the particle’s magnetic properties.
The experiment will compare electron and positron magnetic moments with ten-thousand-times greater precision.
A detected mismatch could revolutionize understanding of matter-antimatter asymmetry.
The team slowed fast positrons from radioactive decay using tungsten crystal scattering before trapping the slower survivors.