Saturday Morning Physics
Mirrors, Anti-Matter, & the Left-Handed World


Oct
03
2009

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  • Host Department: Physics
  • Date: 10/03/2009
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

  • Location: 170 & 182 Dennison Building

  • Description:

    Can you know whether you are looking at the world or its mirror reflection? Does any fundamental physical process break that symmetry to distinguish “right” from “left”? This simple question has a deep connection with the interactions of elementary particles and the nature of anti-matter. Professor Amidei will discuss some examples of right/left asymmetry in nature, explain how radioactivity shows the world to be intrinsically left-handed, and end with a puzzling new observation through the looking glass of high energy proton-antiproton collisions.