Gabrielse God of Antimatter Gerald Gabrielse Leverett Professor of Physics Harvard University Cambridge University Faraday Lecture 2 March 2006 time energy 0 1 Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low Plot the progress of a scientific career Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low Plot the progress of a scientific career Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low blastocyst Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low first scientific paper blastocyst Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low first scientific paper more papers blastocyst Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low first scientific paper more papers well known for successful research programs blastocyst Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low first scientific paper more papers well known for successful research programs first review paper blastocyst Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low first scientific paper more papers well known for successful research programs first review paper become department chair blastocyst Gabrielse Progression of a Scientific Career career success time high low first scientific paper more papers well known for successful research programs first review paper become department chair blastocyst speak about science and religion Gabrielse God of Antimatter Gerald Gabrielse Leverett Professor of Physics Harvard University Cambridge University Faraday Lecture 2 March 2006 Gabrielse We Are Made of Matter Gabrielse Particles of Matter and Antimatter: Opposite and Identical charge mass Only measurements tell how identical Gabrielse Matter and Antimatter Atoms Particle and antiparticle charges are opposite Both atoms are uncharged same charge uncharged atom uncharged anti-atom Gabrielse What Happens When Anti-Gabrielse Gabrielse Antimatter and Matter Gabrielse Meet? About to shake hands Gabrielse Huge Energy Release! energy released mass that disappears 200 kg Einsteins famous formula 100 kg Anti-Gabrielse 100 kg Gabrielse 5,000,000,000,000 kilowatt-hours Yearly output of 500 nuclear power plants Energy from 4200 Megatons of TNT Gabrielse Efficiency Annihilation 100 % Nuclear fission 0.1 % Nuclear fusion 0.1 % (or a bit higher) Chemical fuel % Annihilation 1000 times more bang for the gram compared to nuclear fuel Energy Source of the Future? No, certainly not Antimatter Weapons? No, certainly not Antimatter Rockets? Doubtful, maybe in distant future Gabrielse Antiproton Trapping and Annihilation Makes its Way Into Popular Culture Serious Play: Hapgood Author: Tom Stoppard Fiction best seller Star Trek antimatter powers the space ship Enterprise Gabrielse Should the Pope Have Worried? Missing detail: if all the antiprotons we have made in the history of the world were annihilated at the same time Not enough energy to boil a pot of tea Clearly the pope should have studied more science Gabrielse God of Antimatter Gerald Gabrielse Leverett Professor of Physics Harvard University Cambridge University Faraday Lecture 2 March 2006 Gabrielse One-Electron Quantum Cyclotron Tiny Accelerator Homemade Atom Suspend a single electron in a trap for more than 10 months only certain radii (i.e. certain energy levels) are ever realized time energy 0 1 Measure the energy (i.e. the radius) as a function of time Gabrielse Random Jumping Between Quantum State 0.1 m time energy 0 1 The electron jumps between two orbits of differing radius between its two lowest energy levels Gabrielse God of Antimatter Gerald Gabrielse Leverett Professor of Physics Harvard University Cambridge University Faraday Lecture 2 March 2006 Gabrielse Hands Metaphor (Thanks to my former Ph.D. student, Dr. Ching-Hua Tseng, for being my hands.) Gabrielse I Dont Know We badly need people of faith and people of science willing to say I dont know, rather than folks who are always certain