Ultrasensitive experiments on trapped antiprotons provide a window onto possible differences between matter and antimatter. Now they could also shed light on the identity of dark matter.
Tom Peterson loves hunting season. He spends his lunch hours scouting the best spots, and weekends lurking around the edges of Fermilab's ponds and moving as silently as he can through old fields.
Imagine a house-sized acrylic fishbowl inside a giant, shiny, disco-ball-like sphere, suspended in a cavern as tall as a 10-story building. Now imagine climbing around inside that pitch-dark fishbowl with a squeegee and a flashlight.
In 1991, James Cronin travelled to Leeds, England, to visit Alan Watson, an expert on cosmic-ray physics. Cronin, a Nobel Prize winner in physics who had worked on accelerator-based particle physics experiments, wanted to discuss ideas for cosmic-ray projects.
Look at the periodic table of elements, and youd be hard pressed to find an element that is not used in physics. But what are the most important elements for building accelerators, detecting particles, and solving the mysteries of the universe?