New data collected with the help of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) comes with new information about the interactions between particles that are located in the cores of neutron stars. Physicists can harness the data to learn more about the violation of fundamental symmetries.
Precision measurements have shown that the binding energy which links the parts that constitute hypertriton, a simple strange-matter nucleus, is more intense than in the case of previous experiments.
It is thought that the new values could have a significant impact, offering the opportunity to understand better the processes which power neutron stars, as quarks tend to be encountered quite often. A different measurement targeted the difference between hypertriton and anti-hypertriton.
The observation of the mass difference between antimatter partners would be an important milestone since it may prove a simultaneous violation of three fundamental symmetries: the reversal of charge, parity, and time.
The Link Between Symmetry Violations And Neutron Stars
Violations of charge and parity have been noticed in the past, but a full CPT violation has remained elusive. While some thought about the possibility, the required technology hasn’t been available until recently. Previous research focused on helium-3, and antihelium-3 has shown that there are no distinctive mass differences.
Even in the case of the current study, the results infer that there is no CPT violation. Yet, it is essential to highlight that the mere fact that the measurements could be made in the first place is quite impressive and proves that the detector created by the team is quite capable.
Normal matter nuclei will feature a proton and neutrons, with up and down quarks being present among each particle.
This is not the case hypertritons as one of the neutrons is swapped with a particle known as lambda, which contains a high –intensity quark besides the regular ones. An in-depth paper has been published in a scientific journal.
