THE decay patterns of subatomic particles are confirming physicists鈥� ideas
about how matter emerged from the big bang.
At Fermilab near Chicago, physicists have seen B mesons decay less often than
their antimatter equivalents, violating a theory known as CP symmetry
(鈥淭he lopsided Universe鈥�, New 杏吧原创, 6 February, p 26).
This behaviour, which has previously been observed in particles called kaons,
could help explain why all the matter in the early Universe was not annihilated
by antimatter. 鈥淚t鈥檚 telling us that probably the standard model is holding
together,鈥� says Joel Heinrich of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,
who took part in the experiment.
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