--- title: "One positron, held for months: Northwestern physicists trap a single antimatter particle" description: "Northwestern researchers kept one antimatter particle suspended in a vacuum for months, and any mismatch with its ordinary twin would show that the…" url: https://tech.skoop.news/scientists-trapped-antimatter-particle-for-months-but-studyi-dca2c2/ published: 2026-10-26T03:59:32.040783-04:00 modified: 2026-10-26T03:59:32.040792-04:00 section: "Tech & Apps" publisher: "skoop.news" language: en keywords: ["Big Bang", "Physical Review Letters", "Gerald Gabrielse", "Northwestern University", "Standard Model", "CPT", "Penning"] hashtags: ["#BigBang", "#PhysicalReviewLetters", "#GeraldGabrielse", "#tech", "#ai"] image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Smartphone_Use.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled --- # One positron, held for months: Northwestern physicists trap a single antimatter particle > Northwestern researchers kept one antimatter particle suspended in a vacuum for months, and any mismatch with its ordinary twin would show that the Standard Model is incomplete. Published 2026-10-26 · Updated 2026-10-26 · Tech & Apps, [skoop.news](https://skoop.news/) ## In brief - A team of physicists trapped a single antimatter particle for months. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) - Antimatter is hard to study because it is destroyed on contact with ordinary matter. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) - The source of the positrons was sodium-22, a radioactive isotope whose decay emits positrons with great energy. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) ## What happened A team of physicists trapped a single antimatter particle for months. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) The work was done by researchers at Northwestern University, and the findings were published in Physical Review Letters. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) Gerald Gabrielse is the lead researcher on the experiment. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) The particle is a positron, the antimatter counterpart of the electron. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) The two have exactly the same mass, but their electric charges are opposite. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) ## Why antimatter is hard to hold Antimatter is hard to study because it is destroyed on contact with ordinary matter. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) It explodes when it meets ordinary matter. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) Any container with walls would therefore end the experiment. The team avoided walls entirely. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) They suspended the positron in a Penning trap, which uses electric and magnetic fields to hold a particle in the middle of an empty, nearly perfect vacuum. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) The device is called a one-positron quantum cyclotron, and it keeps the particle floating without touching anything. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) ## Catching and cooling the particle The source of the positrons was sodium-22, a radioactive isotope whose decay emits positrons with great energy. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) The researchers first caught a particle as it shot out of the radioactive material. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) Slowing it enough to catch it was the hardest part of the experiment. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) Once caught, the particle was cooled to 0.3 degrees above absolute zero. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) The trap was chilled to about the same temperature. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) Loading a positron takes 8 to 11 hours with the team's simple, low-intensity source. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) ## Controlling the quantum states The cold lets the team control the particle's quantum states precisely without touching it. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) The experiment put the positron into its lowest possible energy state. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) That allowed scientists to control it for months without destroying it. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) The team used tuned microwaves to move the positron up its energy ladder and flip its spin. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) The size of the frequency shifts indicated that only one positron was in the trap. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) Physicists manipulated its quantum states one jump at a time. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) Keeping the particle for months lets the researchers repeat measurements. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) Physicists have made very precise measurements with electrons, but reaching the same precision with positrons has proven more difficult. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) ## What a mismatch would mean Mathematics predicts that every particle of matter has an equivalent antiparticle, and scientists have verified this experimentally. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) The Standard Model predicts that electrons and positrons should be perfect mirror images, a principle known as CPT symmetry. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) A mismatch between the magnetic moments of the electron and positron would show that the theory is incomplete. [[3]](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) The study aims to learn whether antimatter behaves differently than the matter it mirrors. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) Almost everything observed is made of ordinary matter, and the reason is still unknown. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) Under the Big Bang theory, matter and antimatter should have wiped each other out billions of years ago. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) The Big Bang should have created equal amounts of both, yet nearly everything is regular matter, and this result could help address that. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) Scientists have increasingly doubted the Big Bang theory and have theorized that the universe may have been created by a bounce inside a black hole. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) ## What it means for you If you follow particle physics, the number to watch is the comparison between the electron and positron measurements. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) Gabrielse said current theories suggest there will be no difference between the two measurements. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) He said that if the two are not equal, it would be the biggest discovery in physics in the last century. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) So far the antimatter has not acted any differently than a normal electron. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) The experiment has not revealed any unexpected differences between the two particles. [[2]](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) The full findings are in Physical Review Letters. [[1]](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) ## Sources 1. [Scientists trapped antimatter particle for months -- but studying it without blowing up lab was a challenge](https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/us-news/scientists-trap-antimatter-particle-for-months-with-crazy-tech-to-avoid-blowing-up-lab/) — New York Post 2. [Scientists Trapped an Antimatter Particle for Months to Study Its Secrets](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-trapped-an-antimatter-particle-for-months-to-study-its-secrets/) — Wired 3. [Physicists Hold Single Antimatter Particle for Months and Control Its Quantum States](https://www.sci.news/physics/one-positron-quantum-cyclotron-15147.html) — Sci.News Image: Photo (illustrative): Océanos y dados / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smartphone_Use.jpg) --- Written from the sources above and checked twice (rules and an independent model) before publishing. How we work: https://skoop.news/how-we-work/ · Corrections: https://skoop.news/corrections/