Sizing up Exotic Nuclei with Radioactive Molecules

Abstract

Sizing up Exotic Nuclei with Radioactive MoleculesNew research shows that radioactive molecules can be used to study the variation in the shapes and sizes of exotic nuclei that are particularly sensitive to fundamental symmetry violations.By Jaideep Taggart Singh B ecause matter and antimatter show near-perfect symmetry with respect to the laws of physics as we know them, physicists expect that equal amounts of matter and antimatter were present in the early Universe. But the concordance of ever more precise astronomical and cosmological observations indicates that the visible Universe is completely dominated by matter, with hardly any antimatter anywhere. What caused the preponderance of matter?