Protons on the move: a milestone in antimatter research!

Protons on the move: a milestone in antimatter research!

The BASE collaboration, which also includes Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), has achieved a significant breakthrough in proton research. On May 14, 2025, the transport of protons outside of a laboratory was successfully demonstrated. This happened as part of an innovative project that aims to enable the transport of antiprotons generated at CERN to high-precision laboratories such as those at HHU. Protons, as the fundamental building blocks of matter, are in a direct relationship to their antimatter counterpart, the antiproton.

The BASE collaboration explores differences between protons and antiprotons to address fundamental physics questions. Prof. Dr. Stefan Ulmer from HHU explained that due to the background noise at CERN, extremely high measurement accuracies are required, which are usually difficult to achieve. These challenges motivate the development of new technologies to advance precision research in the field of antimatter.

Innovative transport solutions

The center of this technological development is a transportable, superconducting Penning trap system called BASE-STEP. In autumn 2024, the loss-free transport of protons across the CERN site was successfully demonstrated. The system can also be equipped with mobile power generators, which enables the protons to be transported for longer periods.

The next step in this research project is the transport of antiprotons, which are produced and stored in the so-called antimatter factory (AMF) at CERN. One of the main advantages of this new transport method is the prospect of increased precision in antimatter research. Such successful transports could open up far-reaching opportunities for scientific discovery.

Measurement accuracy and research funding

So far, the BASE collaboration has made remarkable progress. In their measurements, they achieved an accuracy of 1.5 parts per billion when comparing protons and antiprotons. In addition, the collaboration conducted the most precise test of CPT invariance for baryons, representing another important step in fundamental research.

These significant advances were funded by an ERC grant that will enable the BASE collaboration to further develop its measurement methods and transport technologies. The collaboration itself was founded in 2013 and includes several international research institutes working together to explore the mysteries of antimatter.

Developments in the field of proton and antiproton research could not only further consolidate the physical fundamentals, but also promote new techniques and methods that will be important for future scientific questions. The research efforts of the BASE collaboration are further evidence of the potential that antimatter research has in physics.