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| BaBar (Physics World) - Wikipedia explains how it was named |
The BaBar collaboration has made the first direct observation of time-reversal (T) violation. The results are in agreement with the basic tenets of quantum field theory and reveal differences in the rates at which the quantum states of the B0meson transform into one another. The researchers say that this measured lack of symmetry is statistically significant and consistent with indirect observations.
The BaBar detector at the PEP-II facility at SLAC in California was designed to study the collisions of electrons and positrons and to determine the differences between matter and antimatter. In particular, physicists working on the experiment are interested in the violation of the charge–parity symmetry (or CP violation). Although the detector was decommissioned in the spring of 2008, data collected during the period of operation continue to be analysed.
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