理论上，反物质应当无处不在。数学预测，每一种物质粒子都有一种对应的反粒子，这一事实已通过实验得到验证。因此，宇宙中应当包含数量相近的物质与反物质，但我们观测到的几乎所有事物都是由普通物质构成的，而我们至今仍不知其缘由。
In theory, antimatter should be everywhere. Mathematics predicts that every particle of matter has an equivalent antiparticle, a fact that scientists have verified experimentally. The universe should therefore contain similar amounts of both, but almost everything we observe is made up of ordinary matter, and we still don’t know why.
实验室可以制造反物质粒子，但研究它们依然极其困难。当反粒子与普通物质接触时，两者会相互湮灭并释放能量。为防止研究设施发生爆炸，科学家利用真空室和电磁场将反粒子悬浮隔离。但这只能部分解决问题。研究这些粒子，尤其是在量子尺度上实验探究其行为，依然充满挑战。
It is possible to produce antimatter particles in laboratories, but studying them is still incredibly difficult. When an antiparticle comes into contact with ordinary matter, the two annihilate each other and release energy. To prevent research facilities from exploding, scientists use vacuum chambers and electromagnetic fields that suspend the antiparticles in isolation. But this only partially solves the problem. Studying these particles, especially experimenting with their behavior on a quantum scale, remains challenging.
在这项实验中，西北大学的研究人员捕获了一个正电子——即电子的反物质对应粒子。由杰拉尔德·加布里埃尔斯（Gerald Gabrielse）领导的团队研制了一种名为“单正电子量子回旋加速器”的装置，利用电场和磁场将正电子束缚在接近绝对零度的真空环境中。这意味着该反物质粒子处于最低能量态，使研究人员能够对其量子行为施加可控的改变。与粒子物理学中的其他方法不同，这种方法不会破坏粒子。因此，研究人员得以将单个反粒子捕获数月之久，从而重复进行测量。
For this experiment, researchers at Northwestern trapped a positron, the antimatter counterpart of electrons. The team, led by Gerald Gabrielse, developed a device known as a single-positron quantum cyclotron, which used electric and magnetic fields to hold the positron in a vacuum at a temperature close to absolute zero. This means the antimatter particle was at its lowest energy state, allowing the researchers to induce controlled changes in its quantum behavior. Unlike other methods in particle physics, this approach didn’t destroy the particle. The researchers were therefore able to keep the single antiparticle trapped for months, allowing them to repeat measurements.
那么，驯服反物质粒子究竟能教会我们什么？科学家知道，物质与反物质具有非常相似的性质。例如，电子与正电子质量完全相同，只是电荷相反。然而，关于这两种物质形式究竟有多相似，以及以往实验是否遗漏了微小的差异，仍存疑问。
So what can taming antimatter particles actually teach us? Scientists know that matter and antimatter have very similar properties. For example, an electron and a positron have exactly the same mass, although their electric charges are opposite. However, questions still remain about exactly how similar these two forms of matter are and whether there are small differences that have gone unnoticed in experiments conducted to date.
为此，研究人员希望比较这两种粒子的磁性。物理学家已经对电子进行了极其精确的测量，但要在正电子上达到同等精度却更加困难。据美国物理学会称，这种新装置能使科学家对反物质粒子的测量精度比以往提高约30倍。
To this end, researchers want to compare the magnetic properties of both particles. Physicists have already made very precise measurements with electrons, but achieving the same level of precision with positrons has proven more difficult. According to the American Physical Society, the new device could enable measurements of antimatter particles about 30 times more precise than scientists were capable of before.
到目前为止，实验尚未揭示这两种粒子之间存在任何意想不到的差异。研究人员所取得的成果是提高了他们探测反物质粒子这些差异的能力。如果未来的测量发现正电子对磁场的反应与电子不同，科学家将不得不修正他们用来解释物质和反物质行为的一些定律。本文最初发表于《连线》西班牙语版，并已从西班牙语翻译而来。
So far, the experiment has not revealed any unexpected differences between the two particles. What the researchers have achieved is an improvement in their ability to detect these differences in antimatter particles. If future measurements find that a positron responds to magnetic fields differently than an electron, scientists would have to revise some of the laws they use to explain the behavior of matter and antimatter. This story originally appeared in WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.