On the road with antiprotons: CERN runs delicate test on transporting ultrasensitive antimatter

CERN scientists plan to test a few antiprotons in a unique trial. Over about four hours, teams will carefully transport around 100 antiprotons suspended in a “cloud” vacuum-encased in a box and held in place by supercooled magnets for transport in a truck to its Geneva campus. Each particle has a corresponding antiparticle, like an antiproton, matching the particle exactly but with the opposite charge. If opposites come into contact, they “annihilate” each other and release energy. The mass of the test is tiny, so the worst that can happen is to lose the antiprotons.