Cold Radioactive Molecules Prepped and Readied for Physics Discoveries

Researchers at Caltech have achieved a first: creating and chilling molecules that contain the radioactive element radium. Per Caltech News, the breakthrough opens new ways to investigate one of physics's deepest mysteries—why matter came to vastly outnumber antimatter in the early universe. Radium is ideal for this work because its nucleus has a rare pear shape that dramatically amplifies the subtle signals researchers are looking for. To work safely with this dangerous, highly reactive element, the team embedded tiny radium samples in a viscous gel made with xylitol—a technique inspired by candy-making—then cooled the apparatus to negative four hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit and used lasers to study the resulting molecules. For the first time, radium molecules have been precisely studied with lasers in tabletop experiments, opening a potential path to search for entirely new particles and forces beyond the known laws of physics.

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