CP Violation


7/14/18
What does the CP violation mean?


This article talks about “The puzzling decay of the neutral kaon.” I had a very hard time getting the jist of this article, but it sounds like scientists had a general theory called the CPT theorem. Some testing was done which violated this general theory and surprised them. They either had to scrap the original theory or accept some surprising results.  Apparently, until the 1960’s scientists thought particles decayed at the same rate whether time ran forward or backward. There were some tests done at Princeton in which the CP was violated. According their findings, they were faced with a choice; either the CPT theorem was incorrect, or the kaon decays at a different way in a universe where time runs backward.

“The particle decay arrow seems completely unconnected with all the other arrows of time.” Strange!

I would imagine that it is very hard for some scientists to let go of the findings they have come to rely on for the basis of their understanding of the universe. What ideas seemed to fit at the time of their discovery and made so much sense are not working anymore with new discoveries and understandings of today.

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