Overview

• The LHC team analyzed proton–proton collision data to compare decay rates of Λ-baryons with their antiparticles, revealing a clear CP asymmetry.
• This represents the first confirmed observation of CP violation in baryons, extending asymmetry beyond mesons for the first time.
• The effect arises from beauty Λ-baryons composed of up, down and bottom quarks decaying at different rates than their antimatter counterparts.
• Despite its statistical significance, the measured asymmetry is far too small to account for the universe’s dominance of matter over antimatter.
• Publication in Nature highlights the need for further experiments to uncover new CP-violating processes beyond the Standard Model.