Measuring the Effect of Gravity on Antimatter

Explore the groundbreaking research on measuring gravity's effect on antimatter in this Stanford Physics colloquium. Delve into the recent experiments conducted by CERN's ALPHA collaboration, which provide the first "direct" measurements of antimatter's behavior under gravity. Learn how these findings, showing antihydrogen atoms falling downward with an acceleration close to g=9.8ms2, support the weak equivalence principle and rule out the possibility of antimatter falling upwards. Examine the historical context of this scientific question, including past failed attempts at direct measurement. Discover other ongoing experiments in this field and gain insight into the innovative magnetic balance technique used to achieve these remarkable results.