Depictions of antimatter in science fiction include misleading portrayals of it coming from parallel universes, being mined from asteroids, and serving as a workable laser beam.

Antimatter particles possess the same mass and spin as their normal particle counterparts, but possess an opposite charge and transform into pure energy upon colliding with normal matter.

If they could be built, antimatter drives, which run on energy released from the collision of matter and antimatter particles, would be the most efficient engines in existence.

Antimatter's rarity across the cosmos is one of the biggest problems in modern physics because the high-energy environment of the early universe should have produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter.

At CERN's Antimatter Factory, researchers create and guide antiprotons and antielectrons together to form antihydrogen—all of which are analyzed to help scientists study the behavior of antimatter.

Antimatter was discovered by examining debris from collisions between atmospheric gases and cosmic rays—high-energy particles that travel near the speed of light and are produced by stars, supernovae, and supermassive black holes.

Antimatter can be created from dark lightning—high-energy light emitted by deflected electrons after they are accelerated to near the speed of light by thunderstorms.

In 1997, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory identified 'positron geysers'—fountains of antimatter particles—emerging from near the center of the Milky Way.

Antimatter was predicted to exist four years before it was observed, though the mathematics responsible for the prediction described it as matter with negative energy.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second.

In 2026, researchers successfully transported antimatter in a truck using a portable trap that employed electromagnetic fields to hold 92 antiprotons.

Simulate the impact of an antimatter bomb, which releases energy from the annihilation of matter with antimatter, around the world.

Particle accelerators propel matter toward small targets at high speed

Devices like cathode-ray tube televisions were once basic particle accelerators, but modern ones, such as the Large Hadron Collider, use massive magnetic fields and circular tunnels to achieve energies high enough to recreate the conditions just after the big bang.

It may be possible to create dark matter in particle accelerators

In high-energy collisions, exotic forms of matter can be produced by directly converting energy into mass according to *E = mc*². Even though a dark matter particle would not be directly observable, its creation would result in unaccounted-for mass, which can be compared to potential dark matter candidates for indirect detection.

View the most expensive materials on Earth, led by antimatter and other elements forged in particle accelerators.

A beam of neutrinos can be created by firing a beam of high-energy protons at a target to produce unstable particles that decay into neutrinos.

Dark stars are hypothetical stars that would have existed in the early universe

Primarily composed of visible matter, this celestial object would also contain a significant amount of dark matter that would annihilate with itself, converting its mass into energy. This energy would prevent the star from collapsing under its own gravity and from triggering nuclear fusion until its dark matter fuel was exhausted.

Despite the visibility of lasers in space battles within science fiction, they are impossible to see in outer space unless they are pointed directly at an observer.

Within ALICE—A Large Ion Collider Experiment—at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists have created quark-gluon plasma—an exotic form of matter present in the moments after the Big Bang.

Collisions between cosmic rays and atmospheric particles dwarf particle accelerators

According to Einstein's model of gravity, confining immense energy into a sufficiently small region would warp space-time enough to create a black hole. If accelerators actually did create black holes, then trillions more would be produced daily in the atmosphere, where collisions are millions of times more energetic.

The average banana produces one positron—the antimatter counterpart to an electron—every 75 minutes as its trace amounts of radioactive potassium decay.

The one-electron theory describes the universe as having only one electron

The thought experiment explains why every electron has the same charge and mass as every other electron, and describes every positron—the antimatter version of the electron—as that same electron traveling backwards in time. Among other foundational challenges, the model suggests that the universe contains equal numbers of electrons and positrons, yet normal matter is much more common than antimatter.

View a step-by-step breakdown of how helium is forged in stars alongside antimatter

During the proton-proton chain, four hydrogen nuclei—protons—are fused together to create an alpha particle—a helium nucleus—and produce the energy that supports a star's own weight. Through radioactive decay, two of these protons become neutrons, with each releasing an antielectron, or positron, and an electron neutrino.

About 85% of the matter in the universe is dark matter—an invisible substance that only interacts with its surroundings through gravity.

Lasers can be used to reduce the motion of atoms because particles of light—photons—can collide with particles of matter, as billiard balls do, to slow them down.

At the Large Hadron Collider, protons are accelerated so close to the speed of light that they would lag behind a laser by just 10 feet after 14 minutes of travel.

Learn about five of the largest particle accelerators on Earth, which, as of 2026, are led by the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Before 1932, when particle accelerators were first used for nuclear research, scientists relied on naturally radioactive substances to advance their understanding of the atomic nucleus.

The wave nature of matter can produce phenomena like negative time and retrocausality

Within quantum mechanics, matter simultaneously exists as both fixed particles and extended waves, allowing it to emerge across barriers—just as sound travels through walls—before it fully enters the obstacle. The resulting measurements can show that particles spent negative time within a barrier, with the future occurring before the past.

The hypothetical matter that neutron stars' cores may contain, including strange quarks

Models of the extreme pressures and energies in neutron stars suggest conditions resembling those believed to have existed within a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. In these environments, the quarks that make up protons and neutrons in trios may instead form pairs that combine to form one quantum object. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Despite fears of creating black holes, the Large Hadron Collider produces collisions with energies of 13.6 trillion electronvolts, about one million times smaller than the energy needed to create the lightest possible black holes.

Although among the most comprehensive frameworks in science, the Standard Model has numerous gaps, including its inability to explain dark matter, dark energy, or why normal matter is so much more abundant than antimatter.

The science behind the movie 'Interstellar'

Christopher Nolan's 2014 sci-fi action film "Interstellar" relies on real science for its wild space-time travel. This infographic dives into the physics basis of the fictionalized Gargantua black hole, the relativity effect, and more.

After photons—particles of light—neutrinos are the most abundant particles in the universe.

Astronomical models suggest dark matter must be 'cold,' or slow-moving

Theories for what constitutes dark matter have ranged from slow, planet-sized objects to light subatomic particles that travel at high speeds. However, fast-moving candidates would quickly spread across the universe, preventing the gradual gathering of visible matter into the galaxies and galaxy clusters seen today through gravity.

As of 2023, the world's smallest particle accelerator is smaller than a penny

The prototype is an example of a photonic accelerator, which utilizes tiny lasers to accelerate electrons rather than relying on oscillating electromagnetic fields to move them. It can deliver about 1 electron per second with energies equivalent to those found in cathode-ray tube televisions.

PET scans create images of the body by detecting light emitted from the annihilation of matter and antimatter, with the latter produced by custom chemicals containing radioactive atoms.

More than 97% of the world's particle accelerators are used for commercial purposes

Only a few hundred of the over 30,000 particle accelerators worldwide are used for research. Most are involved in medical imaging and treatment, food sterilization, semiconductor processing, cargo screening, and radioisotope production. They're also used to modify the properties of polymers.

Less common types of radioactive decay include emitting neutrons and antimatter

Through neutron emission, one or more neutrons are ejected from atoms that have far fewer protons. Neutrons can also be released by artificially inducing the fission, or separation, of a large atomic nucleus into smaller ones. During beta-plus decay, a positron—the antimatter version of an electron—is produced when a proton turns into a neutron.