Every year, editors from the international renowned physics magazine, Physics World, look through all scientific discoveries reported in 2025 and pick 10 that they consider the most important. This selection is based on the following criteria: Significant advance in knowledge or understanding, importance of work for scientific progress and/or development of real-world applications and of general interest to Physics World readers.
Among this year’s shortlist is an experiment from CERN’s BASE collaboration, led by Prof. Stefan Ulmer from Institut für Experimentalphysik der Heinrich-Heinie-Universität Düsseldorf and chief scientist at RIKEN in Japan, including scientists from the division of Prof. Klaus Blaum of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik. The experiment has been included into the top 10 for being the first to perform coherent spin spectroscopy on a single antiproton – the antimatter counterpart of the proton. Their breakthrough is the most precise measurement yet of the antiproton’s magnetic properties, and could be used to test the Standard Model of particle physics. The experiment begins with the creation of high-energy antiprotons in an accelerator. These must be cooled (slowed down) to cryogenic temperatures without being lost to annihilation. Then, a single antiproton is held in an ultracold electromagnetic trap, where microwave pulses manipulate its spin state. The resulting resonance peak was 16 times narrower than previous measurements, enabling a significant leap in precision. This level of quantum control opens the door to highly sensitive comparisons of the properties of matter (protons) and antimatter (antiprotons). Unexpected differences could point to new physics beyond the Standard Model and may also reveal why there is much more matter than antimatter in the visible universe.
News Physics World: physicsworld.com/a/top-10-breakthroughs-of-the-year-in-physics-for-2025-revealed/
