Abstract:
Our
universe was born 15 billion years ago in a cataclysmic event known as the Big
Bang. Matter and anti-matter were produced in equal amounts in that violent
birth - yet shortly thereafter, the balance changed in a way that eventually
resulted in a universe made entirely from matter. What happened to all the
primordial anti-matter? While prevailing theories provide an indication of how
this evolution might have proceeded, they lack solid experimental
verification. Recent technical
developments provide an experimental platform that will allow scientists to
make the next major attack on this perplexing question -- a question that goes
to heart of how the universe got to its present state and why we humans are
here.
This
lecture will review the prevailing paradigm of the matter-dominated evolution
and discuss how accelerator-based experiments, which are able to mimic the
conditions of the early universe in a controlled way, hope to shed light on
this important question.
