Two CERN experiments, ATHENA and ATRAP, created thousands of atoms of antimatter in a “cold” state in 2002. Cold means that the atoms are slow moving, which makes it possible to study them before they meet ordinary matter and annihilate. Antihydrogen formed in the experiments when cold positrons and antiprotons were brought together and held in a specially designed “trap”. Once formed, the electrically neutral antihydrogen atoms drifted out of the trap and annihilated.

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