Photo gallery: 92 antiprotons inside the mobile laboratory

Cryogenic traps, trucks, and controls reveal CERN's BASE-STEP test that brought antimatter out of its Swiss factory.

Antimatter: Studying antiprotons at CERN using mobile devices, magnets, vacuum, and cryogenic cooling to better understand the relationship between matter, antimatter, and the origin of the modern Universe. — Workers and photographers document the lifting of the BASE-STEP trap in the CERN hall: the experiment has a strong scientific and symbolic value, because it transforms antimatter from an object confined in the laboratory to a mobile and monitored experimental load (Photo: CERN, 2026)

The images dedicated to the test BASE STEP take the reader inside one of the most delicate operations ever carried out CERNThe controlled transport of 92 antiprotons through the Meyrin site. The photo gallery not only shows a scientific apparatus loaded onto a truck, but also demonstrates the transition from physics confined to fixed infrastructures to research capable of moving antimatter particles to more suitable measurement environments.

The visible protagonist of the sequence is a cryogenic Penning trap, designed to keep antiprotons suspended using electric and magnetic fields, high vacuum, and extremely low temperatures. The actual contents are almost impalpable, but the scientific value is enormous: demonstrating that particles destined to annihilate upon contact with ordinary matter can be preserved during real-world movement, with autonomous power, mechanical stability, and continuous control.

Photographs of the truck, the technical modules, the wiring, and the lifting operations bring antimatter back to its concrete dimension. There's no drama, just precision engineering: superconducting magnets, cryogenic systems, monitoring electronics, safety procedures, and vibration management. Every element becomes part of the experiment, because even the slightest disturbance can compromise the confinement of the particles.

The photo gallery also allows us to understand the role of Antimatter Factory, the CERN facility that produces and slows down antiprotons for experiments such as BASE, ALPHA, ASACUSA, GBAR, and AEGIS. This very complexity, however, creates a limitation: the factory environment is affected by small magnetic interferences, irrelevant in many contexts but crucial when comparing protons and antiprotons with extreme precision.

The scientific crux concerns one of the most profound questions in modern physics. Current theories indicate that matter and antimatter should have arisen in equal quantities at the origin of the universe. The prevalence of observable matter therefore remains an anomaly to be explained. Measurements of BASE They look for subtle differences between protons and antiprotons, particularly in their magnetic properties, to see if a trace of cosmic asymmetry might be hidden there.

From this perspective, transporting antimatter is not a logistical curiosity, but a new experimental strategy. Making a cryogenic trap mobile means separating the particle production site from the measurement site, transporting antiprotons to magnetically quieter laboratories. The goal is to transform CERN into a hub for a European network of distributed, more stable, and potentially more accurate measurements.

Finally, the images demonstrate the collective nature of scientific innovation. Physicists, engineers, vacuum technicians, cryogenics specialists, transport operators, and support staff all contribute to a result that depends on the seamless integration of diverse skills. The journey of 92 antiprotons by road thus becomes a symbol of increasingly mobile fundamental research, where the challenge is not to make antimatter spectacular, but to make it measurable under better conditions.