Scientists at CERN have observed CP violation in baryons for the first time. This breakthrough was made using the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The study, published on July 16 in Nature, focuses on the Λb⁰ baryon decay. This finding may help explain why the universe contains more matter than antimatter.

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• CERN detects CP violation in Λb⁰ baryon decay — first time in baryons
• Explains part of why universe favors matter over antimatter
• CP violation means physics laws differ for matter vs antimatter
• Previously seen only in mesons, not in matter-forming baryons
• Used LHCb detector data from 2011–2018 collisions at near light speed
• Analyzed Λb⁰ → p K⁻ π⁺ π⁻ and its antimatter counterpart
• Machine learning used to separate real decays from background noise
• CP asymmetry measured — difference between Λb⁰ and Λb⁰-bar decays
• Control decay channel used to remove experimental bias
• Study published July 16 in Nature; seen as key step in physics