Press Release: SLAC Experiment Makes First Observations of Key Traits in Weak Force

A Parity Violation Experiment with Clocks

Imagine you have a right-handed clock ("real clock", center) and a left-handed clock ("real mirror clock", left). The left-handed clock looks like the mirror image of the right-handed clock. In a symmetric world, the clocks would keep the same time. But with a tiny asymmetry—say 131 parts per billion, the same as observed by E158—the right-handed clock keeps time slightly faster. The effect is so minuscule that after 10 days (middle image), all clocks still look the same. It takes 1,000 years (right image) for the right-handed clock to advance just one hour ahead.

• View Animated Movie of Parity Violation with Clocks
• Play Animation (Quicktime, Higher Quality--Medium Bitrate)
• Play Animation (Quicktime, Medium Quality--Lower Bitrate)

Animation by Juna Kurihara, SLAC.