Electrons may be most perfectly round natural objects in universe, says study

Telegraph : Physicists at Imperial College London’s Centre for Cold Matter have made the most accurate measurement yet of the shape of an electron and have confirmed that it is almost a perfect sphere, writes Murray Wardrop for the Telegraph. They found that the subatomic particle differs from being perfectly round by less than 1.0 x 10 ^-29 m. If an electron were magnified to the size of the solar system, it would still appear spherical to within the width of a human hair. During experiments spanning more than a decade, the researchers studied the motion of electrons inside ytterbium fluoride molecules by sending them through the narrow gap between two electrically charged plates. No telltale wobble in the signal appeared, indicating that the electron has no detectable departures from perfect roundness. Understanding the shape of electrons could help researchers understand how positrons—electrons’ antimatter version—behave, and, hence, how matter and antimatter differ. Edward Hinds and his coauthors published their results today in Nature.