Sukracharya begins to narrate the story of the science behind nature’s favouritism towards matter over antimatter.
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Sukracharya: It all starts when Indra loses his powers when sage Durvasa curses him for a simple mistake.
Meghnath: It is not surprising, considering Durvasa is famous for his curses.
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Sukracharya: Yes. A short temper can cause lots of problems. Never take decisions when you are angry. Because of this curse, Indra and his army became weak, which led to their defeat by Asura king Bali.
Meghnath: What happened next?
Sukracharya: Indra approached Vishnu for help. He told them that to regain their powers, the devas needed to find the nectar of immortality hidden under the cosmic ocean, which may be considered as a black hole.
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Meghnath: The only way to bring out things hidden in a black hole is through a white hole.
Sukrachayra: Exactly!
Meghnath: How did the asuras come into the picture?
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Sukracharya: The devas were already weak. So, they needed the power of the asuras to churn the white hole. Even then, it took them 1000 years to do it.
Meghnath: Oh! So much effort to help the devas regain their powers!
Sukracharya: That’s the rule of nature, Meghnath. Matter and antimatter should prevail equally for the existence of the universe. If Vishnu hadn’t helped, the asuras might have taken over the entire universe. Metaphorically, it might have become engulfed by antimatter.
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Meghnath: Oh! Basically, Vishnu was protecting matter over antimatter! But how did the asuras agree to help the devas?
Sukracharya: They did not know they were helping the devas. Vishnu convinced Bali and the other asuras to help by assuring them that the 14 precious objects that would appear from the white hole would be split equally between the two. What he didn’t reveal was that the nectar would be given only to the devas.
Meghnath: This is the favouritism you were talking about!
Sukracharya: Yes. But the real drama began after the appearance of the pot of nectar. Vishnu disguised himself as a beautiful maiden and promised to divide the nectar between the asuras and devas. She distracted the asuras with a mesmerising dance performance and started to serve the nectar to the devas, who regained their powers.
Meghnath: But how is this connected to science?
Sukracharya: Research is being conducted in the world’s largest particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb). Experts are investigating the slight differences between matter and antimatter by studying a type of particle called the “beauty quark”, or “b quark”.
A general view of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment at the Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). | Photo Credit: Pierre Albouy
Meghnath: What are quarks?
Sukracharya: A group of subatomic particles believed to be among the fundamental constituents of matter. Just like how protons and neutrons make up an atomic nucleus, these particles themselves are thought to consist of quarks.
Meghnath: Could this nectar be the beauty quark?
Sukracharya: Quite possible.
Meghnath: So, back to the story. To overcome this antimatter loss, the asura named Swarbhanu, disguised himself as a deva and drank a few drops of the nectar. Mohini found out just in time and chopped off his head. Despite that, he achieved immortality as two beings: his head became Rahu and his body became Ketu. Basically, the message is that the white hole gave out one special thing that made more matter over the antimatter in the universe. Have modern scientists been able to find out what this extra matter is?
Sukracharya: That is the current biggest challenge in Quantum Physics. With the research going on in CERN Laboratory, scientists may be able to find it. If that happens, the discovery will take science to the next level.
The author is the founder and CEO of Vaayusastra Aerospace, an IIT-Madras incubated ed-tech startup that offers Air Science workshops for children between five and 14 years.