In
particle physics,
CP violation (CP standing for
charge parity) is a violation of the postulated
CP-symmetry (or
charge conjugation parity symmetry): the combination of
C-symmetry (
charge conjugation symmetry) and
P-symmetry (parity symmetry). CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics should be the same if a particle is interchanged with its antiparticle (C symmetry), and when its spatial coordinates are inverted ("mirror" or P symmetry). The discovery of CP violation in 1964 in the decays of neutral
kaons resulted in the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1980 for its discoverers
James Cronin and
Val Fitch.