A small, wobbling muon shook particle physics at its core
Results from one of the most promising experiments in particle physics are coming out, and they may be trying to realize the most barbaric dreams of all researchers.
Evidence from the Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago seems to point to very little. Subatomic particles Known as Muon Much more wobble than the theory predicts. According to physicists, the best explanation is that muons are extruded by a kind of matter and energy that is completely unknown to physics.
If the results are true, this finding represents a breakthrough in particle physics of a kind that has not been seen for 50 years when the dominant theory for explaining subatomic particles was first developed. Small muon wobbles, called magnetic moments, can shake the very foundation of science.
“Today was a special day and was long-awaited not only by us, but by the entire international physics community,” said Muon co-spokesman Graziano Venanzani. g-2 experiment Physicist at the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Said in a statement..
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Muons, also known as “fat electrons,” resemble more widely known cousins, but are 200 times heavier and radioactively unstable. It decays in just one millionth of a second into electrons and small ghostly uncharged particles. Neutrino.. Muons also have a property called spin, which behaves like a small magnet and wobbles like a small gyroscope. magnetic field..
However, today’s results from experiments by physicists sending muons orbiting around superconducting magnetic rings seem to indicate that muons are much more wobbled than they should be. According to research scientists, the only explanation is the existence of particles that have not yet been explained by a set of equations that explain all subatomic particles. Standard model — It hasn’t changed since the mid-1970s. These exotic particles and their associated energies will slowly move and pull muons in the ring as the idea progresses.
Fermilab researchers are relatively convinced that what they see (extra wobble) is a real phenomenon, not a statistical fluke. They numbered the reliability of “4.2 sigma”, which is very close to the 5 sigma threshold that particle physicists declare a major discovery. (The 5 sigma result shows that it is 1 in 3.5 million likely to have been caused by chance.)
“This amount we measure reflects the interaction of muons with everything else in the universe, but theorists use all the known forces and particles of the Standard Model to make the same amount. If you calculate, you won’t get the same answer. ”Renee Fatemi, a physicist at the University of Kentucky and a simulation manager for the Muong-2 experiment, said. Said in a statement.. “This is strong evidence that muons are sensitive to something that is not in our best theory.”
However, a rival calculation done by another group and published in the journal on Wednesday (April 7th) Nature It can take away the wobble of its importance. According to this team’s calculations, which give much larger values to the most uncertain terms in the equation that predicts muon rocking motion, the experimental results are in perfect agreement with the predictions. Twenty years of particle tracking may have all been meaningless.
“If our calculations are correct and the new measurements do not change the story, then there seems to be no need for new physics to explain the muon’s magnetic moment. It follows the rules of the standard model,” Zoltan said. Professor Fodor said. Leader of the research team who published Pennsylvania Physics and Nature Papers, Said in a statement..
However, Fodor added that their results are far from closing, given that his group’s forecasts rely on completely different calculations based on very different assumptions. “Our findings mean that there is a tension between the old theoretical and new results. This discrepancy should be understood,” he said. “In addition, the new experimental results may be closer to the old ones or closer to the previous theoretical calculations. We are excited many years ago.”
In essence, physicists cannot definitively say whether a brand new particle is pulling a muon until they have agreed exactly how the 17 existing Standard Model particles interact with the muon. .. Physics remains out of balance until one theory wins.
Originally published in Live Science.
A small, wobbling muon shook particle physics at its core
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