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Rare decay
of a beauty meson that involved an electron and positron was observed at LHCb. |
The results of an experiment conducted at the Large Hadron Collider call into question the current physics model.
Scientists
working on the Large Hadron Collider discovered new particles with odd
behaviour that defies particle physics' Standard Model. The discovery could
lead to the discovery of wholly new particles or interactions, as well as the
formulation of novel physics.
According
to our best current theory of particle physics, particles known as "beauty
quarks" or "B mesons" should decay equally into muons or
electrons. However, fresh measurements from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC),
the world's largest scientific instrument and most powerful particle
accelerator, based at the CERN facility on the Franco-Swiss border, demonstrate
that this is not the case. The LHC produced more electrons and fewer muons than
predicted by the theory when B mesons decayed. These findings could indicate
that additional, as yet undetected particles are adding to the imbalance.
The study
was part of the LHCb experiment, which is one of the four particle detectors at
the Large Hadron Collider. It was carried out by physicists from Imperial
College London, the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge, and the University
of Bristol.
Dr. Mitesh
Patel of Imperial College, one of the study's co-authors, underlined the
significance of their achievement:
In a press release, Patel said, "We were actually shaking when we first looked at the data, we were so excited." "Our hearts were racing a little quicker. It's too soon to say whether this is a true departure from the Standard Model, but the implications are so significant that these findings are the most fascinating thing I've done in my 20 years in the area. It's been a long and winding road to get here."
The LHCb
experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. |
Daniel
Moise, a Ph.D. student at Imperial College who was involved in the research,
believes the findings could lead to new discoveries:
"The finding suggests the existence of a new fundamental particle or force that interacts in ways that the particles currently known to science do not," Moise added. "If this is verified by other measurements, it will have a major influence on our fundamental understanding of nature."
The
scientists will now conduct follow-up studies to confirm their findings.
This isn't
the first time scientists have discovered a flaw in the Standard Model. Most
accepted physics notions have also been thrown into disarray by the nature of
dark matter and the unequal distribution of matter and antimatter in the
Universe.
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