Most of us learn in schools that the smallest building block of matter is the atom; but in reality things are a little different than that. In the structure of matter, there are ‘subatomic particles’ that also make up the atom, which are much smaller than the atom, which Marvel lovers may be familiar with from Ant-Man. These small particles, which are not yet fully understood, form the basis of the ‘Standard Model’, which is actually the most important model of all particle physics.
According to new research, it seems possible that a subatomic particle called the W boson may be heavier than previously thought. It is stated that this discovery could lead to a radical shake-up of the understanding of how physics works at the micro scale. In fact, some inconsistencies in the data presented by the Standard Model have been on the agenda of the scientific world for a long time, and this new research offers a ‘solution’ to the existing problem.
The laws of physics can be rewritten
10 to analyze mass measurements of the W boson, a lesser-known “sister particle” of the Higgs boson, which plays a role in radioactive decay. Scientists from the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, which has been working for years, have reached a new finding that can be a breakthrough in science. Accordingly, the scientists found that the W boson may be slightly heavier than physics theories have assumed so far.
So what does this mean? In fact, it means that the laws of physics can be rewritten in that it contradicts the so-called Standard Model, a fundamental theory of physics that describes how the world fits in at the microscale. Because the W boson in question is used as one of the main components of this model. Naturally, this boson being heavier means that the calculations will have to be done all over again.
“It is now up to the theoretical physics community and other experiments to follow up and shed light on this mystery,” said physicist David Toback of Texas A&M University, a member of the project. If the difference is due to some kind of new particle or subatomic interaction, which is one of the possibilities, it’s likely that it’s something that can be discovered in future experiments.” he adds.
4.2 million observations of the W boson were analyzed
On the other hand, some critics have argued that it is an extremely daring move to question the rules of particle physics, and to validate these results. Although they say that more research is needed, the team behind the study notes that they are quite confident in their results. “The number of enhancements and extra checks on our results is huge,” said Asutosh V. Kotwal, the lead researcher at Duke University. “We’ve taken into account advances in the theoretical and experimental understanding of the interactions of the W boson with other particles, as well as our improved understanding of our particle detector.” uses expressions.
Basing their calculations on measurements taken from Fermilab’s Tevatron collider between 1985 and 2011, the researchers report that they analyzed this data for the next 10 years. The researchers, who included a total of 4.2 million observations of W boson candidate particles into the analysis, published their results in the journal Science.
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