A new experiment raises questions about the laws of physics – science – life

The tiny particle, the muon, can raise questions about fundamental laws that the physicist has worked on for decades, according to preliminary results from An experiment conducted in the United States.

See also: NASA Explains Holes in the Sky

Researchers announced Wednesday that they saw how muons – particles that look like electrons but are heavier – behave in a way inconsistent with the Standard Model, the basic theory to explain the workings of Fundamental particles of the universe.

If confirmed, the discovery could indicate the existence of still unknown forms of matter and energy and open the door to new physics.

Today is an extraordinary day, long awaited not only by us, “The entire international community is made up of physicists,” said Graziano Finanzoni, spokesman for the experiment known as “Muon g-2”.

Although the results of the experiment are still preliminary, officials highlight the tremendous accuracy of the tests conducted at Fermilab, a US Department of Energy particle acceleration facility located in Illinois.

In other scientific news: The Neanderthal ancestor contributes the oldest modern human genome

The discovery was made by passing muons through a magnetic field and seeing that they do not behave as expected based on the Standard Model.

Officials point out that the discrepancy between measurements made and predictions under the laws of physics indicates the presence of particles that this theory does not take into account.

“This quantity that we are measuring reflects the muon’s interactions with everything else in the universe. But when theorists calculate the same amount, using all known forces and particles from the Standard Model, we don’t have the same answer, ”explained René Fatemi, head of the simulation division of the project.

It might interest you: A monkey playing a mind-pong game with Elon Musk’s Neuralink

“This is strong evidence that muons are sensitive to something not in our best theories,” the physicist from the University of Kentucky asserted in a note.

The results of Fermilab – a project involving more than 200 scientists from seven countries – seem to confirm similar results obtained in 2001 in the US Brookhaven Laboratory that had already begun to raise doubts about the laws of physics in use up to then.

Also: a lost city found underground in Egypt

According to those in charge of the experiment, the new results, along with the 2001 results, are still less than necessary to talk about an official discovery according to the standards of physics, but the probability that a result of a statistical coincidence is only 1 in 40,000. Chris Polley said: “ After 20 years since the Brookhaven experiment ended, it is with great pleasure that we finally solve this mystery. “

EFE