Mac E Posted April 7, 2011 #1 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Particle discovery has whole physics world buzzing New finding could be 'game-changer,' but many scientists remain skeptical In a development physicists are calling "huge," "tantalizing" and "unexpected," researchers have measured a signal that could herald a new kind of particle or force of nature. But the finding is not yet conclusive, and leaves many researchers skeptical. The discovery comes from an atom smasher called the Tevatron at the Fermilab physics laboratory in Batavia, Ill. Inside the accelerator there, particles are ramped up to near the speed of light as they race around a 4-mile ring. When two particles collide, they disintegrate into other exotic particles in a powerful outpouring of energy. Scientists analyzed thousands of these collisions, and found a suspicious pattern in about 250 more cases than predicted. In these instances, the products of the collision between a proton and its antimatter partner, the antiproton, were different than expected. Read more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted April 7, 2011 #2 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Does this mean that they've discovered how to make an antimatter drive? Never mind the technicalities, let's just get down to practicalities. Or have they found the elusive Higgs-Boson?! That'd be a poke in the eye for the Large Halon Collider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sepulchrave Posted April 7, 2011 #3 Share Posted April 7, 2011 No practicalities yet, I'm afraid. No antimatter drives either. These guys have found statistical evidence in weak interactions for a new ``something''... but whether a particle, interaction, decay path is unknown yet. Because it is the weak interaction, it is possible that it could involve the Higgs boson, but very unlikely. Fermilab has previously looked for the Higgs boson explicitly and couldn't find it, so I think the consensus is that this new thing isn't the Higgs. (See the arXiv paper, right column of page 7.) Because they don't know what this thing is yet it is also possible that it could be explained by the Standard Model already. Finally, they can't be completely sure that this thing isn't just due to a miscalculation of the normal background. (See the above-linked arXiv paper, figure 1(a).) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d e v i c e Posted April 8, 2011 #4 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I dicovered a new particle in my ear the other day. I believe it was the 'God particle'. Or part of my brain. But seriously, a very interesting devalopment in the world of subatomic particles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie333 Posted April 8, 2011 #5 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Well if this really does prove itself out it will be back to the old drawing board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwik Posted April 8, 2011 #6 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I dicovered a new particle in my ear the other day. I believe it was the 'God particle'. Or part of my brain. But seriously, a very interesting devalopment in the world of subatomic particles. Yes, indeed. But only highly trained people will understand the significance of this discovery. Ludwik . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venonat Posted April 9, 2011 #7 Share Posted April 9, 2011 I didn't know Fermilab was still in operation. And I like to think of myself as a science buff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted April 9, 2011 #8 Share Posted April 9, 2011 In the words of Mr. Spock... Facinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted April 9, 2011 #9 Share Posted April 9, 2011 (edited) This is an exciting development. There's still a 0.3% chance that the results are simply a statistical anomaly, which sounds small but there have been intriguing looking results in the past at the 0.3% significance level which have turned out to be just that - statistical anomalies. If this turns out to be correct then it will rewrite the physics textbooks as it's most likely not related to the elusive Higgs particle according to what I have read, which would suggest a new 5th fundamental force of nature. Edited April 9, 2011 by hammertime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paracelse Posted April 12, 2011 #10 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Isn't strange that the Fermi lab who was supposed to close in a few months because it was becoming useless (LHC taking over) has its researchers just discover a new something something who might keep them working??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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