CERN scientists may have discovered a new kind of physics
CERN researchers found the data while running a test in the organisation’s Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) scientists have recorded highly unusual data from unstable particle called a B meson which could open an entirely new area of physics.
CERN researchers found the data while running a test in the organisation's Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), reports the Popular Mechanics.
Researchers have described B mesons as "tantalizing tensions," since the particles break apart into different amounts of electrons and muon than the standard model of physics predicts they should. According to a report on the Popular Mechanics, B mesons are paired quarks that move together and rapidly decay.
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While scientists have noticed several previous anomalies in B mesons, this latest observation in decay mode is an even bigger deal as the B mesons decay in the LHC, there are more electrons and fewer muons than there should be.
During particle runs at LHC as part of the LHCb experimental team, the physicists scrutinised the rarest occurring B meson decays. B mesons decay in a variety of ways, and the ones observed here are some of the most unusual.
The likelihood of CERN's results being a fluke are just one in 1,000, but that isn't a small enough chance for the standards of physics observation—scientists prefer to reduce the chance of a fluke to one in over 1 million, reports the Guardian.
The B meson, short for beauty meson, is one of the major focuses of study by the LHCb experimental team. This major LHC project studies all the beauty quarks, of which B mesons are just one example.
"The measurement made by the LHCb collaboration compares two types of decays of beauty quarks. The electron and the muon, together with a third particle called the tau, are types of leptons and the difference between them is referred to as 'flavours'. The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that decays involving different flavours of leptons, such as the one in the LHCb study, should occur with the same probability," CERN explained.
The "flavors" are not occurring with the same probability in the new found data from the test. Scientists are not sure what could account for the discrepancy.
CERN said the LHCb experimental team is well positioned to continue to explore this unpredictable difference. They will upgrade the team's detector next year and start running new versions of the experiment.
