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kiaaThe LHCb experiment at CERN has found some curious behavior by subatomic particles, specifically the bottom quarks, which are not decaying into the stuff the Standard Model of particle physics predicts. While the finding will certainly require a lot further investigation, particularly to eliminate all chance of statistical or measurement error, it's by any means a promising indication that there may be some new and yet unexplained physics involved, namely the existence of new, yet undetected particles.
So far, the Standard Model looks like this:
All the atoms in the Universe are built using only the electrons and the ‘up’ and ‘down’ quarks. These interact with each other and stick together with the help of gluons and photons. The other particles also fit into the model by taking part in various interactions such as the weak force. Exactly where a potential new set of particles would fit into the picture, if at all, remains to be seen.
This is potentially promising to be the most exciting discovery in particle physics since the detection of the long predicted Higgs boson, the God particle, which is responsible for giving particle mass.
So far, the Standard Model looks like this:
All the atoms in the Universe are built using only the electrons and the ‘up’ and ‘down’ quarks. These interact with each other and stick together with the help of gluons and photons. The other particles also fit into the model by taking part in various interactions such as the weak force. Exactly where a potential new set of particles would fit into the picture, if at all, remains to be seen.
This is potentially promising to be the most exciting discovery in particle physics since the detection of the long predicted Higgs boson, the God particle, which is responsible for giving particle mass.
