A particle that lives for 2 microseconds is the key to discovering a new force in the universe

An international collaboration of 200 scientists is leading an experiment You have already achieved a very accurate measurement was never created Muon magnetismA particle like an electron lives only a couple of microseconds and doesn’t behave according to the predictions of current theory, so the team faces a “potential discovery,” according to a recently published result. New types of matter and energies will completely revolutionize physics.

“This is a possible discovery, for the time being, a sign of finding new mechanisms of nature that we can exploit in some way for the benefit of humanity, just as electricity was discovered 200 years ago,” assured David Alberto Delum. , a researcher in the Muon g-2 experiment Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) US Department of Energy.

So far it is known that the world is governed by gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear forces, but the existence of data obtained at Fermilab, one of the most important physics laboratories, can be suggested. The fifth force of nature.

So far the world is known to be governed by gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear forces, but data obtained at Fermilab may suggest its existence. The fifth force of nature.

The new result is published recently Science Journal Physics Review Letters This improves the accuracy of previous calculations and reinforces a conflict between theory and experimental data that has been unresolved for more than 20 years.

Recent measurements show that muons wobble faster than previously thought, an unexpected truth that challenges the standard model of particle physics, one of the most successful scientific theories for its predictive power.

Still though No additional data to confirm the finding, If verified, this would be like “tripping” the Standard Model, which no other experiment has ever accomplished, he explained. Tarazona, originally from Colombia, is the only Latin American to chair the UN G-2 collaboration.

“This will allow us to pick up new particles and suggest other theoretical models Could explain mysteries of physics like dark matter. Body We can only describe about 6 or 7 percent of the universe. But the other ninety-one percent we don’t understand,” noted the 34-year-old physicist, who has been working on experiments for a decade.

Although more data are needed to confirm the finding, if verified, it would be like “tripping” the Standard Model, something no other experiment has ever accomplished.

Cooperation Muon G-2 Some include 200 scientists from 33 institutions in seven countries: USA, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia and Republic of Korea.

Amidst the anticipation in the scientific community after the latest results became known in August, Tarazona told Telam why The muon is important for better understanding the universe He warned that the controversy between theory and experiment was justified will be resolved by 2025.

As coordinator of the dynamics group, Tarazona is responsible for analyzing the effects that emerge from the disordered motion of muons.

What is muon?

Muon is a A fast particle Similar to electron, but 200 times heaviera, it is produced Cosmic rays reach Earth. “It’s like the fat cousin of the electron,” the Columbian researcher said by phone from Ithaca, New York, where he works at Cornell University.

They get their name Greek letter “mu”, This is the scientific notation used to shorten the word micro. Muons have a short lifetime of two millionths of a second (two microseconds).

To understand Meuan’s uniqueness, Tarazona proposed imagining it “Little Magnet” qIf it is kept in one place The magnetic field rotates upward.

The Speed That movement depends on one muon property Calling moment magnetScientists sum it up “The G Factor” and should be equal to 2 according to theory.

A muon is a fast particle similar to an electron, but 200 times heavier, produced by cosmic rays reaching Earth: “It’s like the fat cousin of the electron.”

But the muon is never alone in empty space, but is surrounded by an entourage of other particles that act as “dance partners” and change its interactions with the magnetic field.

According to physicists, unknown particles that do not exist in the theory create vThe g factor value is different than 2 And that’s where the name of the experiment comes from. Muon G-2.

“We are interested in calculating that number from all the particles of which the universe is composed.Tarazona said.

to Measure the deflected motion of the muon, At Fermilab’s headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, they created beams of muons and directed them toward a 14-meter-diameter ring magnet to observe the “magnetic dance” of these particles.

As the muons orbited the ring at minus 273 degrees, the detectors recorded how fast they wobbled. To achieve great precision, the devices worked for days, measuring billions of muons.

First results

In 2021, Fermilab scientists published the first results, but only in August of this year Achieved the most accurate measurement of the muon’s magnetic oscillations in history.

He The new result is g-2 = 0.00233184110 And all efforts are reduced to that single number, which helps us compare how big a difference there is to theory.

“We obtained the value of g-2 to a very high precision of 0.2 parts per million. That number is like if you circled the Earth step by step, but if you miss a step, the accuracy is worse,” Tarazona said.

At the same time that Fermilab is increasing its accuracy, other scientists teaming up on an international team of “theoretical initiatives” are looking for Construct a consensus theoretical value to compare with experimental values.

According to the traditional calculation of theoretical initiative, The difference between the experimental g-2 factor and the theoretical prediction is significant and opens the door to a discovery.

Even as the scientific community adjusts its calculations and experiments, we still have two years to go before the final showdown that will determine whether we face the birth of a new physics.

However, recently theorists have begun to use supercomputer techniques for their calculations. And the problem is that when comparing partial results from this new technique with the latest Fermilab measurement, there are no significant discrepancies.

““The theoretical situation at the moment is so confused that we cannot decide yet,” Tarazona said and pledged that he maintains hope of confirming a finding because “theoreticians are not well positioned with their conclusions.”

The final results of the theoretical initiative will be published in 2025Fermilab hopes to complete its most accurate measurement in the same year.

Even as the scientific community adjusts its calculations and experiments, we still have two years to go before the final showdown that will determine whether we face the birth of a new physics.