Are we on the verge of discovering a new fundamental force of nature?
In short: Physicists at CERN have observed beauty quarks decaying into muons less frequently than electrons, a phenomenon that defies the Standard Model. This unexpected discrepancy suggests the existence of an undiscovered force. While not yet a confirmed discovery, the growing body of evidence hints that our current understanding of physics is incomplete.
The Standard Model is the bedrock of modern particle physics, describing the fundamental particles and forces that constitute the universe. Despite its success in passing every experimental test to date, it remains incomplete. It fails to incorporate gravity, cannot explain the matter production during the Big Bang, and offers no candidate for dark matter, which is estimated to be five times more abundant than visible matter. Consequently, researchers are actively hunting for anomalies that might signal physics beyond this established framework.
One primary method for this search involves studying beauty quarks, exotic particles that exist for only a trillionth of a second. At the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the LHCb experiment records the decay of these quarks. The Standard Model dictates that beauty quarks should decay into electrons and muons at equal rates. However, recent data from March 2021 revealed that muon decays occurred only 85% as often as electron decays. This result, measured at '3 sigma', indicates a one in a thousand chance of being a statistical fluke.
Further investigation has bolstered these findings. Researchers examined additional decay channels and observed that muon decays occurred only 70% as often as electron decays. While this specific measurement reached only '2 sigma'—a 2% chance of being a quirk—it adds to the mounting evidence. Physicists require a '5 sigma' threshold, representing less than a one in a million chance of error, to claim a genuine discovery. As the upgraded LHCb detector prepares to collect more data, the community remains hopeful that these anomalies will either be confirmed as a new force or refuted, potentially reshaping our fundamental understanding of the physical world.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Is This a New Kind of Physics? - with Harry Cliff, Paula Alvarez Cartelle and Ben Allanach
- Also: Cambridge physicists announce results that boost evidence for new fundamental physics
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