A giant particle accelerator in Europe is pointed in the direction of the exotic particles, which should not be according to the known laws of physics, writes Scienitifc American. A slight uptick in the chart of several particles lifted on ears the world of physics. Scientists of the Large hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland, the largest particle accelerator on Earth, recently reported that their unit could make a brand new particle, which in the Standard model just yet.
These results, scientists have made based on the analysis of data that were collected from April to November, after LHC started to collide protons with renewed vigour after the upgrade. While scientists do not believe the data is too convincing — many suspect that this surge can be attributed to statistical error. And yet after the discovery, appeared no less than a dozen papers that might explain theoretical particle physicists around the world combed his head twice more intense.
“We waited for a long time, says Adam Falkowski, a physicist of the Institute of theoretical physics in Warsaw and a member of the CERN theoretical group. — Of course, we suspect that nothing will. In my lifetime this is the first major and quite reliable signal of physics beyond the Standard model, which in itself is cool.” Others echo that there’s no hurry: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and here it is,” writes Columbia University physicist Peter Voight.
If the TANK had actually seen a new particle, will have to answer the question: what is it? – Signature TANK, a particle should weigh around 750 GeV, 750 times the mass of the proton, and falls within the class of bosons, and its spin has an integer value. Some theorists say newcomer like the heavy cousin of the Higgs boson, which, incidentally, also first appeared on the TANK as a curious surge in data about four years ago. Or it can be a portal particle from the field of dark matter — because it decays almost immediately, it is unlikely that it can be attributed specifically to dark matter, everywhere present in space, but it can be a messenger that is associated with dark matter, say the theorists. Another hypothetical alternative is that the graviton, predicted the particle that transmits the gravitational force.
“There is a long list of possible things beyond that includes the universe and what we know, says Jim Olsen, Princeton University physicist who presented the CMS results. — Until today no single theory on paper does not imply that we find it”. Many scientists hope that the LHC will find confirmation of the theory of supersymmetry, which predicts the existence of many additional “partners” are already known to us particles. However, the particle of 750 GeV is unlikely to be one of these. “Even if this signal is confirmed, it will not necessarily lead us to supersymmetry”, says Peter Graham, a theorist at Stanford University.
The most interesting thing about these results, according to scientists, what two experiments at the LHC — ATLAS and CMS use different settings and conducting completely separate analyses of independent data sets, saw almost the same thing. “This is a significant success and one ATLAS only interesting in itself, but more confidence makes the fact that two of the experiment saw it at the same time, says Falkowski. — This reduces the chance of random fluctuation, and significantly”.
But reasons for skepticism certainly remain. “If you look at points with good odds, you can see fluctuations at least once, said Ken bloom from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, member of the CMS team. — I think it’s most likely fluctuation. We observed insignificant events like this all the time.” Physicists also say that these particles probably had to occur in the early runs of the LHC. Although they were at lower energies, them was enough to create a particle in the mass range 750 GeV, but the scientists didn’t notice anything. But the statistical errors are always there, and Oh how scholars don’t like to be wrong.
The signal ATLAS saw about 10 particles more than expected “background” — normal particle within the standard expectations — after a billion proton collisions. CMS saw about three. These results may seem meager, but the experiments are so sensitive and the number of particles of any mass as accurately predicted, and these results will be statistically significant. And although it is “not open — this is a potential breakthrough,” says Olsen.
Impatient physicists don’t have to wait long to find out the truth. Data received from BAC next year, must either confirm or refute a new particle. “I definitely hope we get something interesting in the future, but we don’t know, says bloom. — If these results are the first hints of it, in a few years we will look back today and say, that’s when we started to see the first glimpses. I think it’s something like a teaser”.