Posted on 06/18/2017 5:27:47 PM PDT by jdege
Physicists Discover a Possible Break in the Standard Model of Physics
In order to make sense of the physical world, scientists have worked hard to discover theories and principles that govern the physics of matter. This is what’s called the Standard Model of Physics, which includes all the laws and principles concerning matter in all its forms and sizes. Bascially, the Standard Model applies to even particle physics. Or so it should.
Scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara (USCB) and colleagues from various other institutions have recently discovered that there might be a break in the application of the Standard Model, particularly with a fundamental principle called the lepton universality. Their discovery comes from reviewing the data from three separate experiments conducted in the United States, Switzerland, and Japan.
But before we jump into the details of the study published in the journal Nature, a little backgrounder is in order. The lepton universality is an assumption concerning elementary particles called leptons, which don’t undergo strong interactions. Supposedly, lepton universality asserts that the interactions of these particles are the same, regardless of differences in masses and decay rates. The three experiments reviewed in the studies are charged leptons, which are electrons, muons, and the heavier taus.
CHALLENGING THE NORMS OF PHYSICS
All three experiments revealed that taus actually decay faster than the standard model predicts. The surprising thing was the data which came from the LHCb experiment at CERN in Switzerland, the BaBaR detector of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, and the Belle experiment in Japan challenged lepton universality at four standard deviations. This means that there’s a 99.95 percent certainty that this data is accurate, according to the USCB team.
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(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
Don’t you just hate it when that happens?
Get the global warming scientists over pronto! They can fix it.
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what Freerepublic is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
And here it comes.
Hey! The Stanleys also want a crack at this one!
You mean to tell me that physics which have been studied for thousands of years isn’t “settled science”?
... And they called it Climate Change!
I suppose you don’t undergo strong interactions. Are you an electron, a muon, or a heavier tau?
Not possible. 97% of scientists agree that the Standard Model is the correct standard. Those who disagree should not be allowed to publish or speak at conferences.
Hmmmm. Could be I’ve got Standard Model mixed up with some other “science”. If so, just ignore my comments.
Interesting stuff. Don’t understand it, but it is interesting.
To quote Einstein...
“The Standard Model of modern physics will be determined by consensus.”
Not if you're a real, honest scientist. If you are, you're excited about it and want to be in on it.
You matter. Unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light squared. Then you’re energy.
I’m not even up to challenging Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor just now, never mind Norm.
No matter what this important discovery means for the mankind, it is imperative that more research will be needed for the foreseeable future (as in funding, funding and more funding)...
The way I feel I think I must have divided.
Has any actual physicist told you that physics is "settled science"? Has any actual physicist ever told you that such thing as "settled science" even exists?
Divided by zero?
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