New experiment hints that a particle breaks the known laws of physics

[Juke]

Science | AAAS

www.sciencemag.org

Good summary here:

Strange muon behaviour hints at mysterious new particles and forces

The Muon g−2 experimental equipment at Fermilab in Illinois The strange behaviour of a fundamental particle called a muon may hint at the existence of exotic particles and forces beyond the standard model of physics. We have had signs of this anomaly before, but a new set of measurements has...

www.newscientist.com

 

[jabsveg276]

Science | AAAS

www.sciencemag.org

Good summary here:

Strange muon behaviour hints at mysterious new particles and forces

The Muon g−2 experimental equipment at Fermilab in Illinois The strange behaviour of a fundamental particle called a muon may hint at the existence of exotic particles and forces beyond the standard model of physics. We have had signs of this anomaly before, but a new set of measurements has...

www.newscientist.com

So what does this mean?

 

[Anubis]

So what does this mean?

Spoiler: This video sums it up well

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[Ras]

*breaks our understanding of the laws of physics not actually break the laws.

So what does this mean?

Don't study physics but here's my attempt at explaining it as simply as possible.

There's this measurement called the g-factor that tells us how strongly a charged particle's own magnetic field interacts with surrounding fields.

We can predict this number by counting up all the ways the particle could interact with other particles (Feynman diagrams).

If we then run an experiment, the number should be the same as the one we predicted.

This is the case for electrons but we found that there's a discrepancy with it's larger cousin - the muon.

This likely means that it's interacting with particles that we aren't aware of as it's a lot bigger - big news unless there's something wrong with the experiment.

We're getting closer to finding out whether it's an experimental error or whether they're particles not in our standard model.