ByDanFriedell
18April
Haveyoueverheardofamuon?
Amuonisaverysmallparticlesimilartoanelectron.Electronsandprotonsarepartsoftheatomsthatmakeupallmatter.
ThetesttrackscientistsareusingtoobservemuonparticlesoutsideofChicago,IllinoisattheFermilab.(ReidarHahn/FermilabviaAP)
Muonswerediscoveredduringanexperimentin.Untilnow,mostphysicistshaveonlybeenabletostudymuonsforanextremelyshortperiodoftime:twomicroseconds.Thereareonemillionmicrosecondsinonesecond.
Butscientistsareusingnewtechnologytostudytheseparticlesforalongerperiodoftimethaninthepast.Andwiththatextratime,theythinktheyhavemadeanexcitingdiscovery.Bywatchingthemuons,theyfoundthattheseparticlesdonotbehaveaspredicted.
Scientistshavedevelopedagroupofexpectations,orrules,intheyearsthattheyhavestudiedparticlesthataresmallerthananatom.ThatgroupofrulesiscalledtheStandardModel.
ScientistsagreedontheStandardModelabout50yearsago.TheStandardModelletsphysicistsmakeassumptionsaboutthewayextremelysmallparticlesmove.Overtime,experimentshaveprovedthattheassumptionsoftheStandardModelarecorrect.
However,resultsoftwodifferentrecenttestsinEuropeandAmericahavescientiststhinkingagainabouttheirideas.
ThescientistswhoworkattheresearchcentercalledFermilab,nearChicago,Illinoishavedone8.2billiontestswithmuons.Theysendthemarounda14-metermagnetictrack.Thespecialtrackkeepsthemuonsfromdisappearingforlongerthanusual,sotheycanbestudied.ThetestsshowedscientiststhatthemuonswerebehavingdifferentlythantheStandardModelpredicted.
IntestsgoingonataresearchcenternearGeneva,Switzerland,scientistscrashparticlesknownas"beautyquarks"intoeachother.TheStandardModelsaysthesecrashesshouldproduceanequalnumberofelectronsandmuonseachtime.However,researcherslookedatdataoverseveralyearsandfound15percentmoreelectronsthanmuonsresultedfromthecollisions.Theyhadexpectednearlyanequalnumberofbothparticles.
ThephysicistsareexcitedtobeabletoquestiontheStandardModel.Theythinkitmeansanimportantdiscoverymightbe