The next step on the way to confirming the existence of the fifth fundamental force is reported by American scientists from the Fermilab physics laboratory near Chicago, writes the BBC website. Since 2021, when the results were first announced, the researchers have collected more data and halved the probability that it is a statistical error.
In modern physics, according to the so-called standard theory, the interaction of all particles and objects is believed to be caused by four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. And although the evidence for the presence of the fifth force is convincing, the progress in research cannot yet be called a scientific breakthrough.
Demonstration of the fifth interaction could lead to the clarification of some of the great physics mysteries of the past decades, such as the existence of so-called dark energy in the universe, which according to some theories is causing the rate of expansion of the universe to keep accelerating instead of gradually slowing down.
In the experiments, the researchers work with muons, elementary particles similar to electrons, but 200 times heavier. Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment sends muons around in a ring-shaped electromagnet about 15 meters in diameter, which has a very stable and precisely measured magnetic field. According to the standard model, muons should “oscillate” in it at a certain speed. However, the scientists discovered during the measurements that their behavior does not correspond to the standard model.
Fermilab scientists now hope to obtain enough data to clear theoretical doubts in the next two years. However, the competing scientific team of the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland, is also trying to prove the presence of the fifth interaction.
“Measuring behavior that doesn’t fit the assumptions of the Standard Model is the holy grail of particle physics. It’s such a starting gun on the path to revolutionizing our understanding because the Standard Model has withstood the experiments of the last fifty years,” described Mitesh Patel of King’s University, London.
Reliable proof of the presence of the fifth interaction would be one of the biggest discoveries in physics since Einstein’s theories of relativity, the BBC reported.
2023-08-11 08:39:12
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