The extra weight of the particles contradicts the Standard Model

Everything known in the universe – from distant galaxies to the amino acids in your body – is described by the Standard Model, the bible of physics. It explains the particles that make up atoms and the forces that control them.

The Standard Model is the most successful scientific theory in the world. Among other things, it made it possible to develop modern electronics. However, the theory has several major flaws. It doesn’t explain gravity, for example.

Therefore, physicists are constantly improving the Standard Model. Ten years ago, a large project was launched to weigh a W particle, a particle with a force Radioactivity. When the result was published in 2022, it made physicists raise their eyebrows.

Contrary to all expectations, very careful measurements showed that the W particle is much heavier than expected by the Standard Model.

It’s the first time ever that the brilliant theory has been disproved by an experiment. However, surprisingly, it got many physicists excited.

They have been searching for many years for a better theory that explains both gravity and the mysterious dark matter.

Gravity lacks a particle

Since the 1930s, thousands of experiments have shown that everything in the universe is made up of a few basic building blocks, the so-called elementary particles, which are subject to four fundamental forces of nature.

How building blocks and natural forces work together is best described by the Standard Model, which was developed in the 1970s and has since been confirmed and extended by a large number of experiments.

According to the Standard Model, forces of nature are transmitted to atoms by means of so-called force particles, but it only describes the force particles underlying three forces of nature: the electromagnetic force, the strong interaction, and the weak interaction.

Gravity still lacks particle strength.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Albert Einstein and Max Planck discovered that a particle of light transmits the electromagnetic force.

So the excitement was great when physicists at CERN, the European Research Organization for Particle Physics, in 1983 show up That the other natural force, the weak interaction, is also transmitted by particles: the W particle and its twin Z particle, which are behind the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei.

Thus it was clear that two of the four forces of nature are transmitted through the so-called quantum particles.

Since then, scientists have documented that even the strong interaction that holds atomic nuclei together works with the help of force particles.

In 2012, the Standard Model was perfected when a group of physicists at Cern discovered the theoretically expected model Higgs particlewhich gives all atomic building blocks and force particles their mass.

Now, however, new measurements of particle W’s mass threaten to upend the entire model.

Particle W is very heavy, 0.09 percent

In April 2022 Made generic Physicists at the now-shuttered Tevatron accelerator in the USA have reported their results with a weight of four million particle watts.

The result is the most accurate measurement yet of the mass of a W particle, with the researchers estimating it to be 80.43335 billion electron volts (GeV), which is equivalent to the mass of 85 protons.

Although it is only 0.09 percent more than the standard model forecast, it is a significant deviation. The margin of uncertainty in the Standard Model is only 0.01 percent.

There are only two possible explanations for this discrepancy. Either there is a systematic error in the measurements that no one has yet discovered, or there are unknown particles or natural forces in the universe that affect the mass of particle W and make it heavier than expected.

Particles have a hidden twin

All atomic building blocks and particles of energy obtain their mass through contact with what is called the Higgs particle. W particles bind strongly to the Higgs particle and become heavy, while, for example, electrons bind weaker and are therefore lighter.

The Standard Model only works with one Higgs particle, but there is a theory that predicts many Higgs particles, and it is a theory Supersymmetry.

If the unknown Higgs particle is associated with particle W, this could explain that it is heavier than the Standard Model predicts.

According to the theory, all particles contain an undiscovered heavier twin particle. Matter particles have a particle force as a twin, while force particles like a W particle have a matter particle as a twin.

Supersymmetry theory offers two revolutionary perspectives.

First, unlike the Standard Model, quantum gravity can be described mechanically, that is, with the help of force particles. According to the theory, gravity is mediated via hypothetical particles, called gravitons.

Second, undiscovered heavy twins may be what make up the mysterious dark matter in the universe. In this case, you will solve one of the greatest mysteries of physics. Dark matter is just another word for the fact that physicists can’t account for 85% of the mass in galaxies.

If the predominance of the W particle can be explained by supersymmetry, the new measurement result will make it possible to predict the mass of heavy double particles with very high accuracy.

Thus the theory can be tested empirically. Finding unknown particles in a particle accelerator is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but when physicists know what mass to look for, it becomes a lot easier.

First, however, W-particle dominance must be verified. Early next year, the LHC will have a record-breaking set of data from W-particle mass measurements ready, and if the excess is confirmed, the way has been set for new physics.