2023-09-25 13:00:00
Expérience Muon g-2. Christian Garavaglia Meteored Argentine 25/09/2023 15:00 4 min
A group of scientists near Chicago, USA, think they are on the verge to discover the existence of the fifth fundamental force of nature. Although additional data are needed to confirm the results, the latter, if conclusive, might mark the start of a new revolution in the world of physics.
The team detected signals suggesting unusual behavior of subatomic particles known as muons, contradicting predictions of the Standard Model.
The search for the fifth force is not just a theoretical exercise, but it has the potential to transform our understanding of the universe and open up new perspectives in physics.
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The four fundamental forces
In an article published in Physical Review Lettersthe researchers, who are all part of the international Muon g-2 (Muon g minus 2) collaboration at Fermilab, claim to have found new evidence that muons, particles similar to electrons but 200 times heavier, do not behave as they should according to current theories.
And this difference, they say, might be due to the action of a fifth force of nature, which is still unknown to us.
Although the evidence is strong, the team admits that they do not yet have conclusive evidence to validate their hypothesis.
Quadrupole magnet leading to the Muon g-2 particle storage ring. Source: Fermilab: Fermilab
For half a century, physicists study how the universe works with the standard model, which describes reality by the interactions between different particles using four fundamental forces: electromagnetism, gravity, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force.
The gravity controversy
As indicated in the average, the theory has so far only been able to completely describe three of the four forces: the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. Each of them, in fact, works thanks to the action of a messenger particle, carrying the minimum unit of each force.
The standard model has not yet integrated gravity into its description, which has been attempted, without success, for several years. Gravity, like other forces, is believed to have its own carrier particle, the “graviton”, but no one has been able to find it until now.
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The muon, for its part, is an elementary particle which stands out for its particularity: it does not disintegrate into other particles. Currently it is only detected in cosmic rays and in the laboratory. Its existence in the universe is not constant, since its presence is extremely fleeting, lasting 2.2 microseconds.
Could this discovery change our understanding of the universe?
The fundamental basis of our universe lies in the configuration of atoms, which are themselves made up of even tinier particles. These particles interact with each other, giving rise to the four fundamental forces of nature.
If this discovery is confirmed, it might constitute one of the most important scientific milestones of recent centuries.
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