At a lab in Batavia, Illinois, 200 physicists from seven countries have made probably the largest scientific discovery in decades.
It involves a subatomic particle called Muon. It’s about an electron, but 200 times harder.
So far, the standard model or plan for the 17 fundamental particles of the universe has focused on four forces: electromagnetism, gravity, strong interaction, and weak interaction.
But after Fermilab scientists accelerated a Muon through a huge magnetic field at the speed of light, it began to sway like a peak, in a way that conflicted with the standard model.
“New particles may appear, which are not taken into account, because they appear and exist in existence, pushing it a little differently than calculated,” said Rosi Reed, an associate professor of physics at Lehigh University.
Reed says it could be an indication of a fifth force or it could lead to explanations of cosmic mysteries.
“The standard model says nothing about gravity, another is that the standard model cannot fully explain why we exist, as well as why there is more matter than antimatter,” Reed said.
There has been no such discovery since 2012, when the Higgs boson was confirmed. This is the particle that gives mass to other particles.
Fermilab scientists still have a lot of data to analyze and will perform several experiments to find out if it is something new or the result of unknown information about existing forces.
Reed says that in both directions, it will generate a scientific study for future generations.