To get a W boson in the first place, you literally have to smash two protons together. It's because, as Toback explains, the team "measured this tiny difference with such incredible precision that it sticks out like a sore thumb." And fascinatingly, these measurements sort of resemble crime-scene-style deduction. But he quickly added, "We don't think so." "It could be we got it wrong," Toback said. The science community had the same reaction, which is why researchers are now laser-focused on confirming that this greater W boson mass is really the case. ![]() ![]() You might be wondering if we're sure about this. "It's not a big difference, but we can really see clearly that it is different," said David Toback, a particle physicist from Texas A&M University and co-author of the study. Well, remember the new paper? We're pretty much entering that worst case scenario.Īn image of the particles in the Standard Model.Ī decade of calculations, measurements, cross-checking, head-scratching and deep breathing from about 400 international researchers concluded that the W boson is slightly heavier than the Standard Model predicts it should be. And if that were true, we'd have to change the model - we'd have to change our understanding of how all the particles in the universe work. Simply put, if this particle doesn't equal that mass, the rest of the model wouldn't quite work out. As such, the Standard Model predicts a few parameters for each "string," or particle, and a very important one is the W boson mass. If one string is too tight, stuff starts getting wonky - it doesn't matter which string. Think of each particle in the model as a string, perfectly organized to tie everything together. "It is one of the cornerstones of the Standard Model," said Giorgio Chiarelli, research director of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Italy, and co-author of the study.īut here's the crux of the Standard Model. More specifically, it spurs a paradox for the Standard Model of particle physics, a well-established, evolving theory that explains how all the universe's particles behave - protons, electrons, photons, and even those we don't really hear about like gluons, muons, I could go on. But it's actually a major problem for…kind of everything. Unless you're a physicist, at first glance, this might sound trivial. According to a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, 10 years of unimaginably precise data suggest the particle is more massive than our physics predicts. Just know that without the weak force, the sun would basically stop burning.Īnyway, there's drama with the W boson. ![]() You may have even pondered photons, the stuff coming out of lightbulbs in your room.īut right now, we need to worry about an odd little particle that usually escapes the limelight: the W boson.Īlong with its partner-in-crime, the Z boson, the W boson dictates what's called the "weak force." I'm going to save you from the rabbit hole of how the weak force works because it involves physics that'll explode our minds. You've likely come across electrons, negative blips roaming around those protons. You've probably heard of protons, positive specks anchoring atoms.
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