From WIRED · Jorge Garay · · 1m 40s
Physicists spot rarest particle decay ever observed
Scientists at CERN have detected an extraordinarily rare decay of matter for the first time, opening a window into physics at scales never before explored.
In brief
Scientists at CERN have detected an extraordinarily rare decay of matter for the first time, opening a window into physics at scales never before explored. CERN scientists observed the rarest known particle decay after four decades of searching, enabled by Large Hadron Collider upgrades and machine learning…
Quick answers
- How rare is this decay?
- The standard model predicts this transformation occurs once in every ten billion neutral B meson decays. This discovery is the first time an experiment has obtained evidence of this phenomenon.
- What is the key takeaway from Physicists spot rarest particle decay ever observed?
- CERN scientists observed the rarest known particle decay after four decades of searching, enabled by Large Hadron Collider upgrades and machine learning, potentially revealing new physics.
The rarest decay ever found
Scientists at CERN smashed protons together and found evidence of an extraordinarily rare particle decay.A neutral B meson decayed into a muon and an antimuon, a phenomenon physicists have sought for more than forty years.
“Physicists have been chasing this decay for more than 40 years.”
How rare is this decay?
The standard model predicts this transformation occurs once in every ten billion neutral B meson decays. This discovery is the first time an experiment has obtained evidence of this phenomenon.
What made this possible now
Upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider in two thousand twenty-four enabled faster data collection. New machine-learning techniques allowed researchers to suppress the vast background of processes that would have otherwise swamped the signals.
Welcome to the zeptoverse
This decay opens investigation into the zeptoverse, where distances are measured in zeptometers, equivalent to one quadrillionth of a meter. A typical atom is about one hundred thousand million zeptometers in diameter.
What comes next
Current results match physics predictions, but future measurements could reveal phenomena unique to the zeptoverse. Beyond it lies the Planck length, about sixty trillion times smaller, where physics as we know it breaks down completely.
The Big Bang connection
Access to this micro world could help scientists understand the first infinitesimal fraction of a second after the Big Bang, when the whole universe was such a size.
The main idea
CERN scientists observed the rarest known particle decay after four decades of searching, enabled by Large Hadron Collider upgrades and machine learning, potentially revealing new physics.
