Latest Elementary particle Stories
"For the first time we can actually see the structure of individual aerosol particles floating in air, their 'native habitat'," said DESY scientist Henry Chapman from the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) in Hamburg. "This will have important implications for various fields from climate modelling to human health." CFEL is a joint venture of Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, the German Max Planck Society and the University of Hamburg. Aerosol particles like soot play...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Scientists have determined that previously undetected particles could be seen as they accumulate around black holes. Vienna University of Technology scientists have discovered a method to prove the existence of hypothetical "axions," which are particles with a very low mass. “The existence of axions is not proven, but it is considered to be quite likely”, Daniel Grumiller, a researcher on the project, said in a press release. Grumiller, along with...
Recently analyzed data from the BaBar experiment may suggest possible flaws in the Standard Model of particle physics, the reigning description of how the universe works on subatomic scales. The data from BaBar, a high-energy physics experiment based at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, show that a particular type of particle decay called “B to D-star-tau-nu” happens more often than the Standard Model says it should. In this type of decay, a...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) are closing in on the so-called ‘God Particle’ that is the last major missing piece to the theoretical Standard Model of how the universe works at its most basic level. The God Particle, more properly know as the Higgs boson, is a hypothetical particle that exists throughout the known universe and when fit into the Standard Model, explains why fundamental particles like quarks and...
The Director of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) says that he is confident that his group will have proven the existence of the Higgs Boson before the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is turned off for upgrades at year's end. Speaking at the Hay Festival on Saturday, Dr. Rolf-Dieter Heuer said that the LHC will be closed down at the end of 2012 and will remain non-operational for upwards of two years, during which time it will receive upgrades to enhance its power and allow...
It has not discovered the Higgs Boson -- not yet, anyway -- but the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator has revealed a never-before-discovered particle comprised of three quarks. The discovery, which was announced Friday by Symmetry Magazine, was made by University of Zurich physicists and was based on data gathered in the CMS detector at the Geneva, Switzerland-based facility, which is overseen by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). According to Symmetry...
After a search that has lasted roughly three-quarters of a century, researchers believe they have at long last discovered evidence of an elusive particle that could be its own anti-particle. The existence of the particle, which is known as the Majorana fermion, was first predicted some 75 years ago, according to BBC News Science Correspondent Jonathan Amos. Now, a team of Dutch scientists believe that they have created an electronic device small enough to test for the Majorana, and they...
After a short winter break, physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the French-Swiss border have set a new world record by successfully smashing two 4 teraelectronvolt (TeV) proton beams together producing a total of 8 TeVs, as they continue to search for the elusive Higgs boson “God particle.” Following the record-breaking smashup yesterday (April 5 at 12:38 a.m.), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) scientists declared ‘stable beams,’ marking...
New work suggests constructing novel particle opens the door to taming the mysteries of quantum tunneling Scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge have used light to help push electrons through a classically impenetrable barrier. While quantum tunneling is at the heart of the peculiar wave nature of particles, this is the first time that it has been controlled by light. Their research is published today, 05 April, in the journal Science. Particles cannot normally pass through...
Fermions exhibit collective behavior in unexpected situations, according to new research in Nature Some people like company. Others prefer to be alone. The same holds true for the particles that constitute the matter around us: Some, called bosons, like to act in unison with others. Others, called fermions, have a mind of their own. Different as they are, both species can show "collective" behavior -- an effect similar to the wave at a baseball game, where all spectators carry out the...
