Another Nail in the Coffin for the Standard Model?

Summary: Data from the LHC's last run is still being analysed and with this comes possible new data to suggest faults in the standard model. Researchers at University of Maryland are studying leptons, subatomic particles that help to make up our universe. While studying the decay rate, they observed that not all particles decayed at the same rate as they should. Something was influencing the process.

What this mysterious force is, we do not know, but it is not predicted to exist in the standard model. This experiment is building on another experiment of their that also seemed to contradict the standard model. So it is not an instrumental error. Whatever it is, I am excited to find out.


RT
University of Maryland

10 Facts about Antimatter

Summary: Remember when this blog started and I tried to keep it focused solely on antimatter? That turned out to be too specific but I am once again able to get back to the heart of this blog. While not and advancement in antimatter studies, this is a recent article on ten facts you may not have known about antimatter. Contained within the article are helpful links to more topics related to antimatter that can quench your thirst for knowledge. Enjoy.

SymmetryMag

New experiments planned for Fermilab

Summary: This upcoming spring Fermilab will begin building new facilities for a Muon Campus. Not much is know yet, but they hope to utilize muons to be extremely sensitive probes for physics that the Standard Model can't explain. (Yea!)


Fermilab: http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today/archive/archive_2013/today13-01-11.html


As always, if you ever have a question on one of the articles or space in general, let me know.

Dark matter

If you do not understand Dark Matter, here is a good blog post comparing the universe to making a cake.

Scienceblogs: http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/12/07/yes-we-really-really-need-dark-matter/#.UMoxBFcfs8I.twitter

Wishy-washy Higgs

Summary: The inconsistencies and weird things in the data that lead scientists to announce the discovery of a new particle back in July, curiously still remain. It seems to be a difference in measurement that makes the difference.

There have also been hints of other weird science occurring that frankly does not make much sense to me, but something about particles flattening and gaining gluons as they reach the speed of light, possibly being observed.

Either way, next week the LHC will shift into a new phase before being shut down for upgrading at the beginning of 2013. Not to worry though, they still have tons of data to analyze.


NewScientist
Higgs:http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23003-higgs-boson-having-an-identity-crisis.html
flat particles: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22556-lhc-sees-hint-of-highspeed-particle-pancake.html

Another blow struck at the Standard Model

Summary: The scientists at the LHCb have observed a Bs meson decay into three muons, a decay possibility that is extremely rare. This puts a hole in the Supersymmetry model which attempts to explain some if the inconsistencies in the standard model. As usual, this is not conclusive evidence, but it seems to indicate that our universe is more complicated than a standard model can predict.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20300100

New particle found, possible Higgs

Summary: Scientists at CERN have announced the discovery of what seems to be a new particle. They do not know if it is the Higgs Boson, though it is in the right area, and they don't have a high enough degree of certainty to call it a formal discovery. However it is close enough to yield celebration all over the physics community. BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18702455 Symmetry Mag: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2012/07/04/search-for-higgs-boson-at-large-hadron-collider-reveals-new-particle/ Video of press conference: cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1459604 Follow CERN on twitter for all the latest updates.

Cracks in the Standard Model?

Summary: "Recently analyzed data from the BaBar experiment show that one type of particle decay happens more often than predicted by the Standard Model.  This excess, seen with a “3.4 sigma” level of certainty, is not enough to claim a definitive break from the accepted theory, but it is a sign that something could well be amiss."
Basically, particles aren't decaying into different particles with the same frequency as predicted. If validated it could point to the Higgs particle having a charge and there would be a huge ripple effect seen in the Standard Model.


Symmetry Magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2012/06/18/babar-data-may-hint-at-new-physics/

C, the speed limit

The Icarus collaboration has proven that neutrinos do not violate the speed of light.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17364682

CERN Press release: http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2011/PR19.11E.html

Symmetry Magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2012/03/16/new-neutrino-measurement-finds-particles-obeying-speed-limit/

New data from the Tev

After sifting through more data from the Tevatron, there are hints of a particle between 115 and 135 GeV with a certainty of 2.2 sigma. (Not enough to call it a discovery.) The LHC has found a suggestive "bump" as well at the same mass even though the experiments conducted to get the data were extremely different.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17269647
Quantum Diaries: http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2012/03/07/the-higgs-boson-won%E2%80%99t-be-playing-hide-and-seek-much-longer/

Symmetry Magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2012/03/07/tevatron-experiments-see-possible-signs-of-the-higgs-boson-in-favored-region/

One in a Billion

LHCb, an experiment within the LHC, has further proven that the standard model is correct. (Much to my disappointment.) They have watched B mesons to determine how many decay in which manner. Their data lined up with what the standard model dictated so it seems as if the standard model is gaining validity.

Quantum Diaries: http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2012/03/05/lhcb-finds-a-few-very-special-events-out-of-10-billions/