The investigation focused on data collected by the LHCb experiment situated along the Swiss-French border. Researchers identified an exceptionally rare breakdown where a subatomic particle containing a short-lived beauty quark decays into two muons. Because these fleeting decays are difficult to capture, studying them offers a rare testing ground for uncataloged physics. Future data collection aims to confirm whether hypothetical particles at this tiny scale connect directly to dark matter.
Key points
Detecting deviations in rare quantum decays could reveal undiscovered forces or particles…: Detecting deviations in rare quantum decays could reveal undiscovered forces or particles beyond the Standard Model.
Observations at the zeptometre scale may help explain dark matter, which is currently kno…: Observations at the zeptometre scale may help explain dark matter, which is currently known only by its gravitational effects.
Scientists plan to gather additional experimental data to determine if hypothetical parti…: Scientists plan to gather additional experimental data to determine if hypothetical particles operate within this newly observed realm.
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Scientists have detected signals from the smallest scale of nature ever explored, opening a new window into a mysterious world around 100 billion times smaller than an atom, which physicists have nicknamed the 'zeptoverse'. The finding could help researchers investigate unknown particles and forces that may hold clues to some of the universe's biggest mysteries, including dark matter.
According to a report by BBC News, the research was led by scientists based at the University of Cambridge using data from the Large Hadron Collider's LHCb experiment at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory on the Swiss-French border.
The research was conducted using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a massive particle accelerator operated by CERN on the Swiss-French border. The machine smashes particles together at extremely high speeds, allowing scientists to study the smaller particles produced in these collisions.
The researchers detected evidence of an extremely rare process involving a subatomic particle containing a beauty quark, which breaks down into two particles called muons. Beauty quarks exist for an extremely short period before decaying into other particles, making their behaviour difficult…
Researchers from McGill University and the University of Toronto-Scarborough discovered that fear prompts the brain to merge memory representations of safe and hazardous environments instead of keeping them distinct. This neural overlap favors rapid threat detection over accuracy, offering fresh insight into the biological roots of trauma-related conditions. The findings contest classic scientific assumptions about how the brain categorizes environmental risks.
Researchers analyzing archived museum specimens have tied the historic collapse of amphibians in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest to the fungal pathogen *Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis*. While environmental factors like climate change were once blamed, tissue tests confirmed the deadly fungus invaded the area precisely during the die-offs between 1979 and 1982. This work clarifies ecological events that occurred decades before the pathogen was formally described.
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