Physicists know that their elegant theoretical description of forces and particles — the standard model of particle physics — ...
For the past half century or so, a theory known by the understated name of the Standard Model has dominated the field of particle physics. This theory provides us with a detailed description of the 17 ...
In 1930, a young physicist named Carl D. Anderson was tasked by his mentor with measuring the energies of cosmic rays—particles arriving at high speed from outer space. Anderson built an improved ...
The Standard Model is one of the most well-tested theories in particle physics. But scientists are searching for new physics beyond it. Humans have always sought to understand the essence of the world ...
Mystery no more Artist’s conception of the magnetic moment of the muon – a sub-atomic particle similar to, but heavier than, ...
An unexpected behavior in a particle decay seems to disagree with the predictions of the Standard Model, despite its high ...
Scientists working at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider may be seeing the strongest hints yet of physics beyond the Standard Model — the decades-old theory that explains the fundamental particles and ...
Learn about the Standard Model of particle physics and how physicists use it to predict the (subatomic) future. In ancient times, Greeks interested in forecasting the future would voyage on the ...
Particle physics has always proceeded in two ways, of which new particles is one. The other is by making very precise measurements that test the predictions of theories and look for deviations from ...
The muon is often described as the electron's heavy cousin. A more appropriate description might be its rogue relation. Since its discovery triggered the words "who ordered that" (Isidor Isaac Rabi, ...
There’s something amiss with a mass. A new measurement of the mass of an elementary particle, the W boson, has defied expectations. The result hints at a possible flaw in physicists’ otherwise ...
If you ask a physicist like me to explain how the world works, my lazy answer might be: “It follows the Standard Model.” The Standard Model explains the fundamental physics of how the universe works.