Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. The muon is a particle about two hundred times the mass of an electron, that exists for only about two millionths of a second, that continually strikes every inch of Earth's surface, and that seems to behave in a way that pokes a whole and long accepted laws of physics. Muan's, first discovered in the late nineteen thirties, are formed in nature when cosmic
rays strike particles in our planet's atmosphere. Muans are passing through you and everything around you at a speed close to that of light, and in April one, the particle made news headlines after researchers at the U S government's Fermie National Accelerator Laboratory, more commonly known as Fermie Lab at least the initial results of a three year long
muan G two experiment. The Fermi Lab study confirmed previous findings that the muan behaves in a way that's contrary to the standard model of particle physics, which is the theoretical framework that aims to describe how reality works at the tiniest level. It's also referred to as the present theory, muans, which exist in a sea of other tiny particles and anti particles that affect them, actually are slightly more magnetic
than the standard model would predict. That in turn points to the possible existence of other still unknown particles or forces. As one of the researchers, physicist Jason Bano explained in a news release from his alma matter, Florida International University, the team knew that if they confirmed the discrepancy in Muan's magnetism quote, we wouldn't know exactly what's causing it, but we wouldn't know it's something that we don't understand yet.
The initial results, along with other recent particle research, could help build the case for a new system of physics that would replace the standard model. For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke by email with Mark b Wise, a professor of high energy physics at the California Institute of Technology and a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, and if that doesn't sufficiently impress you, He also served as a technical consultant
on particle accelerators for the twenty film iron Man. Too Wise explained, muons are like electrons except two hundred times heavier according to Einstein's formula E equals mc squared, and this means that muan's at rest have greater energy than electrons. This allows them to decay to lighter particles while still
conserving energy overall. Another key difference is that electrons are believed to be pretty close to a mortal, but muans only exist for two point two millionths of a second before they decay into an electron and two kinds of neutrinos. The muons that are constantly being created when cosmic rays strike particles in Earth's atmosphere travel astonishing distances in their brief existence, moving it close to the speed of light.
They strike Earth's surface and pass through almost everything in their immediate path, potentially penetrating a mile or more into the Earth. Some have described muans as the key to understanding all sub atomic particles, though Wise doesn't go quite that far. He said in the Search for physics beyond
our present understanding, you should study all particles. The muan has some advantages, though, For example, it's anomalous magnetic moment is very precisely predicted, which makes it more sensitive to new physics beyond our present theory that would alter this prediction. At the same time, it can be measured very precisely. Studying muons isn't a simple matter, though. Fairmulab is using a seven hundred ton device containing three rings each fifty
feet or fifteen meters in diameter. There was shipped by barge and truck to Illinois from its original home at Brookhaven nash In the Laboratory in New York a few years back. The device is capable of generating a magnetic field of one point four or five tesla, which is approximately thirty thousand times out of Earth's magnetic field. A Wise said, it's fascinating that to study something so tiny and short lived they need these huge pieces of equipment.
When they're produced at high energy, they travel almost at the speed of light. It can travel a fair distance before they decay, so you might look for the evidence they leave in a detector. For example. Since muans are charged particles, they can ionize the matter they pass through, and the electrons that are produced by this ionization can
be detected. According to Wise, the Family Lab team's recent discovery that the particle is slightly more magnetic than physicists expected is significant, oh I said, it disagrees with the present theories prediction for the muan magnetic moment. So there is some new physics beyond that in our present theory that is present and change the prediction for this quantity.
Like many important discoveries, the Fermi Labs finding raises more new questions and there's much that scientists still want to know about the muan why said, what is the new physics is the question it raises. There are also some other anomalies that are not explained in the standard model that involved muans. Are they all connected in some way? Wise? Also sounds a note of caution about the FAMI Lab findings.
A quote. It may be there's some systematic effect in the experiment that is not understood and is impacting the interpretation of the measurement. Similarly for the theory, so this anomaly could ultimately disappear. It is very important to check such things as much as possible. Today's episode is based on the article muans these subtomic particles shaking up the world of physics on how Stuff works dot com, written
by Patrick J. Tiger. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot com and is produced by Tyler. Playing or more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.