Physicists detect rare particle decay at CERN's Large Hadron Collider

Physicists at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) have reported the first evidence of an extremely rare particle decay, a finding that brings researchers closer to exploring a scale of nature nicknamed the "zeptoverse."

The discovery of rare decay

Using the upgraded LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), scientists observed a specific decay known as 'Bd to mu mu'. In this process, a particle containing a beauty quark decays into two muons.

According to Mirage News, scientists predict this decay is so rare that it is expected to occur only about once in every 10 billion beauty particles. The measurement reached a statistical significance of 3.2 sigma. While this is sufficient for physicists to describe the result as the first evidence of the decay, further data is required to reach the five-sigma threshold required to claim a formal discovery.

Exploring the zeptoverse

The term "zeptoverse" refers to an unexplored scale of nature at distances of a billion-trillionth of a metre, or a "zeptometre," which is 100 billion times smaller than an atom.

Dr. Harry Cliff of Cambridge University, who led the analysis of the data, said, "We're knocking on the door of this zeptoverse." He noted that the sub-atomic behavior provides researchers with a "ringside seat to the behaviour of possible new particles."

Researchers believe that at these extremely small scales, particles may be more sensitive to dark matter. While the new measurement agrees with the predictions of the Standard Model, scientists hope that increasingly precise measurements of these rare decays will help them search for signs of new physics that may lie beyond current theories.

Funding and future research

The LHCb experiment has undergone an upgrade that allows it to collect data at up to five times its previous rate. A further planned upgrade could increase the frequency of these decays tenfold.

However, the future of UK involvement in these research efforts has faced uncertainty. The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) agency announced it was withdrawing its share of the money for the planned upgrade, alongside cuts to other particle physics and astronomy projects.

Prof. Tim Gershon, who leads the LHCb international collaboration, told BBC News, "The UK is at risk of not being involved and making really major discoveries."

A UKRI spokesperson stated that while the agency remains a fully engaged member of CERN, as its second largest funder at approximately £175m per year, it had to prioritize other infrastructure investments in sectors such as clean energy and medical imaging. "As usual, there were more exciting applications for funding than we were able to support," the spokesperson said.

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Sources

• bbc.com: The zeptoverse: what is it and how will it transform physics?
• miragenews.com: Physicists Near Zeptoverse After 42-Year Particle Search | Mirage News

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