Major recent developments, driven by support from CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, are providing deeper insights into the fundamental nature of our universe.
The ongoing experiments at CERN are aimed at exploring the smallest building blocks of matter and the forces that govern them. By revealing the dynamics of these forces, scientists can gradually gain a better fundamental understanding of the origin, structure and behaviour of the universe.
CERN is an intergovernmental organization and is home to the largest and most advanced particle physics laboratory in the world. It is also home to the famous Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27-kilometer ring of superconducting magnets that researchers working at the facility use to increase the energy of particles, enabling experiments that cannot be performed anywhere else on Earth and providing clues to some of the most intriguing questions physicists have about the nature of matter and energy.
In recent weeks, a series of achievements made possible by CERN have taken major steps toward resolving these lingering questions about the cosmos. In April, researchers working at the facility announced a new milestone in measuring the electroweak mixing angle, in new findings that will further refine scientists’ understanding of the Standard Model of particle physics.
This achievement, which comes from an ongoing collaboration with researchers at the University of Rochester and members of the worldwide particle physics community, will help to better understand the conditions immediately following the explosive birth of our universe and provide new insights into the enduring mysteries of particle physics.
The research was led by Arie Bodek, an experimental particle physicist at the University of Rochester, with support from Europe’s premier particle physics laboratory and the famous Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It was part of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Collaboration.
A key element of the Standard Model, the electroweak mixing angle, also known as the Weinberg angle, is used by physicists to describe the relative strengths of the electromagnetic and weak forces, as well as how they combine to form the electroweak interaction. Measuring it is useful for understanding the fundamental forces of the universe and how they interact on extremely small scales, which scientists hope will provide deeper insights into the properties of matter and energy.
Such insights could significantly improve our understanding of the Standard Model, which currently describes our best understanding of particle interactions and predicts many phenomena in physics and astronomy.
The electroweak theory has its origins in 19th century observations that initially linked electricity and magnetism, leading to connections with the weak force in atomic nuclei that is now responsible for radioactive decay and the production of stellar energy. According to the electroweak theory, all of these forces are essentially seen as weak manifestations of a single force.
“The recent measurements of the electroweak mixing angle are incredibly precise, calculated from proton collisions at CERN, and advance our understanding of particle physics,” Bodek said in a recent statement. Bodek and his team’s work builds on the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson, a particle that plays a key role in unraveling the origin of mass in the universe.
The Rochester team’s recent research yielded one of the most precise measurements of the weak mixing angle ever derived from studies at CERN or elsewhere. The recent measurements also conform to the Standard Model, unlike previous measurements that raised more questions than answers.
Graduate student Rhys Taus and postdoctoral associate Aleko Khukhunaishvili used new techniques to significantly improve the precision of the recent measurements. This allowed the team to significantly reduce the systematic uncertainties that hampered previous measurement attempts.
“The Rochester team has been developing innovative techniques and measuring these electroweak parameters since 2010, and implementing them at the LHC,” Bodek said. By exploiting a deeper understanding of the weak mixing angle, future efforts will yield a better understanding of the fundamental forces, giving physicists a deeper understanding of matter and energy in their very smallest manifestations.
The new measurements of the electroweak mixing angle are just one of a number of recent developments made possible by CERN, which are providing physicists with important new insights into the inner workings of nature and the cosmos.
Last week, The debriefing reported the first successful demonstration of quantum entanglement in top quarks. This is a new breakthrough discovery that sheds new light on the behavior of fundamental particles and their interactions at distances not achievable via light-speed communication.
The achievement announced last week, led by Professor Regina Demina, also of the University of Rochester, extends the perplexing phenomenon known as “spooky action at a distance” to some of the heaviest known particles and provides new insights into high-energy quantum mechanics.
“These new techniques have ushered in a new era of precise tests of the predictions of the Standard Model,” Bodek said of the recent research conducted at CERN.
Micah Hanks is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.orgFollow his work on micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.