Particles Decay Discovery at LHC Could Be Key to ‘New Physics'
Large Hadron Collider researchers think they have discovered the reason why there is more matter than anti-matter.
The LHC-beauty or LHCb research, one of six experiments at the LHC, has found that particles called D-mesons seem to decay slightly differently from their antiparticles. The LHCb team reported a difference of about 0.8 percent - a significant difference that, if true, could herald the first "new physics" to be found at the LHC.
Earlier, the CERN center in Switzerland said the LHC has surpassed its objectives for 2011, and with this great performance the science community can look forward to a "new physics."
In a statement earlier released by CERN, it said that the LHC team has largely surpassed its operational objectives, steadily increasing the rate at which the LHC has delivered data from the experiments.
For the LHCb experiment, LHCb physicist Matthew Charles said spotting such a difference in the behavior of matter and antimatter particles may also finally help explain why the universe is overwhelmingly made of matter.
Unlike other experiments at the Fermi National Accelerator facility in the U.S., LHCb is particularly suited for examining what is called "charge-parity violation," which is the slight difference in behavior if a given particle is swapped for its antimatter counterpart and turned around one of its axes.
"Our result is more significant because our precision is improved - somewhat more precise than all of the previous results put together," Charles said.
Charles, however, said that there are many steps between confirming their experiment's findings and resolving the theory to accommodate it.
The Large Hadron Collider, considered as the world's most powerful particle collider, has been performing beyond expectations.
"So far, it has come through with flying colours, but thanks to the great performance of the LHC, we are reaching levels of sensitivity where we can see beyond the Standard Model. The researchers, especially the young ones, are experiencing great excitement, looking forward to new physics," said Steve Myers, CERN's director for accelerators and technology.