LHC Team Probes a ‘Zeptoverse’ 100 Billion Times Smaller Than an Atom
Cambridge-led physicists using LHC data detected particle interactions at the smallest scale yet studied. Here is how they did it and what it could mean for dark matter.
Physicists have picked up signals from a scale of nature roughly 100 billion times smaller than an atom, the smallest yet explored, according to Education Times. Some researchers have started calling this realm the “zeptoverse.”
The work, led by scientists in Cambridge, used data from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The team says the result could eventually help in the search for dark matter, the unseen material that makes up a large share of the cosmos.
How a short-lived quark opened the window
The Large Hadron Collider, run by Cern on the border between Switzerland and France, smashes atoms together at high energy so physicists can study the pieces. In this analysis, researchers sifted through the debris of those collisions and focused on a particle called the beauty quark.
The beauty quark barely exists. It survives for about one and a half trillionths of a second before it decays into other particles. Even so, the team was able to track how it interacted with other tiny particles at a distance of a billion-trillionth of a meter. That is the scale the “zeptoverse” nickname refers to.
This was an analysis of collision data, an observation of how particles behave, and not a direct detection of anything new. Dr. Harry Cliff of Cambridge University, who led the data analysis, said the team was “knocking on the door” of the zeptoverse. He compared the result to a ringside seat for watching what new particles might be doing.
Why it matters for dark matter
Dark matter has never been seen directly. Scientists are confident it exists because its gravity pulls on ordinary matter, but it gives off no other sign of itself.
Some theoretical models predict that particles become more sensitive to dark matter at the tiny scales now being reached. If those models are right, dark matter could change the way quarks interact and decay. Measuring quark behavior this closely may therefore offer an indirect path to finding it. That link is still a theory: the new measurement does not show dark matter, and the models it would test remain unconfirmed.
What scientists need next
Cliff said the next task is to find out which new particles, if any, are present, and that will take far more data. To get it, the 28 countries in the project have agreed to a £150m upgrade of the LHCb detector. The upgrade would make the relevant particle decays happen ten times more often. “With that we can probe inside the zeptoverse and see what’s waiting,” Cliff said.
A funding gap in Britain
The United Kingdom’s part in that next phase is uncertain. Last year, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the government agency that funds research, said it would withdraw its share of the money for the upgrade. This summer it announced cuts to other particle physics and astronomy projects, including Jodrell Bank’s Lovell telescope.
Professor Tim Gershon, who leads the international LHCb collaboration, told BBC News that full UK involvement is now in doubt. He said the bigger long-term loss could be fewer chances to train young scientists. Dr. Mary Richardson-Slipper, a member of the team, said she is looking at jobs abroad and that many colleagues in fundamental physics have already left.
Professor Brian Cox of the University of Manchester, who was not part of the research, called the result important and criticized the funding cut, warning it could damage the UK’s research program and its international reputation. UKRI said it remains fully engaged with Cern, contributing about £175m a year as the lab’s second largest funder. A spokesperson said the agency took independent advice, chose a set of new infrastructure investments in areas such as clean energy, medical imaging and cultural heritage, and received more funding applications than it could support.
Source: Education Times
