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Article: Precise in every part; Particle physics.(Misbehaving muons)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 27, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A new measurement points towards the next level of physical theory
NOT all of particle physics has gone on hold in anticipation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a new accelerator being built at CERN (see previous article). Indeed, Lee Roberts and his collaborators at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, in New York state, have used a "retrofitted" 40-year-old machine known as the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron to make a measurement which, if confirmed, has troubling implications for the Standard Model of fundamental physics.
This measurement, which is to be published in a forthcoming issue of Physical Review Letters, concerns particles called muons. ...