Challenging Particle Physics System (this name will probably generate lots of hits!) (742 hits)
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Submitted by Ralph Master Nator (View user info) at 2003-08-18 18:33:53 EDT
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/08/14/2003063665
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The universe may have changed
PARTICLE PHYSICS: The Standard Model of Elementary Particles, which has been accepted with all of its flaws for three decades, is being challenged by NTU physicists
By Chiu Yu-Tzu
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Aug 14, 2003,Page 2
A Taiwanese doctoral student at National Taiwan University (NTU) has discovered evidence of a new phenomenon that calls into question a well-accepted theory of the birth of the universe -- the Standard Model of Elementary Particles, and if his evidence is verified it could mean the dawn of a new era of theoretical physics.
In early August, 24-year-old Chen Kai-feng (³¯³Í·) of NTU's Department of Physics, came to results inconsistent with the Standard Model of Elementary Particles by analyzing raw data from experiments conducted at the particle accelerator at Japan's High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba.
"We are 99 percent confident of the appearance of new physical phenomena [that challenges current theory] based on Chen's discovery," NTU physicist Wang Min-zu (¤ý¦W¾§) said at a press conference held at NTU yesterday.
Wang said a new theory would have to be crafted about the formation of the universe, if Chen's discovery is verified.
According to the NTU, Koji Hara, who just received a Ph.D. from Osaka University, also contributed key parts to the achievement.
Hwang Woei-yann (¶À°¶«Û), also a physicist at NTU, said that, in the late 1980s, defects in the Standard Model has triggered scientists to search for evidence supporting "supersymmetry," an attractive theory which provides a connection between all known elementary particles and can simplify many complex interactions.
"Chen's discovery could be the first successful observation of an expression of particles' supersymmetric characteristics," Hwang said.
Taiwan became part of a Japan-based research group known as Belle in 1994. Since then, the National Science Council (NSC) has invested NT$10 million annually on the project.
Working with 300 other physicists from 14 countries at the accelerator laboratory, Taiwan's team led by Hou Wei-shu («Jºû®¤), also an NTU physics professor, collided particles and anti-particles at high energies to study minute differences between the way matter and antimatter interact.
Chen, a member of Hou's team, yesterday was in Japan to complete some follow-up work on 68 cases of what are called "B meson decays."
"The process of inferring a conclusion from what they observed was quite challenging. But it proved worthwhile" to follow the evidence to its conclusion, Chen said to the media via Web camera.
Representatives of the Belle groups yesterday released the astonishing information at the "Lepton Photon 2003 Conference" at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago.
Hou said a research paper about the discovery would be sent to Physical Review Letters, an academic journal published by the American Physical Society, today.
Chang Ching-ray (±i¼y·ç), chairman of the Department of Physics at NTU, said Chen was one of the talented high school students who was granted admission. Last year, Chen's master thesis was awarded by the NSC.
Meanwhile, physicists at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California are pursuing the same goal with the Belle groups -- to help people understand the workings of the universe at its largest and smallest scales, from revealing the origin of matter shortly after the Big Bang, to uncovering the secrets of elementary particles and their interaction.
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What will those crazy Japs think of next?
The title was sarcastic, by the way. I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
User Reviews
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2003-08-19 12:26:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wang.
Submitted by Nator (user info) at 2003-08-19 12:13:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Me neither.
Submitted by xLisaCatx (user info) at 2003-08-19 10:57:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
They can't say what he found because nothing has been published yet. It's like a movie trailer, only minus any scenes from the movie itself.
I can't wait to see what they have to say.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2003-08-18 23:35:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Damn! Just when I got used to the Standard Model of Elementary Particles, it's all gonna change. Christ on a stick. What am I gonna do now?
Submitted by etruscan (user info) at 2003-08-18 21:03:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm no physicist, but I think their saying that they've discovered a way in which subatomic particles behave symmetrically relative to the law gravity and the laws of quantum physics. They've been having problems with this for a long time leading most people to believe that the laws of gravity and quantum phyics must be wrong in some way.
unfortunately someone says they figure this shit out every 6 months and then they're proven wrong by people who try to recreate the phenomena. I could also be totally full of shit but I'm pretty sure this is what they mean by super-symmetry. Try reading Hyperspace by Miccio Kaku(SP?), it deals with this stuff and I found it even easier to comprehend than Hawkings book.
Submitted by Chad_Sexington (user info) at 2003-08-18 20:58:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Haha! Wang! His name is WANG!
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2003-08-18 20:41:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
but what does it mean?
change it how?
this reminds me of the first time I tried to read about string theory, wait let me fire up another bowl and try again.
Submitted by Slovin (user info) at 2003-08-18 20:31:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Notice how they tell us that his discovery will revolutionize theoretical physics, yet they never tell us what the fuck he discovered.
Submitted by gbusman (user info) at 2003-08-18 20:24:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That ain't shit, why just the other day I took some anti-particles and hit them with a hammer and saw exactly the same thing...
What the hell. I'm glad someone understands this stuff.
-Bus
Submitted by qmakowski (user info) at 2003-08-18 20:21:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
lots of hits... no reviews... heh....