Six questions physicists ask when evaluating scientific claims
Here are six questions physicists ask themselves when judging the merit and meaning of a scientific claim. 1.
Five mysteries the Standard Model can’t explain
Oct 18, 2018 · The Standard Model is a thing of beauty. It is the most rigorous theory of particle physics, incredibly precise and accurate in its predictions. It mathematically lays out the 17 building blocks of nature: six quarks, six leptons, four force-carrier particles, and the Higgs boson. These are ruled by the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces.
The age of the universe - symmetry magazine
Using the WMAP data, scientists estimated the age of the universe to be 13.772 billion years, plus or minus 59 million years. In 2013, the European Space Agency’s Planck space telescope created an even more detailed map of the CMB temperature fluctuations and estimated the universe to be 13.82 billion years old, plus or minus 50 million years ...
The search for the sterile neutrino - symmetry magazine
Aug 17, 2021 · The search for the sterile neutrino. Back when it was theorized, scientists weren’t sure they would ever detect the neutrino; now they’re searching for a version of the particle that could be even more elusive. In Germany in 1930, a group of scientists held a conference on nuclear physics, and they invited Wolfgang Pauli.
Falsifiability and physics - symmetry magazine
Apr 23, 2019 · The theory is a natural outgrowth of a mathematical symmetry of spacetime, in ways similar to the Standard Model itself. It’s well established within particle physics, even though supersymmetric particles, if they exist, may be out of scientists’ experimental reach. SUSY could potentially resolve some major mysteries in modern physics.
What is the electroweak force? - symmetry magazine
Nov 30, 2023 · One force, divisible. Physicists use equations of motion to describe how matter and force particles interact, painting a picture of their likely movements and behavior. The electromagnetic force, the weak force, and their corresponding particles can all be described by what are known as gauge theories, mathematical tools that physicists use to ...
Incredible hulking facts about gamma rays | symmetry magazine
Gamma rays (indirectly) give life to Earth. Hydrogen nuclei are always fusing together in the core of the sun. When this happens, one byproduct is gamma rays. The energy of the gamma rays keeps the sun’s core hot. Some of those gamma rays also escape into the sun's outer layers, where they collide with electrons and protons and lose energy.
The deconstructed Standard Model equation - symmetry magazine
The deconstructed Standard Model equation. 07/28/16. By Rashmi Shivni. The Standard Model is far more than elementary particles arranged in a table. The Standard Model of particle physics is often visualized as a table, similar to the periodic table of elements, and used to describe particle properties, such as mass, charge and spin.
The quest to test quantum entanglement | symmetry magazine
The quasar experiment was the latest to test the freedom of choice assumption. The scientists determined the angle at which they would allow photons into their detectors based on the wavelength of the light they detected from the two distant quasars, something determined 7.8 and 12.2 billion years ago, respectively.
Five facts about the Big Bang | symmetry magazine
The Big Bang theory explains where all the hydrogen and helium in the universe came from. In the 1940s, Ralph Alpher and George Gamow calculated that the early universe was hot and dense enough to make virtually all the helium, lithium and deuterium (hydrogen with a neutron attached) present in the cosmos today; later research showed where the primordial hydrogen came from. This is known as ...