Science & discovery
The Muon g-2 Discrepancy: A Crack in the Standard Model
11 min
Subatomic particles called muons are wobbling faster than theory predicts at Fermilab. This discrepancy suggests the existence of a fifth force of nature or undiscovered particles that interact with our world.
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Show notes
Muons act like microscopic bar magnets that wobble when placed inside a powerful magnetic field.
The fifty foot superconducting ring used for testing required a three thousand two hundred mile barge journey.
Environmental factors as subtle as the moon's gravity can shift the experiment's sensitive magnetic field.
Muons wobble faster than predicted, suggesting invisible forces or undiscovered particles are pushing them.
The current statistical discrepancy has a one in forty thousand chance of being a random accident.
New supercomputer simulations called Lattice QCD might explain the wobble without needing new laws of physics.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Fat Electron and the Quantum Sea2 min
- 3The Seven-Hundred-Ton Swiss Watch3 min
- 4The Standard Model Under Siege3 min
- 5The Theoretical Counter-Attack2 min
- 6Outro1 min
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