http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/particle physics http://io9.com/tag/particle physics

There's an idea that suggests all the universe's electrons are actually one particle forever traveling backwards and forwards in time. It's a simple, elegant idea that solves some of physics's biggest mysteries. There's only one tiny problem. It's complete nonsense. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5876966&view=rss&microfeed=true

Every year, Edge.org poses a question to a hand-picked group of the world's "most complex and sophisticated minds." Then they publish the responses. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5876866&view=rss&microfeed=true

For the last few months, physicists have been attempting to explain the apparent discovery of neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. No one has as yet refuted this finding, but some other particles may refute these neutrinos' existence. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5871372&view=rss&microfeed=true

This morning, physicists representing the Large Hadron Collider's two largest experiments — ATLAS and CMS — announced that both teams have independently uncovered signals that point to the appearance of the Higgs boson. That's the long-sought sub-atomic particle thought to endow all other particles with mass. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5867512&view=rss&microfeed=true

The congressional supercommittee responsible for trimming 1.5 trillion dollars from the US federal budget has failed to deliver, triggering a decade-long, 1.2-trillion-dollar budget-slash set to begin in 2013. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5861936&view=rss&microfeed=true

When physicists announced in September that they had observed neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light, the scientific community was justifiably skeptical. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5860744&view=rss&microfeed=true

Results from independent cross-checks of last month's FTL neutrino findings wont start rolling in for at least a few more months. In the meantime, however, physicists at the OPERA lab who made the initial observations will be running their experiment yet again — only this time they'll be measuring things a little differently. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5854325&view=rss&microfeed=true

The recent announcement that neutrinos had been observed seemingly going faster than the speed of light sent shockwaves through the physics community. But there's one possible explanation that could keep Einstein's relativity intact and open up a whole new cosmos. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5844795&view=rss&microfeed=true

Yesterday, CERN physicists shocked the world with news of a scientific finding that could revolutionize the field of physics. The researchers claim to have observed what many had believed to be impossible: subatomic particles called neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5843395&view=rss&microfeed=true

So did the folks at CERN really record neutrinos moving faster than light? Was Einstein wrong about light speed being a universal speed limit? It's too early to tell, and regular io9 contributor Dr. Dave Goldberg has some doubts. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5843112&view=rss&microfeed=true

Looks like Einstein may have been wrong — An international team of scientists at CERN has recorded neutrino particles traveling faster than the speed of light. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5842947&view=rss&microfeed=true

Once again, there's excitement in the physics community about the possible discovery of the Higgs boson. But this time, it's multiple discoveries...both experiments at the Large Hadron Collider have detected some intriguing possibilities, as has Fermilab's Tevatron. What's going on? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5824491&view=rss&microfeed=true

One of the strangest and most exotic theories to come out of theoretical physics is that the entire universe is a projection of a two-dimensional shell. But the latest evidence suggests the cosmic hologram really is just a crazy theory. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5818008&view=rss&microfeed=true

One of the two research teams at Fermilab has been on the trail of a new subatomic particle for months, and they're almost certain they've found it. But the other research team has just checked the data...and they've found nothing. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5811106&view=rss&microfeed=true

Back in April, Fermilab physicists detected a strange bump in their data that couldn't be explained by any known particles. The mystery remains unsolved, and it's looking more and more likely that we're on the verge of a major discovery. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5809818&view=rss&microfeed=true

If you take two flat mirrors and place them very close together, the virtual particles that pop into existence between the mirrors will actually force them together. But that's nothing compared to when mirrors approach the speed of light. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5806580&view=rss&microfeed=true

If you've ever looked at a model of the atom, you'd probably guess that electrons are spherical. But these elementary particles are actually slightly egg-shaped...and proving that could mean trouble for one particular model of subatomic physics. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5805610&view=rss&microfeed=true

There's no reason at all why something as mysterious and cosmic should sync up with the changing of seasons on Earth...and yet now two independent sources claim that's exactly what it's doing. Just what is going on here? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5798248&view=rss&microfeed=true

Rumors are again swirling that the Higgs boson, the missing subatomic particle of the Standard Model, has been found at last. But where did these reports come from, and should we believe them? Let's take a look at the evidence. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5795179&view=rss&microfeed=true

Yesterday, physicists announced the discovery of a strange anomaly, one that cannot easily be explained by our current understanding of particle physics. We examine what's really going on here, and why we all may have missed the really exciting discovery. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5789759&view=rss&microfeed=true

At 5:00 PM Eastern, Fermilab scientists will announce a major discovery. The early word is that this is not the Higgs boson, but instead something completely unexpected. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5789567&view=rss&microfeed=true

Neutrinos are a notorious thorn in physicists' sides, as the majority of them go missing while traveling from the Sun to our detectors on Earth. We're alsomiscounting their antimatter counterparts, which could mean big things for our understanding of physics. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5788537&view=rss&microfeed=true

A hundred years ago next week, superconductivity was discovered. Now we know electric charge can flow through ultra-cold objects without resistance. How better to celebrate this anniversary than with an awesomely crazy idea about ultra-hot superconductors forming in deep space? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5787141&view=rss&microfeed=true

We first created positrons, electrons' antimatter counterparts, in 1932. But it took decades to create more antiparticles. Now, the newly-discovered antihelium-4 could help us figure out whether there are vast pockets of antimatter in our universe. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5784323&view=rss&microfeed=true

A crucial goal for the Large Hadron Collider is to find the long-sought Higgs boson. It might also create another Higgs particle that only travels through hidden dimensions, meaning it can pop in and out of any point in time. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5782887&view=rss&microfeed=true

Supersymmetry holds that all the subatomic particles we know have counterparts that are almost exactly the same, only much, much heavier. But the Large Hadron Collider hasn't found any supersymmetric particles yet, and they're running out of places to hide. Will we have to come up with a new model for subatomics? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5773786&view=rss&microfeed=true

Quantum entanglement says that two particles can become intertwined so that they always share the same properties, even if they're separated in space. Now it seems particles can be entangled in time, too. Who's ready for some serious quantum weirdness? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5744143&view=rss&microfeed=true

Physics is still grappling with two basic questions about the nature of matter: why is there more matter than antimatter, and where and what is all the dark matter? Meet the hypothetical X particle, the potential answer to both questions. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5705673&view=rss&microfeed=true

In this excerpt from Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science (Basic Books), author Ian Sample tells the story of how Peter Higgs went from being a joke to a legend with just one lecture. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5682875&view=rss&microfeed=true

Gravity is usually the arch-nemesis of quantum mechanics, stubbornly refusing to play nice with the forces governing the interactions of subatomic particles. Now we've discovered a rare instance where gravity actually assists quantum interactions, which just might help unify physics. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5682295&view=rss&microfeed=true

Yesterday, we presented a comprehensive guide to the world of subatomic particles, exploring all the known elementary and composite particles. But now it's time to put certainty to one side and explore the wild, mind-bending world of undiscovered particles.

More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5640527&view=rss&microfeed=true

Muons, neutrinos, supersymmetric partners, the infamous Higgs boson - with so many different subatomic particles flying about, it's no wonder theoretical physics can be so confusing. That's why we made this (reasonably) simple guide to all the different elementary particles. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5639192&view=rss&microfeed=true

Seconds after the Big Bang, the Universe was a soup of matter and antimatter. But today, everything around us is matter. So what and where is the antimatter? Last week, scientists came one step closer to finding out. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5491452&view=rss&microfeed=true

Now that the Large Hadron Collider has been switched on and the world remains more or less intact, Hadron-mania has gripped the Internet. LHC enthusiasts check the status of Earth's destruction, view Collider porn, and, of course, commemorate the event itself with clever t-shirts. If you're looking for the perfect gift for the particle physicist in your life, consider one of these tees, which play largely on irrational fears of the LHC and the obvious implications of a certain typographical error. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5049330&view=rss&microfeed=true

Science can be pretty weird, especially theoretical physics, but weirder still is watching someone rapping about the Large Hadron Collider. (That's the giant device in Switzerland that will recreate the Big Bang, among other things.) Time to recalibrate your strangeness meters - science writer Kate McAlpine and some friends filmed themselves busting various moves deep in the caverns of the LHC while Kate dropped mad verse about the collider. Check out the video, below, and find out why other colliders are just suckas. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5044071&view=rss&microfeed=true