On the surface of a table, physicists detect a hitherto undiscovered particle

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This recently found particle might explain the existence of dark matter.

A new magnetic relative of the Higgs boson has been found by research. Scientists discovered this new particle. This never-before-seen particle, named the axial Higgs boson, was identified using an experiment that could fit on a tiny kitchen countertop. In contrast, the discovery of the Higgs boson needed the incredible particle-accelerating capacity of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

This magnetic cousin of the Higgs boson, the particle that gives other particles mass, could be a candidate for dark matter, which accounts for 85 percent of the total group of the universe but is only revealed through gravity. In addition to being a first in its own right, this magnetic cousin of the Higgs boson could be a candidate for dark matter.

According to Kenneth Burch, a professor of physics at Boston College and the principal researcher on the team that produced the finding, who was quoted by Live Science as saying, "When my student presented me the data, I felt she must be incorrect." "It's not every day that you find a new particle sitting on the surface of your tabletop," the speaker said.

The Higgs boson, discovered by the ATLAS and CMS detectors at the LHC a decade ago in 2012, is distinct from the axial Higgs boson because the latter possesses a magnetic moment, also known as a magnetic strength or orientation, that generates a magnetic field. The axial Higgs boson does not have this property. Because of this, it needs a more complicated theory to be described than its non-magnetic cousin that grants mass.

According to the Standard Model of particle physics, particles are produced by various fields throughout the universe. Some of these particles are responsible for the fundamental forces that govern the universe. Photons, for instance, are the particles accountable for mediating electromagnetism. Heavy particles known as W and Z bosons are the particles responsible for negotiating the weak nuclear force, which governs atomic disintegration on a subatomic scale. However, when the universe was young and extremely hot, electromagnetism and the weak force were the same, and all of these particles were almost identical. Physicists refer to the phenomenon as the cosmos began to cool as "symmetry breaking." This phenomenon caused the electroweak force to split, which resulted in the W and Z bosons gaining mass and behaving significantly differently from photons. But what caused these particles with a moderately modest force to become so heavy?

It was discovered that these particles interacted with a distinct field that is now often referred to as the Higgs field. The Higgs boson was created when fluctuations in that field occurred, and the W and Z bosons gained their mass.

When symmetry of this kind is broken in natural processes, the Higgs boson is formed in the universe. "however, in most cases only one symmetry is disrupted at a time," Burch added, "and so the Higgs is only characterized by its energy."

The hypothesis has more moving parts that underpin the axial Higgs boson.

According to Burch, "in the case of the axial Higgs boson, it appears that multiple symmetries are broken together." This leads to a new form of the theory and a Higgs mode, which are the specific oscillations of a quantum field like the Higgs field. Describing the Higgs mode requires multiple parameters, energy, and magnetic momentum.

Burch, who along with colleagues described the new magnetic Higgs cousin in a study that was published on Wednesday (June 8) in the journal Nature, explained that the original Higgs boson does not couple directly with light, which means that it must be created by smashing other particles together with giant magnets and high-powered lasers while also cooling samples to frigid temperatures. The existence of the Higgs boson can be inferred by observing how the original particles disintegrate into new particles that momentarily come into being.

On the other hand, the axial Higgs boson was produced when quantum materials operating at ambient temperature imitated a particular set of oscillations referred to as the axial Higgs mode. After that, the researchers observed the particle by using the light's scattering properties.

"We detected the axial Higgs boson using a tabletop optics experiment which sits on a table measuring approximately 1 x 1 meter by focusing on a material with a unique mix of features," Burch stated. "The tabletop experiment sits on a table measuring about 1 x 1 meter." In particular, we selected a quantum material known as rare-earth telluride (RTe3), which has a highly two-dimensional crystal structure. When left to their own devices, the electrons in RTe3 will self-organize into a wave, during which the charge density will increase and decrease at regular intervals. "

The axial Higgs model is generated due to the magnitude of these charge density waves being varied over time once they have emerged above room temperature.

The research group produced the axial Higgs model in the recently published paper by shining laser light of a single color into the RTe3 crystal. Raman scattering was the process that caused the light to disperse and transform into bloom with a lower frequency. The energy lost due to this transformation resulted in the creation of the axial Higgs mode. After that, the group rotated the crystal and discovered that the axial Higgs mode also controls the angular momentum of the electrons, which is the rate at which they move in a circle within the material. Since this mode controls the angular velocity of the electrons, it follows that this mode is also magnetic.

When we first began looking into this material, we primarily focused on determining how well it scattered light. "We observed abnormal variations that were the early clues of something new when we carefully examined the symmetry of the response, which is how it altered as we rotated the sample," Burch added. "As such, it is the first magnetic Higgs of this kind to be found, and it suggests that the collective behavior of the electrons in RTe3 is unlike any state that has ever been observed in nature,"

An axial Higgs mode was something particle physicists had anticipated in the past and even used to explain dark matter, but this is the first time it has been detected in the real world. This is the first time that researchers have witnessed a state with several broken symmetries.

A system is said to have broken its symmetry when it transforms from a balanced state, which appears identical in all directions, into an asymmetrical shape. Oregon University offers up the analogy of a spinning coin that can land in either form as a way to think about this phenomenon. After some time, the cash will either land on its head or tail, at which point it will have released its energy and become asymmetrical.

The fact that this double symmetry-breaking still jibes with current theories of physics is fascinating because it could be a way of creating heretofore undiscovered particles that could account for dark matter. In other words, it could be a way of explaining why dark matter exists.

According to Burch, "the fundamental concept is that in order to explain dark matter, you need a hypothesis that is consistent with existing particle tests while also producing new particles that have not yet been seen."

According to what he indicated, one approach to achieving this goal is to introduce this additional symmetry-breaking in the form of the axial Higgs mode. The axial Higgs boson's finding was a surprise to the researchers, who spent an entire year attempting to verify their results, as stated by Burch. This was the case even though scientists had anticipated its existence.



Article source : https://www.livescience.com/magnetic-higgs-relative-discovered

Image source   : Physicists discover never-before seen particle sitting on a tabletop


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