Scientists explore zeptoverse at scale 100 billion times smaller than atom
Researchers used the Large Hadron Collider to detect signals from a scale nicknamed the zeptoverse to investigate unknown particles and forces.
Scientists have detected signals from a scale of nature approximately 100 billion times smaller than an atom, according to a report by BBC News in the Times of India. This scale, which researchers have nicknamed the 'zeptoverse', is around one zeptometre, or one-sextillionth of a metre.
The research was led by scientists at the University of Cambridge using data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) LHCb experiment at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory on the Swiss-French border. The LHC is a particle accelerator that smashes particles together at high speeds to study the resulting subatomic particles.
The team detected evidence of a rare process where a subatomic particle containing a beauty quark breaks down into two particles called muons. Because beauty quarks exist for an extremely short period before decaying, their behaviour is difficult to study.
Dr Harry Cliff, a physicist at the University of Cambridge who led the data analysis, said the finding is a significant step towards exploring the scale. He stated, "We're knocking on the door of this zeptoverse."
The study aims to investigate how undiscovered particles might influence the behaviour of known subatomic particles. Scientists believe these interactions could provide clues to mysteries such as dark matter, which is an invisible form of matter that cannot be observed directly through conventional telescopes.
Dr Cliff told BBC News that the experiment provides an opportunity to study the behaviour of possible new particles. He added that researchers now need more data to explore and find what new particles are there.