Physicists hint at a mysterious latest 'particle X' messing with our Space ~ Science Creativity

For months, physicists have been silently freaking out over tantalising proof of a brand new atom lying outside the normal model of physics. First seen as a 'blip' in Large Hadron Collider data, the hunt is now on to corroborate its existence, which experts say would be "larger than the [discovery of the] Higgs boson".

And physicists have presently made the case that another latest particle could be waiting to be discovered, by showing that the survival of a mysterious latest particle, which they're calling 'particle X', could explain a important conundrum in physics: where the heck all the absent lithium in the Universe went to.

If you haven't heard about the container of the missing cosmic lithium, don't worry, we weren't across it either. But it turns out that scientists have intended all the lithium that should have shaped in the early Universe, and it's about three times more lithium than we watch today.

For additional than a decade they've been scratch their heads and annoying to figure out what might have happened, and at the present an international team of physicists have come up with a latest hypothesis - a latest type of particle, beyond our present understanding of physics, could have interact with protons and neutrons shortly after the Big Bang to destroy the majority of the cosmic lithium-7. Hence why we can't find it today.

To be clear, this is presently a hypothesis waiting to be veteran for now, so let's not get too excited presently yet. And this particle X isn't the equal one that scientists have been infectious glimpses of over at the great Hadron Collider.

But if the hypothesis was proven, it would be presently as important, because it would also be proof of physics beyond the typical model - the set of rules that, according to our top understanding, govern how the Universe works. For at the present though, let's presently be content with the fact that we have a fresh idea to investigate.

So how do scientists know how a great deal lithium-7 was supposed to be approximately in the first place? The initial numbers are based on a hypothesis concerning what happen at the birth of the Universe, recognized as the 'Big Bang nucleosynthesis'.

According to this idea, protons and neutrons fused to form nuclei in the first few minutes after the Big Bang. "This process generated deuterium, large amounts of helium-4 and smaller amounts of helium-3 – the latter two combined to make beryllium-7, which finally decayed to lithium-7," explains Edwin Cartlidge over at Physics World.

Pospelov tell Cartlidge that their proposal for particle X also fits the account for a long-suspected particle that acts as the go-between between normal matter and dark matter, which is predictable to have a similar mass, between 10 and 30 MeV.

As exciting as every one this is, there's still a long way to go previous to we have evidence on whether particle X might actually exist - for now it's all presently a hypothesis. Researchers will be able to investigate more by studying the decay of particles known as kaons, as healthy as through 'beam-dump' experiments that blast an thing with protons and electrons.

In the interim, physicists are remaining skeptical, with Keith Olive from the University of Minnesota in the US telling Physics World that the document "serves as more of an instance of what might work, rather than as a solution".

Kenneth Nollett of San Diego State University admit that he immobile thinks there's an astrophysical explanation for the lithium dilemma, but thinks it's worth pursuing the particle idea.
"Forward progress in science requires work on all fronts," he said. We couldn't agree more.