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Physicists Propose "New Force Carrier"

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 17 2016, @07:53AM   
from the that's-a-lot-of-math dept.

butthurt writes:

A University of California Irvine press release promotes research into the decay of an isomer of the short-lived radioisotope beryllium-8.

Noting that

a 6.8σ anomaly has been reported in the opening angle and invariant mass distributions of e⁺ e^- pairs produced in ⁸Be nuclear transitions,

physicists propose "a 17 MeV protophobic gauge boson" (for comparison, an electron's mass is 0.51 MeV) to explain the observations, saying that the particle's existence could also account for a "discrepancy in the muon anomalous magnetic moment." The force conveyed by the particle is believed to only affect electrons and neutrons, and only at short distances.

further information:

• Evidence for a Protophobic Fifth Force from ⁸Be Nuclear Transitions (PDF)
• Particle Physics Models for the 17 MeV Anomaly in Beryllium Nuclear Decay (PDF)

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Original Submission

• doubt (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday August 17 2016, @02:35PM

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday August 17 2016, @02:35PM (#389129) Journal

  http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/259056/what-is-the-significance-of-the-possible-new-17-mev-protophobic-x-boson [stackexchange.com]
  https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/implications-of-a-new-17-mev-vector-boson-on-higgs-susy.875311/ [physicsforums.com]
  https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160607-new-boson-claim-faces-scrutiny/ [quantamagazine.org]

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