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from the did-the-ground-actually-break? dept.
Groundbreaking technique yields important new details on possible 'fifth force':
A group of researchers have used a groundbreaking new technique to reveal previously unrecognized properties of technologically crucial silicon crystals and uncovered new information about an important subatomic particle and a long-theorized fifth force of nature.
The research was an international collaboration conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Dmitry Pushin, a member of the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing and a faculty member in Waterloo's Department of Physics and Astronomy, was the only Canadian researcher involved in the study. Pushin was interested in producing high-quality quantum sensors out of perfect crystals.
By aiming subatomic particles known as neutrons at silicon crystals and monitoring the outcome with exquisite sensitivity, researchers were able to obtain three extraordinary results: the first measurement of a key neutron property in 20 years using a unique method; the highest-precision measurements of the effects of heat-related vibrations in a silicon crystal; and limits on the strength of a possible "fifth force" beyond standard physics theories.
[...] The Standard Model describes three fundamental forces in nature: electromagnetic, strong and weak nuclear force. Each force operates through the action of "carrier particles." For example, the photon is the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. But the Standard Model has yet to incorporate gravity in its description of nature. Furthermore, some experiments and theories suggest the possible presence of a fifth force.
The researchers are already planning more expansive pendellösung measurements using both silicon and germanium. They expect a possible factor of five reduction in their measurement uncertainties, which could produce the most precise measurement of the neutron charge radius to date and further constrain — or discover — a fifth force. They also plan to perform a cryogenic version of the experiment, which would lend insight into how the crystal atoms behave in their so-called "quantum ground state," which accounts for the fact that quantum objects are never perfectly still, even at temperatures approaching absolute zero.
Journal Reference:
Benjamin Heacock, Takuhiro Fujiie, , Robert W. Haun, >et al. Pendellösung interferometry probes the neutron charge radius, lattice dynamics, and fifth forces, Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.abc2794)
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Username on Monday September 13 2021, @07:20AM (3 children)
That's an odd way of saying we don't know how gravity works.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 13 2021, @07:31AM (1 child)
general relativity is how gravity works. we do know that, to the best precision available.
the standard model doesn't need to incorporate gravity in order to explain available experimental data.
so it's perfectly reasonble to say "we don't know how to incorporate gravity in the standard model", because there are infinitely many ways of doing it which are compatible with experiments.
note: there are good signs that cosmology may have something to say about this, because there are a whole bunch of contradictions there between experiments and various theories, but the data isn't good enough yet to clarify the issues.
(Score: 2) by jelizondo on Monday September 13 2021, @09:33PM
We know since Newton how gravity works but not even Einstein has anything to say about why matter bends spacetime or thru what means it does.
So we can measure the effects of gravity but can't explain it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 13 2021, @03:59PM
Gravity sucks, and Texas A&M blows.