Did physicists discover a previously unknown fifth force of nature?

[Zorro]

A tiny, unseen force could potentially alter our basic understanding of the universe -- if it really exists. Theoretical physicists at UC Irvine say they’ve found evidence for a fifth fundamental force of nature, carried by a particle that until now has gone totally unnoticed.

If supported by the independent work of other teams, the boson described in a paper in Physical Review Letters (and expanded upon in a study posted to arXiv) could move scientists to rewrite the standard model of particle physics.

“If this is true, it would be a really big guide as to what the future would hold as far as the ultimate theory of particle physics,” said study coauthor Timothy Tait, a UC Irvine theoretical particle physicist.

There are four known forces that govern the interactions of matter: gravitation, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces. A force like gravitation sculpts the universe at the enormous scale of galaxy clusters; the strong and weak nuclear forces prevail in the tiny interactions between subatomic particles. Together, those four forces govern the interactions between all the matter in the universe.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-fifth-force-of-nature-20160816-snap-story.html

[PJMcK]

1. Really interesting hypothesis

Thanks for posting the link, Zorro.

It's fascinating that there is so much of the universe that we don't know. This is a significant quote from the LA Times article:

Dark matter makes up nearly 27% of the universe’s mass-energy density; dark energy makes up more than 68%. Normal matter--– which can be described fairly accurately by the standard model -- is less than 5% of that total.

As Dr. Lawrence Krauss has said, we are nearly insignificant as our "normal matter" makes up a very small percentage of the universe.

Of course, with science, any theory or hypothesis needs lots of investigation and testing before we'll know anything. These researchers may have found an important discovery.

[Avalux]

5. Yep - 95% of the universe cannot be quanitified by the means we have now.

We know dark matter and dark energy are there, but we don't know what they are. We have no means of figuring out what they're made of and how they work.

So we really don't know crap.

[RapSoDee]

2. Who could possibly have imagined?

[Wilms]

3. !

[Orrex]

6. Physicists Excited to Announce Discovery of the Wood Particle.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. !!!

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. If they're joking about Usain Bolt, that's racist. nt

[Cryptoad]

7. Is this Satire or Sarcasm?

[Botany]

8. Is this cold dark matter?

n/t

[Buckeye_Democrat]

10. I think they're speculating that it's a force particle...

... involved in interactions with dark matter, not the dark matter itself.

We'll see if it's real or a statistical fluke in the data eventually.

[central scrutinizer]

11. A fifth of Jack Daniels is a force of nature

Just saying..

[SticksnStones]

12. I'm of the thinking that none of this is real

That we are, each of us, just players in some sophisticated futuristic computer game played by an advanced intergalactic society that exists in real time light years in the future.

Of course, if that is the case...the guy who has me as his game piece really sucks at playing this game.