A New Clue to Explain Existence ("new physics" at Fermilab)

[bananas]

Front page news: "A version of this article appeared in print on May 18, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/science/space/18cosmos.html

A New Clue to Explain Existence
By DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: May 17, 2010

Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory are reporting that they have discovered a new clue that could help unravel one of the biggest mysteries of cosmology: why the universe is composed of matter and not its evil-twin opposite, antimatter. If confirmed, the finding portends fundamental discoveries at the new Large Hadron Collider outside Geneva, as well as a possible explanation for our own existence.

<snip>

“This result may provide an important input for explaining the matter dominance in our universe,” Guennadi Borissov, a co-leader of the study from Lancaster University, in England, said in a talk Friday at Fermilab, in Batavia, Ill. Over the weekend, word spread quickly among physicists. Maria Spiropulu of CERN and the California Institute of Technology called the results “very impressive and inexplicable.”

<snip>

The observed preponderance is about 50 times what is predicted by the Standard Model, the suite of theories that has ruled particle physics for a generation, meaning that whatever is causing the B-meson to act this way is “new physics” that physicists have been yearning for almost as long.

<snip>

Neal Weiner of New York University said, “If this holds up, the L.H.C. is going to be producing some fantastic results.”

Nevertheless, physicists will be holding their breath until the results are confirmed by other experiments.

Joe Lykken, a theorist at Fermilab, said, “So I would not say that this announcement is the equivalent of seeing the face of God, but it might turn out to be the toe of God.”

A version of this article appeared in print on May 18, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition.

Below the fold: "Why Are We Here? Let's Just Thank Our Lucky Muons We Are"

[ChicagoSuz219]

1. Very cool! n/t

[county worker]

2. The right wingers have been waiting for this proof that their faith in creationism was

misguided!