Particle’s surprise mass threatens to upend the standard model

Data from an old experiment finds that the mass of the W boson is higher than theory predicts, hinting at future breakthroughs.

Email Bluesky Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Whatsapp X Access through your institution Buy or subscribe From its resting place outside Chicago, Illinois, a long-defunct experiment is threatening to throw the field of elementary particles off balance. Physicists have toiled for ten years to squeeze a crucial new measurement out of the experiment’s old data, and the results are now in. The team has found that the W boson — a fundamental particle that carries the weak nuclear force — is significantly heavier than theory predicts. Access options Access through your institution Access Nature and 54 othe

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