Based on experiments conducted in Hungary by another team of scientists that reached an erroneous conclusion, theoretical physicists at UC Irvine announced they may have come across a fifth fundamental force of nature.
Gravity, which was discovered by 17th century scientist Isaac Newton, and electromagnetism, which was explained in the 18th century, preceded strong and weak nuclear forces, which were uncovered by 20th century experts.
Now a group of scientists from UCI theorize the existence of a “protophobic X boson,” a light particle that only interacts with electrons and neutrons.
What does it all mean and what impact could it have on the world? That’s still to be determined, and if another planned series of experiments prove the existence of the X boson then the book on physics must be rewritten, said Tom Tait, a UCI professor of physics who worked on a theoretical analysis of experiments done at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
“When they first realized there were strong and weak nuclear forces that theory existed for a long time and nobody knew what they were good for,” Tait said.
“Then, unfortunately, they built a bomb, but, more fortunately, they built nuclear reactors” based on the theory, Tait said.
“This would be a big deal because we know how to unify the forces and we have ideas how they can be one force,” Tait said.
“But now if you find another one you have to somehow fit that into the picture… This is like something we had no idea was waiting to be discovered. This is really just like, ‘Let’s rethink everything from the beginning and how does this change parts of the story we thought we already understood.’ ”
The Hungarian scientists were on the hunt for “dark photons,” but reached the wrong conclusion about what they actually found, Tait said.
The Hungarian scientists are “very interested in what we found,” Tait said. “All of this theoretical analysis is a little outside of their usual wheelhouse, so they’re repeating their experiment and building new detectors.”
They may complete the new experiments in a matter of months, Tait said.
The UCI team, also led by physics professor Jonathan Feng, published its findings on Friday.
—City News Service
