A deeper
look into studies that were previously conducted by Hungarian physicists has
recently uncovered evidence of a fifth fundamental force of nature. If
confirmed, it could stand as an explanation for dark matter. To date, there are
four conventionally known fundamental forces that hold the universe
together—gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces.
But a closer
look at previous studies conducted by Hungarian physicists, which hinted at a
new force, has led a team of scientists to evidence that the anomaly in the
data could actually be a fifth force of nature.
It should be
noted that the groundbreaking claim is still a very long way from being
confirmed, but the current data available is enough to push research into what
this new force-carrying particle is (or may be).
“If true, it’s revolutionary,” said Jonathan Feng, who leads the research team from University of California. “If confirmed by further experiments, this discovery of a possible fifth force would completely change our understanding of the Universe, with consequences for the unification of forces and dark matter.”
The
anomalous data was first spotted when the Hungarian Academy of Science team
fired high-energy beams of protons at lithium-7. The fall-out created a
distinct energy signature of a super-light subatomic particle, which they
concluded to be a type of boson—30 times heavier than an electron—that can’t be
explained by the Standard Model.
“The experimentalists weren’t able to claim that it was a new force,” Feng said. “They simply saw an excess of events that indicated a new particle, but it was not clear to them whether it was a matter particle or a force-carrying particle.”
Based on
this original data, the team from University of California dove into the work
to try and verify the potential findings. And they assert that they did uncover
theoretical evidence that suggests it may really be the boson for the fifth
force of nature—which could explain dark matter or many other unexplained
things in the universe.
The particle
has been dubbed protophobic X boson, which interacts exclusively with electrons
and neutrons within a very small range, thus making it extremely hard to detect.
According to researchers, no other boson has exhibited the same
characteristics.
Once the
existence of a fifth force is verified, it could mean that we could one day
produce a “super fundamental force” that allows interaction between the dark
sector with its own matter. Unfortunately, we have yet to confirm whether or
not this could actually be the fifth force of nature, but it’s a hypothesis
that’s certainly worth following up on.
Image Credit: APS Physics
References: ScienceAlert - Latest
