The Groundbreaking New Physics Experiment
Why the Muon g-2 result has dazzled the world in just a couple short weeks
The Standard Model of physics is an ugly, misshapen theory. Where you would expect the ultimate theory of the universe to be streamlined, simple, and beautiful, the Standard Model instead has 36 quarks and anti-quarks, 23 adjustable parameters, and 3 separate generations of particles. It is rugged and far from simple. Yet as unsightly as it might be, it has nonetheless passed test after test for the past 50 years. The Standard Model is one of the most well-tested theories of physics, predicting particles like the Higgs Boson and leading to over 50 Nobel Prizes. The mass of more recently discovered particles even lies within 1% of the value predicted by the model. So what happens when the most successful theory of physics begins to crack? And why is that a cause for celebration, not concern?
To understand what happened during the now famous “Muon g-2” experiment from earlier this month, there is one important aspect to understand about particles. Particles have an electric charge. Because they have an electric charge, they will also have magnetic properties…
