This is one of those things that some will say “so what”, and others will say “oh, coool”. (The latter group is composed of much more interesting people.)
After decades of intensive effort by both experimental and theoretical physicists worldwide, a tiny particle with no charge, a very low mass and a lifetime much shorter than a nanosecond, dubbed the “axion,” has now been detected by the University at Buffalo physicist who first suggested its existence in a little-read paper as early as 1974.
The finding caps nearly three decades of research both by Piyare Jain, Ph.D., UB professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and lead investigator on the research, who works independently — an anomaly in the field — and by large groups of well-funded physicists who have, for three decades, unsuccessfully sought the recreation and detection of axions in the laboratory, using high-energy particle accelerators.
Now all they need to do is find magnetic monopoles (if they truly exist).
Oh Cool……., So What?
Well, I actually do think its cool… but I guess my “so what?” is a genuine question of… what is, or what may be, the practical application of understanding this?
This further proves out “What the Bleep Do we Know”. Bad documentary but the topic is really interesting.
Wake me when they find the first graviton…
wouldnt they be the same as Neutrons ?.
#5 – No not really……….. or at all in any way. but they will never find a graviton i wouldn’t think
#6 wait till that big ol super-duper-collider is switched on – then we’ll see
this is cool, but what exactly does it do for the physics models?
My question is if it only exists part of a nanosecond, where does it go after that… it has mass so it cant just *poof* else there is a severe rewrite of physics coming.
#8 below link should answer your question.
LINK (ed note – please use embedded links or tinyurl!)
#1 the age old question is it practical, more of a question of why should I care.
New knowledge relates and affects our notions such as truth, belief, and justification and the means of our production of more knowledge, changing our skepticism about different knowledge claims. Thats why you should care.
I can already hear you yawning and asking so why is this practical??
noname gets it.
#8.. It disappears to the other dimension our world is not a part of. That’s where all the gravitons are hiding 🙂
8,
It turns to energy. E=mc2.
How can they say no charge? “After decades of intensive effort by both experimental and theoretical physicists worldwide…”