Particle physics is a research area focused on the fundamental constituents of matter and radiation and the interactions governing them, typically described by quantum field theories such as the Standard Model. It investigates quarks, leptons, gauge bosons, and the Higgs boson, and their dynamics under the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, often at high energies where new degrees of freedom become accessible. The field relies on large-scale experiments (e.g., collider-based and fixed-target facilities), precision measurements, and advanced detectors, while also exploring physics beyond the Standard Model, including neutrino properties, dark matter candidates, and potential new symmetries or interaction sectors.
Top minds at the world's largest atom smasher have released a blueprint for a much bigger successor that could vastly improve research into the remaining enigmas of physics.
General Physics
Apr 5, 2025
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Europe's physics lab CERN is planning to build a particle-smasher even bigger than its Large Hadron Collider to continue searching for answers to some of the universe's tiniest yet most profound mysteries.
General Physics
Mar 31, 2025
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On March 24, at the annual Rencontres de Moriond conference taking place in La Thuile, Italy, the LHCb collaboration at CERN reported a new milestone in our understanding of the subtle yet profound differences between matter ...
General Physics
Mar 26, 2025
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The standard model of particle physics is our best theory of the elementary particles and forces that make up our world: particles and antiparticles, such as electrons and positrons, are described as quantum fields. They ...
Quantum Physics
Mar 25, 2025
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Does the proton decay? While this was a famous prediction of Grand Unified Theories (GUTS) developed in the 1970s and 1980s, experimentalists have ruled it out—or rather, put lower limits on its mean lifetime of about 1034 ...
Quantum gravity is the missing link between general relativity and quantum mechanics, the yet-to-be-discovered key to a unified theory capable of explaining both the infinitely large and the infinitely small. The solution ...
General Physics
Mar 20, 2025
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Neutrinos have always been difficult to study because their small mass and neutral charge make them especially elusive. Scientists have made a lot of headway in the field and can now detect three flavors, or oscillation states, ...
General Physics
Feb 27, 2025
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Dark matter is an elusive type of matter that does not emit, absorb or reflect light and is thus impossible to detect using conventional techniques employed in particle physics. In recent years, groups of physicists worldwide ...
What do rope winding and giant pasta shapes have to do with particle physics? The answer is a new superconducting magnet prototype under development at CERN, lovingly named Fusillo because of its shape.
General Physics
Feb 24, 2025
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One of the tiniest building blocks of the universe has a weigh-in problem, and Ashutosh Kotwal is determined to get to the bottom of it.
General Physics
Feb 17, 2025
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