Happy Atheist Forum

General => Science => Topic started by: Recusant on June 24, 2018, 11:10:46 AM

Title: A Possible Fifth Fundamental Force
Post by: Recusant on June 24, 2018, 11:10:46 AM
This video was just posted last week, but the story is from last year. I don't recall reading about it here previously, so here goes:



"Has a New, Fifth Force of Nature Been Found?" | Space.com (https://www.space.com/33750-fifth-force-of-nature-dark-matter.html)

QuoteThere may be a fifth force of nature (https://www.livescience.com/55283-has-a-fifth-force-been-discovered.html?), a new study suggests.

"If true, it's revolutionary," study lead author Jonathan Feng, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, said in a statement.

"For decades, we've known of four fundamental forces: gravitation, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces," Feng added. "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."

Feng and his colleagues analyzed data gathered recently by experimental nuclear physicists at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, who were trying to find "dark photons" — hypothetical indicators of mysterious dark matter. Dark matter is thought to make up about 85 percent of all matter in the universe, but it neither absorbs nor emits light, so it's impossible to detect directly. (Scientists have inferred its existence from its gravitational effects on "normal" matter.)
The Hungarians detected tantalizing evidence of a previously unknown particle just 30 times heavier than an electron — a result they published early this year.

"The experimentalists weren't able to claim that it was a new force," Feng said (https://news.uci.edu/2016/08/15/uci-physicists-confirm-possible-discovery-of-fifth-force-of-nature/). "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."

[Continues . . . (https://www.space.com/33750-fifth-force-of-nature-dark-matter.html)]
Title: Re: A Possible Fifth Fundamental Force
Post by: Dave on June 24, 2018, 11:37:53 AM
Exciting stuff, eh!?