Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > sci.physics > #519371 > unrolled thread

LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons

Back to article view | Back to sci.physics

Contents

  LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-09-06 16:17 -0500
    Re: LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2015-09-06 21:48 +0000
      Re: LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-09-06 17:12 -0500
        Re: LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2015-09-06 22:34 +0000

#519371 — LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons

LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons
> http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/09/lhc-spots-a-consistent-oddity-in-decays-with-leptons/

> The intriguing results come courtesy of the LHCb detector. Rather
> than search for new particles, LHCb tracks the decay of particles
> that contain a b quark (b stands for bottom or beauty, depending on
> who you talk to). These particles are well understood, so deviations
> from their expected behavior are relatively easy to spot. And those
> deviations could point to physics we haven't seen before, possibly
> including problems with the Standard Model of particles and their
> interactions.
>
> In this case, the detector was tracking neutral B mesons as they
> decayed into D mesons. (This happens as the bottom quark in the B
> meson decays into a charm quark. The second quark in the mesons, a
> down quark, sits all this out and just pairs with whatever's around.)
> This decay results in the production of a neutrino (which we can
> ignore) and a lepton, which is what we're paying attention to here.
>
> Leptons are a group of particles that include the familiar electron
> and its two heavier, more exotic cousins, the muon and the tau
> (sometimes called the "tauon" for pedantry's sake). From the
> perspective of the Standard Model, any lepton will do. The decays
> should produce the three leptons in proportion to their relative
> masses (a tau is about twice the mass of a proton, the muon weighs
> substantially less, and the electron is a lightweight).
>
> In this case, the LHCb collaboration tracked decays that produced
> either muons or taus, and then measured their relative frequency. And
> the results were close to the expected value, but not quite. Instead,
> taus were produced slightly more often than expected, a difference
> that was 2.1 standard deviations off from the Standard Model
> expectation.
>
> Now, in particle physics, 2.1 standard deviations is the sort of
> result that frequently goes away as more data is gathered—it takes
> three standard deviations to get physicists excited, and five before
> they start saying they've found something. Which is why, based on the
> abstract of the paper, there's nothing to get excited about here.
>
> But deep in the discussion, there's an intriguing indication that
> something unusual might be going on here: "The measured value is in
> good agreement with previous measurements at BaBar and Belle." These
> other two detectors studied B mesons produced by electron/positron
> collisions. So that means three different detectors, using different
> types of particle collisions, have seen a similar (if similarly weak)
> excess.


-- 

sci.physics is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated
to the discussion of physics, news from the physics
community, and physics-related social issues.

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#519392

Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> wrote:
> LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons

If something is consistent, by definition it can't be an oddity, ass hat.



-- 
Jim Pennino

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#519402

On 9/6/15 4:48 PM, jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com wrote:
>
> If something is consistent, by definition it can't be an oddity, ass hat.
>

   Try reading for content, jimp. It's not that hard.

   LHC spots a consistent oddity in decays with leptons
> http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/09/lhc-spots-a-consistent-oddity-in-decays-with-leptons/

 > The intriguing results come courtesy of the LHCb detector. Rather
 > than search for new particles, LHCb tracks the decay of particles
 > that contain a b quark (b stands for bottom or beauty, depending on
 > who you talk to). These particles are well understood, so deviations
 > from their expected behavior are relatively easy to spot. And those
 > deviations could point to physics we haven't seen before, possibly
 > including problems with the Standard Model of particles and their
 > interactions.
 >
 > In this case, the detector was tracking neutral B mesons as they
 > decayed into D mesons. (This happens as the bottom quark in the B
 > meson decays into a charm quark. The second quark in the mesons, a
 > down quark, sits all this out and just pairs with whatever's around.)
 > This decay results in the production of a neutrino (which we can
 > ignore) and a lepton, which is what we're paying attention to here.
 >
 > Leptons are a group of particles that include the familiar electron
 > and its two heavier, more exotic cousins, the muon and the tau
 > (sometimes called the "tauon" for pedantry's sake). From the
 > perspective of the Standard Model, any lepton will do. The decays
 > should produce the three leptons in proportion to their relative
 > masses (a tau is about twice the mass of a proton, the muon weighs
 > substantially less, and the electron is a lightweight).
 >
 > In this case, the LHCb collaboration tracked decays that produced
 > either muons or taus, and then measured their relative frequency. And
 > the results were close to the expected value, but not quite. Instead,
 > taus were produced slightly more often than expected, a difference
 > that was 2.1 standard deviations off from the Standard Model
 > expectation.
 >
 > Now, in particle physics, 2.1 standard deviations is the sort of
 > result that frequently goes away as more data is gathered—it takes
 > three standard deviations to get physicists excited, and five before
 > they start saying they've found something. Which is why, based on the
 > abstract of the paper, there's nothing to get excited about here.
 >
 > But deep in the discussion, there's an intriguing indication that
 > something unusual might be going on here: "The measured value is in
 > good agreement with previous measurements at BaBar and Belle." These
 > other two detectors studied B mesons produced by electron/positron
 > collisions. So that means three different detectors, using different
 > types of particle collisions, have seen a similar (if similarly weak)
 > excess.






-- 

sci.physics is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated
to the discussion of physics, news from the physics
community, and physics-related social issues.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#519415

Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 9/6/15 4:48 PM, jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com wrote:
>>
>> If something is consistent, by definition it can't be an oddity, ass hat.
>>
> 
>   Try reading for content, jimp. It's not that hard.

Try taking 5th grade English, ass hat, it is not that hard.

If the title of something is nonsense, one expects the contents to also
be nonsense, shit head.


-- 
Jim Pennino

[toc] | [prev] | [standalone]

Back to top | Article view | sci.physics

csiph-web